The Lotus 24 was a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

''Automobile Year'', No. 10, 1962-1963, Page 198. designed by

Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. More ...

for the

1962 Formula One season The 1962 Formula One season was the 16th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for F1 ManufacturersFIA Yearbook 1974, Grey Section, pages 118–121 which were cont ...

. Despite some early success in non-Championship Grands Prix, it was eclipsed by the technically superior

Lotus 25 The Lotus 25 was a racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1962 Formula One season. It was a revolutionary design, the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in Formula One. In the hands of Jim Clark it took 14 World Championship ...

and rarely featured in the points in World Championship races.

Concept

Having devised the monocoque

for use by the works team,

Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars. In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman ...

decided to build a 'conventional' back-up spaceframe design which he would also sell to

privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

. The 24 was a completely different design from its predecessor, the 21, and used much of the same suspension as the 25. Both

Coventry Climax FWMV Coventry Climax was a British forklift truck, fire pump, racing, and other specialty engine manufacturer. History Pre WW1 The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, but two years later, following the departure of Stroyer, it was reloca ...

and

BRM British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...

P56 engines were generally fitted, with at least one example running with the Coventry Climax FPF four-cylinder.

Racing history

The Lotus 24 made its debut at the 1962 Brussels Grand Prix.

Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...

put it in pole position for the first heat, but retired after only one lap. Two weeks later Clark won the

Lombank Trophy The Lombank Trophy was a non-championship Formula One race held during the early 1960s at Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit in Norfolk, England. The event took place early in the season and was sometimes the first Formula One race of the year. The 1 ...

race at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population o ...

. Its first World Championship event was the 1962 Dutch Grand Prix, where it finished second with Trevor Taylor. However, that would be its best Championship finish; the

had arrived on the scene and was obviously the way ahead, much to the chagrin of those who had paid good money for their 24. Colin Chapman had promised his customers that the team cars would be mechanically identical to the customer cars, leaving himself free to alter what he classified as the cars' "bodywork". The 24 continued to be run by private teams in 1963 and 1964 with limited success, and by 1965 only one World Championship entry was made, Brian Gubby failing to qualify for the

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Ch ...

World Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Notes

Bibliography

References

{{commons category 24