Lotus 12

Lotus 12
Race Car
Category	Formula Two, Formula One
Constructor	Lotus
Designer	Colin Chapman
Predecessor	None
Successor	Lotus 16
Chassis	Steel spaceframe
Suspension (front)	Double wishbone
Suspension (rear)	Chapman struts
Engine	Coventry Climax FPF 1,475, 1,964 and 2,207 cc inline 4, gear-driven DOHC normally aspirated. front engined, longitudinally-mounted.
Electric_motor	{{{Electric motor}}}
Battery	{{{Battery}}}
Power
Transmission	Ansdale-Mundy transaxle 5-speed, with ZF diff. in bespoke casing
Weight	320 kg (706 lbs.)
Fuel
Brakes	{{{Brakes}}}
Tyres	Dunlop
Notable entrants	Team Lotus
Notable drivers	Graham Hill Cliff Allison
Debut	1958 Monaco Grand Prix
Races competed	9
Race victories	0
Podiums	0
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0

The Lotus 12 was a Formula Two and Formula One racing car.

Design

Colin Chapman's first foray into single-seater racing, the 12 appeared in 1957. It featured a number of important innovations Chapman would use on later models. To better use the power of the Coventry Climax engine, it was designed, as usual, for low weight and low drag, relying on a space frame. It placed the driver as low as possible, reducing the height of transmission tunnel by way of a "conceptually brilliant" five-speed sequential-shift transaxle located in the back. This transaxle was designed by Richard Ansdale and Harry Mundy. The gearbox had a (long-undiagnosed) oil starvation problem, thus earned the nickname "Queerbox" for its unreliability.

Although the first two examples of Lotus 12 had De Dion rear suspension, it also introduced a new suspension configuration with what came to be called "Chapman struts" in the rear, essentially a MacPherson strut with a fixed length halfshaft with universal joints on the ends utilised as a suspension arm. Lotus 12 was the first Lotus to be fitted with the iconic wobbly-web wheels. Reflecting Chapman's emphasis on engineering for lightness, these were cast in magnesium alloy, a kind of crimped cylinder, resulting in minimum material and maximum strength, without the weaknesses induced by slots in conventional designs.

Despite its engineering advances, the 12 was not a success in F1. In F2, the car won the class in the mixed F1/F2 1958 BRDC International Trophy, driven by Cliff Allison, but in spite of a small number of podiums, was usually drowned in a sea of Coopers.

Gallery

Lotus 12 in the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition in 2007

Lotus 12, Chassis No. 353 in 2010

Lotus 12, Chassis No. 353 in 2013

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Teams	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Points	WCC
1958	Team Lotus	Climax Straight-4	D		ARG	MON	NED	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	MOR	3	6th
				Cliff Allison		6	6		4	Ret	10			7	10
				Graham Hill		Ret	Ret		Ret
	Ecurie Demi Litre		D	Ivor Bueb								11*
1959	Dennis Taylor	Climax Straight-4	D		MON	500	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	USA			5	4th1
				Dennis Taylor					DNQ

^1  All points scored using the Lotus 16. * F2 driver

Sources

• Setright, L. J. K. Lotus: The golden mean, in Northey, Tom (ed.) World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, pp. 1221–34.

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Lotus 12. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.