Lotus 12
British racing car
title: "Lotus 12" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["formula-two-cars", "lotus-formula-one-cars"] description: "British racing car" topic_path: "general/formula-two-cars" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_12" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary British racing car ::
|Car_name = Lotus 12 |Image = 1957 Lotus 12 Formula 2 (31515662418).jpg |caption = |Category = Formula One, Formula Two |WC_results_only = Y |Constructor = Team Lotus | Predecessor = | Successor = Lotus 16 |Designer = Colin Chapman |Team = Team Lotus | Technical ref = |Drivers = UK Graham Hill UK Cliff Allison |Chassis = Aluminium body on multi-tubular space frame |Front suspension = Double wishbone, coils springs, dampers, anti-roll bar |Rear suspension = Chapman strut, trailing arms, fixed length drive shaft | Length = 130.9 in | Width = 60 in | Height = 35 in | Wheelbase = 87.9 in | Track = 48 in |Engine name = Coventry Climax FPF |Engine position = Front engined, longitudinally-mounted | Capacity = 1965 cc | Configuration = Inline 4-cylinder, DOHC | Turbo/NA = Naturally-aspirated | Gearbox name = Ansdale-Mundy transaxle | Gears = 5-speed | Transmission type = manual | Differential = ZF diff. with bespoke casing | Battery = | Power = 175 bhp | Torque = | Weight = 320 kg | Fuel = Petrol | Lubricants = | Brakes = Disc, all-round | Tyres = Dunlop| | Clutch = |Debut = 1958 Monaco Grand Prix | Last_event = 1959 British Grand Prix |Races = 9 |Wins = 0 |Cons_champ = |Poles = 0 |Fastest_laps = 0 | Podiums = 0 The Lotus 12 was a British racing car used in Formula Two and Formula One. It debuted at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix and was Colin Chapman's first single-seat racer.
Design
Colin Chapman's first foray into single-seater racing, the 12 appeared in 1958. It featured a number of important innovations Chapman would use on later models. To better use the power of the Coventry Climax engine, it was designed, as usual, for low weight and low drag, relying on a space frame. It placed the driver as low as possible, reducing the height of transmission tunnel by way of a "conceptually brilliant" five-speed sequential-shift transaxle located in the back. This transaxle was designed by Richard Ansdale and Harry Mundy. The gearbox had a (long-undiagnosed) oil starvation problem, thus earned the nickname "Queerbox" for its unreliability.
Although the first two examples of Lotus 12 had De Dion rear suspension, it also introduced a new suspension configuration with what came to be called "Chapman struts" in the rear, essentially a MacPherson strut with a fixed length halfshaft with universal joints on the ends utilised as a suspension arm.
|filename =Lotus-Climax 12 (1958).ogg |title =Lotus-Climax 12 |type =sound |style =float:right Lotus 12 was the first Lotus to be fitted with the iconic wobbly-web wheels.{{Cite book |title=Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator |last=Ludvigsen |first=Karl |authorlink=Karl Ludvigsen |publisher=Haynes Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84425-413-2 |ref= |pages=119–121
Despite its engineering advances, the 12 was not a success in F1. In F2, the car won the class in the mixed F1/F2 1958 BRDC International Trophy, driven by Cliff Allison, but in spite of a small number of podiums, was usually drowned in a sea of Coopers.
Gallery
Lotus 12 Donington.jpg|Lotus 12 in the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition in 2007 Lotus 12.jpg|Lotus 12, Chassis No. 353 in 2010 Lotus 12 Chassis No 353 of 1958.JPG|Lotus 12, Chassis No. 353 in 2013
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)
::data[format=table]
| Year | Teams | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Points | WCC | 3 | 6th | 5 | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Lotus | Climax Straight-4 | ARG | MON | NED | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | MOR | |||||||||
| Cliff Allison | 6 | 6 | 4 | Ret | 10 | 7 | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| Graham Hill | Ret | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ecurie Demi Litre | Ivor Bueb | 11* | |||||||||||||||||||
| Dennis Taylor | Climax Straight-4 | MON | 500 | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | USA | |||||||||||
| Dennis Taylor | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| :: |
All points scored using the Lotus 16.
- F2 driver
Notes
Sources
- Setright, L. J. K. Lotus: The golden mean, in Northey, Tom (ed.) World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, pp. 1221–34.
References
- "Ultimate Car Page Lotus 12".
- Setright, pp. 1225–6
- Setright, p. 1225
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