Lotus 56B

The Lotus 56B is an evolution of the Lotus 56 Indy 500 racing car designed by Maurice Philippe and campaigned by Team Lotus under the hands of Graham Hill, Joe Leonard, and Art Pollard in 1968. The 56 proved to be unsuccessful and unreliable leading to the governing body of American motorsport, and USAC to deem turbine cars and four wheel drive illegal.

Undeterred by USAC's decision to ban the 56's technology, Chapman developed the car as a potential F1 machine after the failure of the Lotus 63, but while the car was promising, it was too heavy and too overcomplicated for F1. The car was designated as the 56B and Emerson Fittipaldi tried it in the 1971 Race of Champions and International Trophy non-Championship meetings. At Brands Hatch, during wet practice, the 56 was far and away the fastest car on the track, but the race was held in dry weather and the car was lost in midfield. At the Silverstone-based International Trophy, the car only lasted three laps of the first heat before suspension failure forced Fittipaldi's retirement. Dave Walker ran the car in the Dutch Grand Prix, and had progressed from 22nd to 10th in five laps of the very wet track, before sliding off the road and into retirement. Fittipaldi used the car again in that year's 1971 Italian Grand Prix and managed to bring the fragile design home 8th. By then Chapman decided to cut his losses and abandoned the 56, the four wheel drive concept and the gas turbine engine to concentrate on the Lotus 72 (heir to the 56's wedge and 49's wings), which went on to win the drivers' and constructors' championships for Lotus in 1972.

Formula One World Championship results
(key)

* No points with the Lotus 56B