1968 Lotus 56 at the 2011 Goodwood Festival Of Speed
Автокөліктер мен көлік құралдары
The 1968 Lotus 56 Turbine Indy car, driven here by Parnelli Jones, as seen at the 2011 Goodwood Festival Of Speed.
Lotus founder Colin Chapman is best remembered for having a lot of success with unconventional and revolutionary racing cars. One of the most outrageous Lotus designs was the Type 56, prepared for the 1968 Indy 500. Although the novelties found on the 56 were not new, but the combination proved to be a package very well worth the Lotus badge.
Designed by Maurice Philippe, the 56 was not equipped with a regular internal combustion engine, but with a Pratt and Whitney industrial turbine engine. Such an engine was used previously and proved very reliable. Due to the nature of a turbine engine, no gearbox was needed. Using the proven Ferguson four wheel drive system, the turbine engine's power was transferred to all wheels.
Although the turbine was not quite as powerful as the Turbo charged internal combustion engines used by the competition, Chapman was confident that the four wheel drive system would give Lotus the edge over the rest. The operation was partly funded by Andy Granatelli's STP company and the wedge shaped cars were livered in STP's striking orange colour scheme.
Lotus intended to enter their two Formula 1 drivers, Jim Clark and Graham Hill and Granatelli himself would enter another two cars for American drivers, including Parnelli Jones. Unfortunately Clark lost his life in a Formula 2 accident earlier that year. His replacement, Mike Spence, was struck by tragedy as well, losing his life after a high speed accident with Lotus 56 in one of the Indy 500 test sessions.
Eventually Graham Hill, Joe Leonard and Art Polland entered the race with the turbine Lotus. Again Lotus' bold move proved successful with Leonard on pole, closely followed by Hill. Hill crashed out early in the race, and Leonard and Pollard both retired with fuel pump problems. Leonard was in the lead with just a few laps to go, when his turbine engine died.
A grief strucken Chapman had returned to Europe with Spence's body and left the turbine Indy cars in Granatelli's hands. He campaigned the cars with little success. At the end of the season the innovative cars were left obsolete when the sport's governing body (USAC) banned both turbine engines and four wheel drive.
Featured is Parnelli Jones' Type 56, which has benefited from a ground up restoration in recent years. It is in full running order, but it is no longer fitted with the original turbine engine. This unique racer is pictured here at the 2004 Eyes on Design exhibition held at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House.
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The 56 was tested in March 1968 at Indy by JIM CLARK - By far the greatest driver ever - no doubt. He is and was the Best of the Best. No other driver in history until today was so superior as Clark.This man is the Olymp of driving - the Michelangelo of racing - a dynamic art at the highest level. So smooth, so precise, so fast....simply out of this world. One, who won in Spa by 5 minutes (!) in monsoon rain...One, who takes back a complete lap (!) in Monza and back into the lead... One, who took pole on the original 22,8 km Nürburgring track by 9 (!) seconds and more....One who won Indy by 2 whole (!) laps...For eternity and by lightyears unmatched in the sport. That`s just four examples of his mesmeric unique genius...
an iconic shape for any kid that had the hot wheel in 1968,great memories
What a freak of engineering! Imagine the impact this car had 53 years ago!
I get jet propelled aircraft without wings from the sound XD
@dean319320
4 жыл бұрын
F1RailFan 1995 because it’s a turbine engine
@FRailFan
4 жыл бұрын
@@dean319320 1 It was a light jest at the sound. 2 I knew that even back then doesn't change what it sounds like.
too short !!!! we want more and more !
Joe Leonard was a regular at Barnaby machine on Wednesday nights in the bay area. U used to go hang out with the old flat track racers and bike mechanics, and had a chance to talk to Joe about the turbine car. He didn't say much other than that when the engine cut out, he was told not to try a restart. He didn't talk to too much about racing, mostly just hung out and manned the BBQ. We mostly talked about motorcycled we had owned. Guy has raced damn near everything but sailboats.
So cool!
I know, that's what I was talking about. That's an Indy car, too. Probably a Lotus 39 with the Ford 4-cam. You can tell it's an Indy car right off because in some bits you can see the front suspension offset; the arms are a lot longer on the right than they are on the left, moving the car's weight to the left to improve handling on an oval. F1 cars even back then didn't run ovals, so F1 cars had symmetrical suspension geometry. Of all top-level formula cars, only Indy cars ran offset like that.
@johnlloyd2390
5 жыл бұрын
That was true for some Indy cars of the Jim Clark period, and possibly some of the roadsters. But the turbines, like most Indy cars that came after them, had symmetrical suspensions with no offsets.
Take a look at the last frame, it seems to show a slightly dished rear end.
Yes, gas turbine powered 4-wheel drive Type 56 (1968).
It looks like one of those wooden cars that you would race on a ramp :/
Interesting they raced a Lotus 56B in F1 for a few races.
I always thought the back of that car had a slight overhang on the deck like a small flat spoiler and some recessing of the square back cap............it looks different than when I remembered it back in the late 60's .............is that original?
That's not an F1 car. That's an Indy car. Look how much offset it has in the suspension.
I'd be slightly terrified with a turbine behind me head^^,
@johnlloyd2390
5 жыл бұрын
To be honest, a turbine would be less dangerous than a piston engine.
Four wheel drive?
Ah the turbine cars. They were supposed to revolutionize Indycar racing, but instead they broke down just laps from the finish.
