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| Lotus-Cosworth 63, RetroMobile 2017 |
For more photos from Retromobile 2017, click on this link.
Lotus, Hethel, England. Lotus was one of four manufacturers who along with Mclaren, Tyrrell and Cosworth built four wheel drive cars for the 1969 Formula One season. They were trying to solve the problem of how to get 400 to 450bhp of power onto the road. A 4WD BRM had had a little success in hillclimbing in the mid-sixties and the 4WD Ferguson F1 had won at the wet Oulton Park in 1961. The Lotus 63 was perhaps the most serious effort of the others in 1969, being designed by the team who had success with the Lotus 49. However, the Lotus 63 saw little success and was hated by the drivers just like the other 4WD cars. The problem of the power transfer had in effect been largely solved by the new wing aerodynamics and better wider tyres. In addition the 4WD cars suffered from being over-weight and with poor balance of that weight and were also fairly unreliable. Thus although at times driven by great drivers such as Mario Andretti, Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill as well as John Miles and Jo Bonnier, no World Championship points were scored by the 63. The best result was a distant second place in the non-championship Oulton Park Gold Cup ahead of some F5000 cars. After 1969 the two cars built were not raced again in contemporary F1. An interesting experiment that added variety to the field and perhaps the best looking on the 4WD cars in its Gold Leaf livery..
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