Tag Archives: Peterson

Ronnie’s Rocket – Lotus Ford 72 E

Lotus went into the 1973 Formula One Championship season as World Champion Constructors with reigning World Drivers Champion Emerson Fittipaldi being joined by a new team mate 1971 Championship runner up Ronnie Peterson.

The team started the season with the same Lotus 72 D model as they had used through out 1972 albeit now running on Goodyear tyres in place of the previous seasons Firestones. Emerson started the season well with 2 wins and a 3rd place from his first 3 starts while Ronnie had only two retirements and an 11th place finish to show from the same three races.

At the non championship Race of Championship the Lotus 72 D were brought up to E specification which included mounting the rear wing above the oil tank further back from the rear wheels and a wider track for the wheels front and rear. I well remember seeing both of the new cars spectacularly bottoming out on their debut at Brands Hatch as they approached the fearsome off camber and steep drop to Paddock Bend sending a shower of sparks from under the cars.

Both cars retired from the Race of Champions but Emerson won the 1973 Spanish Grand Prix, his last in a Lotus, before scoring three further second place finishes and a third on his way to a distant 2nd place championship finish behind Jackie Stewart and his Tyrrell Ford 006 who had clocked up five wins and two seconds on his way to his third and final title.

Ronnie meanwhile scored his first four Grand Prix wins and two second place finishes on his way to third in the championship title, helping Lotus win their second consecutive constructors championship. For 1974 Jackie Stewart retired, Emerson moved to McLaren to drive the M23, based very much on the principles of the Lotus 72, and Ronnie was joined at Lotus by Belgian Jacky Ickx.

Lotus started the 1974 season with the 72 E for the first two championship races and then Ickx used a 72E at the non championship Race of Champions and won after pulling off a brilliant overtaking move on Niki Lauda in his Ferrari 312 B3 going into Paddock Bend right in front of my nose. If all had gone to plan this would have been the last ever race for the Lotus 72 which had been introduced in 1970.

The Lotus 76 was first raced in the 1976 South African Grand Prix where neither car finished, Ronnie qualified his 76 at the non championship International Trophy at Silverstone and again at the Spanish Grand Prix but getting the car to finish proved impossible and so the Lotus 72 E’s were wheeled out again for the 1974 Monaco Grand Prix where Ronnie won from third on the grid, Ronnie added to more victories to the Lotus 72 E’s tally during the season to finish a distant fifth in the Championship which was won by his former team mate Emerson Fittipaldi in his Lotus 72 copy the McLaren M23.

For 1975 the Lotus 72 E’s were wheeled out again as the Lotus 76 had been abandoned as a failure, it would take a full twelve months for Lotus to build a new challenger such was the lack of financial resources and Lotus commitment to road car and sundry other projects. Ronnie gamely struggled on scoring just three points paying finishes while Jacky Ickx quit the team before the seasons end having scored a single second place finish.

I believe the two cars seen here both belong to Classic Team Lotus with the #2 most likely being a replacement chassis for the wrecked Lotus 72/R5 driven by Emerson Fittipaldi in C spec to victory in the 1970 US Grand Prix and last used in E spec by Brian Henton in the 1975 US Grand Prix.

The #5 appears to be #72/R9 built new for the 1975 season and used exclusively by Ronnie Peterson who scored a best third place finish in the non championship 1975 Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, and three further points paying finishes including a 5th place finish in the 1975 United States Grand Prix which would be the cars final appearance.

Fans of the Lotus 72 in the UK will be interested to know that there will be a 24 min documentary on the story behind the Lotus 72 on Motors TV in December, keep your eye out for it in the schedule. The films director Gary Crichter will also be releasing a full 90 min version with 60 mons of extra’s of the film on dvd in the near future. Keep your eye out on the www.lotus72dvd.com website for further announcements.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ronnie’s Rocket” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

Original Wing Car – Lotus Ford 78 #78/R2

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After the mixed fortunes of the Lotus 76 with it’s twin wings and electric clutch and the Lotus 77 with it’s fully adjustable suspension Colin Chapman introduced an aerodynamic innovation for the Lotus 78 featured today.

Like the ’77 the Lotus 78 was built around a narrow monocoque with an oil radiator in the nose,

but with much larger sidepods than any Grand Prix car seen before.

The front wings were used, in conjunction with the rear wing, to trim the aerodynamic balance of the car.

Using an idea first modeled at BRM by Tony Rudd and Peter Wright the side pods closely resembled the upturned inner wing of a de Havilland Mosquito which Chapman had studied and written a detailed account of.

Tony Rudd and Peter Wright joined Ralph Bellamy and Martin Ogilvie at Lotus to design the car and its side pods which produced prodigious down force to increase the speed at which it could go around corners without loosing grip.

