The Lotus 24 was a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including ...

''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, American Championship Car Racing, Ind ...

for the 1962 Formula One season. 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 the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and initia ...

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

privateers A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding 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 o ...

. 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 and BRM P56 engines were generally fitted, with at least one example running with the

Coventry Climax FPF Coventry Climax was a British manufacturer of forklift trucks, fire pumps, racing engines, and other speciality engines. History Pre WWI The company was started in 1903 as Lee Stroyer, a joint venture by Jens Stroyer and Pelham Lee. In 19 ...

four-cylinder.

Racing history

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

Jim Clark James Clark (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British racing driver from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Clark won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Lotus, and—at the time of his death—held the ...

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

. Its first World Championship event was the

1962 Dutch Grand Prix The 1962 Dutch Grand Prix was the eleventh time the Dutch Grand Prix (or Grote Prijs van Nederland) motor race was held. The race also held the honorary designation of the 22nd European Grand Prix. It was run to Formula One regulations on 20 May ...

, 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 racing event organised in the United Kingdom by Motorsport UK. First held by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in 1926 British Grand Prix, 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 ...

World Championship results

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

Notes

Bibliography

References

{{commons category 24