@Roberto-dk9ms
6 жыл бұрын
Brian Washington well they got banned almost immediately.. maybe they would have been good with some development.. but we'll never know unfortunately. I think they are fascinating, something very different
@johnlloyd2390
5 жыл бұрын
There was a fair amount of politicking going on in that era. First, Andy Granatelli was developing four wheel drive for Indy cars. He'd used it before with Novis, and it was legal until the 1970 race. No problem there. However, he combined 4WD with turbine power, which few piston-engine teams understood. Because the chassis handled so well, the cars were fairly fast, but it was assumed the engines were the main advantage. In truth [says Granatelli] the turbine engines were really lower in power than the piston cars, particularly on qualifying day when the piston cars were loaded with nitromethane. The 1967 car, with its side-by-side configuration ran well; it qualified about fifth or sixth, then cruised away during the race. A $6 bearing in a gear box broke, stopping the car. In 1968, Granatelli partnered with Lotus to produce the wedge-shaped turbine cars. Again, they had four wheel drive, but USAC, under pressure from other team owners, limited the cars in several ways. The tyres all had to be the same with, which meant using what were effectively front tyres at both ends, partially negating the 4WD advantage. Second, fearing that the turbine might break and fragment at speed (a distant possibility), they demanded a scatter shield, which added weight. Third, in order to limit the turbine's power, the intake area was extremely small -- the two intake ducts were about 2" x 4", which seriously choked the engine. What did in the 1968 cars was simple: during a prolonged caution period, the fuel vaporized in the fuel lines, causing vapor lock, which stalled the fuel pumps and broke their drive shafts. Other teams had tried turbine engines in the past, but none of them worked all that well. The STP cars were different mostly because Granatelli and Colin Chapman put a good deal of design and development time into the chassis. They would have been just as fast, or maybe faster, with piston engines. As proof, look at Mario Andretti's 4WD Lotus in 1969, which easily bested the lap record until a hub carrier broke and sent the car into the wall. If you can find a copy, Andy Granatelli's autobiography, "They Call Me Mr. 500" has his side of the whole turbine story.
Joe Leonard drove that one Graham Hill who drove the 3rd one
much better the sound of the pistons engine
Sorry, Lotus 38, not 39. Typing in the dark...
Oh......it does produce thrust, I thought the power was connected to a some kind of drive shaft that spun the wheels
@Miklos82
7 жыл бұрын
You are incorrect. All of the turbine power was directed thru the 4-wheel drive.
@johnlloyd2390
5 жыл бұрын
Nope. The engines in the turbine cars were taken from helicopters; essentially the same power plants as in the Hueys in Vietnam. All of them had power output shafts that were coupled to gearboxes. In the helicopters, the gears drove rotors. In the race cars, they drove four wheel drive transfer cases. Because the turbines revved so high, they didn't even have transmissions.
I prefer the Lotus F1 behind hehe
a slice of french cheese with wheels
No that was the Indy Lotus/Ford.
And what a handsome race car that white #24 is... can ayone identify it?
@pedro917
2 жыл бұрын
1966 Lola T90 that won the Indy 500 driven by Graham Hill (However, this car is a replica). It's driven here by Arie Luyendyk. More information : primotipo.com/2015/06/12/graham-hills-american-red-ball-spl-lola-t90-ford-indy-winner-1966-2/
Love to see the 56 indy car and the 38 behind it, but the highlight of this vid for me is Graham Hill's 1966 winning Lola at kzread.info/dash/bejne/gX9_mKaGqcu-ndo.html
@pedro917
6 жыл бұрын
It's Arie Luyendyk at the wheel of the Lola (which is a replica by the way).
@hughcdavies
6 жыл бұрын
Thanks for that, shame it's not the original.
@pedro917
6 жыл бұрын
At the 1967 Indy 500, Chuck Hulse drove the No. 8 Lindsay Hopkins Lola-Offy. It was the car Graham Hill drove to victory in 1966 as a Lola-Ford. Chuck started 27th and finished seventh as one of the numerous cars in the final lap crash. The Lola was seriously damaged and beyond repair.
It looks like a cheese grater
@johnlloyd2390
5 жыл бұрын
More of a door stop, really. That's how aerodynamic downforce was imagined, back then.
Actually, Tony Chapman was best remembered for killing a lot of drivers.
@Miklos82
7 жыл бұрын
Anthony COLIN Bruce Chapman. I don't think anyone except maybe his wife Hazel called him 'Tony'. Yes, He build light weight cars that were at times fragile, but the last time I heard, driving fast was the best way to win an auto race.
Chapman's designs where light fast and sometimes too fragile............
@brianhartley2258
6 жыл бұрын
You may want to check the 1964 Indy 500 results, as Clark's was a DNF. On lap 47 his Dunlop shod Lotus 34 suffered tire tread separation, resulting in suspension failure. Dan Gurney's ride was pulled from the race shortly afterwards. I noticed your surname of "Ongais" . . . any relation to "Danny"?
I meant the green/yellow Lotus behind. That's a F1 car.
@johnlloyd2390
5 жыл бұрын
That was one of Clark's 1965 Indy cars. I've seen one, and yes, the suspension is indeed offset by about six inches. Part of the offset is the suspension links, part of it was the mounting points on the monocoque.
Pinewood derby car
Looks like a coffin on wheels!
@Miklos82
7 жыл бұрын
Though the 56 failed to win a race, it was the inspiration for Lotuses multi-world championship winning Lotus 72 powered by a more conventional Cosworth V-8