While conducting wind tunnel tests for the Lotus 78 design at Imperial College London Peter Wright found that as predicted by Bernoulli’s principle of fluid dynamics which states that the flow speed of an ideal fluid with no friction will increase simultaneously with a decrease in pressure. Meaning in the case of the Lotus 78 the faster it went the more down force was generated by the side pods and so the better the car stuck to the road.

The Lotus 78’s, known as John Player Special III’s by Lotus and their sponsors, were ready to race midway through 1976, but Chapman wisely vetoed their use until 1977 so as not to give rival teams the chance to figure out what Chapman and his team had come up with and copy during the off season.

Starting the 1977 season Lotus had a huge advantage with the 78’s affording Mario Andretti 5 victories and his team mate Gunnar Nilsson with one more. However the unreliability of the Nicholson McLaren built motors played into the hands of Niki Lauda who, having more or less fully recovered from his near fatal accident in 1976, took only three victories and a string of podium places to claim the championship.

The car seen here at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu is chassis #78/R2 which Mario Andretti used to start the 1977 season before it was entrusted to Gunnar Nilsson who won the Belgian Grand Prix driving it. In 1978 before the even more radical Lotus 79 was introduced, Lotus returnee, Ronnie Peterson drove the car and snatched a thrilling victory with one lap to go in South Africa.

Mexican Hector Rebaque acquired the car at the end of 1978 season and used it along Lotus 78/R1 which he had been using since the beginning of the 1978 season.

Sadly Ronnie Peterson lost his life after an accident at the start of the 1978 Italian GP where he was driving the back up Lotus #78/R3.

Thanks for joining me on this “Original Wing Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when, thanks to some photographs from Geoffrey Horton, I’ll be looking at some of the vehicles in attendance at the Marin Samoma Concour’s d’Elegance. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Adjustacar – Lotus Ford 77 #R2

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Like the photo’s featured in the Ferrari T2 post a couple of months ago today’s photo’s come courtesy of my school friend Sven Platt and were taken at the 1976 British Grand Prix.

The 1976 Lotus 77 was a second attempt at replacing the Lotus 72 after the underwhelming Lotus 76 was abandoned in 1974. Like the 76 the 77 featured an extremely narrow chassis, but with Lotus 72 style side pods which extended back to the leading edge of the rear wheels for the radiators.

Novel features for the Lotus 77 when it was first seen included air intakes that ran the length of the cockpit, in board brakes, that were mounted between a pencil thin chisel nose and the front wheels, and rocker arm suspension that was fully adjustable to meet the requirements of any track.

By the start of the European season non championship races the cockpit side air intakes for the motor were blanked off and replaced with a conventional airbox. The ‘adjustacar’ suspension proved difficult to set up but was retained, while by the Belgian GP the inboard front brakes were abandoned. At the Dutch Grand Prix an oil cooler was mounted in the nose to move some weight forward of the front axle line.

At the start of the 1976 season drivers came and went like a game of musical chairs, Ronnie Peterson was the incumbent #1 driver and Mario Andretti returned for a one off guest drive, after a six year break in the second car. After qualifying 16th and retiring with accident damage Ronnie swapped places with new boy & countryman Gunnar Nilsson who had been scheduled to drive for the March team. Andretti returned to Vels Parnelli team just in time for it to fold after the 1976 US Grand Prix West. British Formula 5000 champion Bob Evans was given two Grand Prix races at Team Lotus while Nilsson made his Grand Prix debut in South Africa. After failing to qualify for the US GP West Evans was dropped from the team and after trying out the Wolf Williams FWO5 in a non championship race freshly out of work Mario Andretti signed on as the Lotus #1 driver !

After Andretti rejoined the team Nilsson scored a couple of thirds during his rookie year while Andretti went a little better scoring two thirds and winning the thrilling final race of the season run in a monsoon that decided the championship between Niki Lauda and James Hunt that should make a thrilling climax to Ron Howard’s current film project ‘Rush‘.

The three Lotus 77’s, never known as John Player Special II’s as the sponsors might have hoped, were retired from top line competition at the end of 1977, however that was not quite the end of the story as once again David Render, swapping his Lotus 76, and getting hold of Andretti’s Japanese GP chassis, #R1, and using it as an effective hillclimb and sprint machine.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Adjustacar’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be reviewing last weekends Simply Italian event at the National Motor Museum in which a GALPOT regular won a prize ! Don’t forget to come back now !

Electronic Clutch & Four Pedals – Lotus Ford 76 #76/1 (JPS 9)

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I remember when I first set eyes on the publicity photo’s of the Lotus 76, my reaction was an instant WOW ! The two team cars which had been completed a little late were to replace the venerable Lotus 72 and be driven by Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx in the 1974 season starting at the South African Grand Prix.

The new car was intended to be slimmer and lighter than the Lotus 72 which had helped Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi to win World Drivers Championships in 1970 and 1972 and helped Lotus secure the World Constructors Championship in 1970, ’72 and ’73.

Innovations on the car included an electronic clutch operated by a button on the gear stick, except when starting from rest for smoother gear changes. Two brake pedals were fitted either side of the steering column operating a single split leaver to encourage left foot breaking to minimise the upset of the balance of the car when approaching corners and two thin, for the period, rear wings mounted one above the other.

Much to the consternation of the press and Lotus fans Colin Chapman sold the naming rights to the Lotus 76 which for the 1974 season was to be known as a John Player Special the chassis number of the car seen here at Goodwood was referred to as JPS 9 though the chassis was unofficially referred to in the press and by enthusiasts as 76/1.

Lotus 76, Silverstone Classic

A pattern of retirements set in at the South African GP which was to repeat itself until by the Monaco Grand Prix Lotus Team had decided to revive the Lotus 72 which Ronnie Peterson promptly drove to the first of 3 against the odds victories during the season.

Development of Lotus 76 was split between the ageing Lotus 72 during 1974, to generate more down force larger front wings and the larger rear wing of the Lotus 72 were fitted to the Lotus 76 which appeared in Belgium.

With the 76 having been observed to be popping wheelies after additional down force had been added the front nose cone was then replaced with a cut down version from the Lotus 72, the radiators moved from ahead of the rear wheels to behind the front wheels and horizontal boards were added along the top of chassis between the front and rear wheels as seen in this linked photo of 76/2 (JPS 10) at the 1974 British GP.

By now the 76 was being taken to races purely in case of an emergency and during practice of the 1974 German Grand Prix such such an emergency arose after Ronnie Peterson crashed Lotus 72/8. The team had no option but to press the by now overweight and unloved 76 back into service and did so by grafting the rear suspension engine and gearbox from the wrecked 72 onto the back of 76/2 (JPS 10). With the car now looking more like it’s predecessor Lotus 72 than a Lotus 76 Ronnie Peterson recorded the 76’s only finish with a forth place on the toughest circuit on the calender !

After confusion about Mario Andretti starting from 3rd place in the 1974 US Grand Prix, in his Parnelli, third Lotus driver Tim Schenken took the flag of the 1974 US Grand Prix only to be disqualified for being outside the top 26 qualifiers as Andretti had managed to get his car onto the grid, ironically only to be also disqualified for a push start away from the line ! This was Schenken’s and the Lotus 76 last Grand Prix start.

However this was not quite the end of the Lotus 76 story, Colin Chapman was a long time member of a motor club in North London and after a little badgering for ‘something a bit quick’ from fellow long time member, David Render, who participated in Sprints and Hillclimbs, Colin relented and told his friend to turn up at the Lotus factory at Hethel with a trailer.

When David turned up at Hethel early in 1976 he saw this huge black car with twin wings and asked who is this for ? He was quite surprised to learn that it was intended for him !

David drove what is believed to be 76/2 (JPS 10), in original lightweight form, for 2 years and among many victories won the 1976 Brighton Speed Trials when the event was run over a standing kilometer 0.6 miles and clocked a time of 18.77 seconds reaching a 118 mph as he crossed the line.

At a recent talk, David gave to the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club, he related how on finding the car suffered from terrible understeer / push he added a lump of lead, taken from his old Allard trials car, beneath the nose cone of the 76 and that solved the problem, though he never told Colin ‘Added Lightness’ Chapman what he had done.

The car featured in today’s post 76/1 (JPS 9) seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed and at the 2011 Silverstone Classic belongs to Andrew Beaumont. According to Classic Team Lotus during the first of two races at the 2011 Silverstone Classic meeting Andrew’s double rear wing got savaged, but it did not have much detriment to the performance of the car and he finished 22nd.

John Barnard eventually perfected a semi automatic electronic clutch and gearshift mechanism with a steering wheel mounted paddle shift for the 1989 Ferrari 640 which won first time out at the Brazilian GP in the hands of Nigel Mansell. This system is now de riguer in almost all top line racing cars.

My thanks to MCS, Gregor Marshall, and Tim Murray on the Lotus 76 thread at The Nostlgia Thread who helped identify a Lotus 76 at the Abbaye de Stavelot Museum as the possible home of the second Lotus 76 chassis #76/2 (JPS10).

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Electronic Clutch & Four Pedals’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at last weekend’s Auto Italia Day at Brooklands. Don’t forget to come back now !

Phil Hill Tribute – Peterson Museum

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It’s a great pleasure to blog about the recent tribute to Phil Hill, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his World Championship win, at the Peterson Automotive Museum thanks to GALPOT’s roving correspondent Geoffrey Horton.

Ueber car enthusiast Jay Leno was amongst the guests to lend humour to the occasion.

Amongst the exhibits was this 1931 Pierce Arrow convertible sedan by Lebaron that was ordered new by Phil’s Aunt and in which Phil leaned to drive. He also used the car to attend USC and in 1955 he restored the car with his brother Jerry and promptly unexpectedly won the Best in Show award at Pebble Beach.

Some of Phil’s competitors from his early days at this event shared with the appreciative audience stories of Phil’s early exploits with an MG TC in Cal Club events which were not always entirely legal events held on circuits.

Of the delectable Ferrari’s present that Phil has driven was this unique 1953 375MM with Vignale bodywork and non stock tailfin that was added after the car was built in 1954. Phil drove this car to a second place finish in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana. It was also later driven by Carol Shelby.

Nothing remains of the original Shark Nose Ferrari 156 which he used to win the 1961 World Drivers Championship, they were all destroyed on the instruction of Enzo Ferrari, but the helmet seen here was used by Phil in his Championship winning season.

This 1912 Packard Model 30 with a gearbox mounted ahead of the rear axle and rear cable operated brakes only was purchased by Phil in 1966 and won it’s class at Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in the 1970’s

Guests who discussed the life and times of Phil were left to right, John Lamm, Editor at Large “Road and Track, Denise McLuggage racing driver and journalist, Parnelli Jones, Jesse Alexander photographer, Dan Gurney, Jim Hall and Phil’s wife Alma.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sending me the photo’s and the details of the Phil Hill Tribute evening at Peterson Automotive Museum.

Thanks for joining me on this Phil Hill edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Tribute to Ronnie – March 71B – 08

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Resting in the entrance to Colin Bennett’s CGA Engineering in Warrington a couple of Saturdays ago was this March 71B belonging to Katsu Kubota a ‘gentleman driver’ who admires one of my heroes Ronnie Peterson.

The car is painted in the colours used by Ronnie Peterson when he drove a similar car in 1971 to win the European Formula 2 Championship, a second tier open wheel series for cars powered by engines up to 1600 cc / 109.9 cui.

Ronnie from Almby in the vicinity of Örebro, Sweden, secured the championship with four wins at Rouen, Mantrop Park, Flugplatz Tulln-Langenlebarn, Vallelunga and took five pole positions. Ronnie also secured second place in the World Drivers Championship in 1971.

The ambitious March team took it’s name from founders Max Mosley, Alan Rees, Graham Coaker and Robin Herd, in 1969 they built a Formula 3 third tier open wheeler and the following year decided to take the racing world by storm by manufacturing vehicles to compete in Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford and Can-Am for customers to race, while also running factory teams in the Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula 3 open wheel series. Jochen Rindt originally agreed to race the works Formula 1 car but backed out when he realised the scale of the March undertaking outside Formula 1.

This 71B was originally built to take part in Formula Atlantic races in 1971, Formula Atlantic also known as Formula B in the USA was a halfway house between Formula 3 and Formula 2 powered by 1600 cc / 109.9 cui motors that were not in such a high state of tune as either Formula 3 or Formula 2 and therefore much cheaper to run. The 71B chassis has many components that are interchangeable with the March 713 and 712 chassis built for Formula 3 and Formula 2 respectively.

At present I know nothing about the history of chassis 71B – 08 prior to Mr Kubota’s ownership if you did please chime in below or send me an e-mail, my e-mail address can be found in my ‘Blogger’ profile.

I understand wooden gear stick knobs are popular in the racing community because they save weight, the Porsche 917 famously used a gear stick knob made of balsa wood.

The motor fitted to Mr Kubota’s March is an out of period 1,975 cubic centimetres /120.5 cui Ford Cosworth BDG 4 cylinder unit with an aluminium cylinder block of a type that was sanctioned in Formula 2 from 1972.

Last year Mr Kubota became the first driver from Japan to win an FIA sanctioned Formula One race in the Historic Formula One series, this year he will also race the genuine March 761/06 as raced by Ronnie Peterson to victory in the 1976 Italian GP, a car that will appear in a future blog once I have seen it run later in the summer.

My thanks to Colin Bennett for having me and several members of The Nostalgia Forum visit his fascinating workshop and to Tony Gallagher for organising the trip.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Tribute to Ronnie Peterson edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring