Wheel Men...Drivers of the Lotus 49

[Lou Drozdowski]

 Jackie Oliver, another great driver who really deserves mention. Although his one season with Lotus was short lived, Jackie was hired to fill the void left with the passing of Clark. Starting in 67 he ran the type 48 in F2 and had good results to become overall champion. In 1968 driving the 49, he suffered reliability issues and finished few races. His best result would be a third place at the season ending race in Mexico. His talents would see him compete and win in many classes including GT, Can Am and Prototypes. His later association with Don Nichols and Shadow F1/Can Am would develop and become Arrows F1.

Still active at age 71
Images of yesterday and today, with Colin 1968... and just recently, his reunion with the 49 at Goodwood. ld

[Lou Drozdowski]

Lou, these pictures are divine.   Thank you.  Any Type 30 snaps.  And, there was a Lotus race car that sported a Ford Boss 302 engine, can't remember the call out number.
mike

As promised Cal...The type 30 in the hands of Clark.

Another soon to be champion {driver} of the 49 will follow...{with a little Latin flavor} ld

[Lou Drozdowski]

His nickname is "Rato" which means mouse in Brazilian...better known as Emerson Fittipaldi. A gritty young Emerson caught the eye of team Lotus while campaigning in the 1968 Jim Russell FF series in England. Moving up to Formula 2 the following year saw him campaign a Lotus type 59 for Team Bardhall.
With the vacated seat following Clark's death Chapman used various drivers for the extra chassis at some races. His first outing in the 49 earned an 8Th in England, and by his fifth start he won at Watkins Glen. Having started his career during the phase out of the 49, the ill fated 70 was not the answer, but when the 72 arrived everything changed for the better. His World Championship duels with team mate Ronnie Peterson against the Tyrell's of Stewart and Cevert was for the ages.
Worlds title #2 with Mclaren and Indy Cart Championship showed just how talented Emerson could coax the best out of the equipment. Still active and going strong his influence brought the Latin flavor to formula one and inspired the likes of Piquet and Ayrton Senna.   Thanks Emmo...ld       

[BDA]

Emmo was certainly one of the best and the 72 wasn't too shabby either. How many F1 cars were competitive for as many seasons?

[Lou Drozdowski]

Can you name the only F1 driver in history to win in each of his first three races ?
 Heir to a wealthy Milan industrialist, Giancarlo Baghetti is your footnote to F1 trivia. Driving a works Ferrari 156 he captured the non championship events in Syracuse, Napoli... and the French Grand prix. His one off drives for ATS, BRM, Brabham and finally Lotus for the 1967 Monza race were a showcase for his continental attitude. One of the first international playboys to show some money to get a seat, although knowing he had what it takes to compete.

Driving the 49 and starting 17th, he had a steady race and worked his way up to 10th only to retire on lap 50 due to an engine failure.....

I looked real hard to show Giancarlo at the wheel of 49...but alas, I could only find this shot of Jim Clark giving the spare (Baghetti's) a shakedown during practice for the Italian GP.

Baghetti passed away in 1995, having turned his racing endeavors into a successful photo journalism career.   ld 


 

[Lou Drozdowski]

Great shots!!! I can't wait to see more!

A rare photo indeed...Dave Charlton in a 49C, check out the paint scheme. I wanted to show some variants other than the traditional and Gold Leaf. ld

[BDA]

Interesting! I would never have guessed that car was painted in those colors, but then those were the days when there were privateer teams like Rob Walker. The lip attached above the radiator snout seems odd. I'm not sure what it was for... (edit: Then I saw the picture of Fittapaldi's 49 above with the same lip... Maybe a bit less odd but I still don't know what it was supposed to do).

[Lou Drozdowski]

I am going to devote a full page of shots of Jim Clark soon...
But in the meantime, here are some great snaps of the 49 with various drivers at the helm.

[Bainford]

There is an interesting study in early wing developement in these pictures. The last pic with Rindt at the helm is very cool.

[Lou Drozdowski]

I would like to thank all of you, for the activity and interest on this topic. I had become fearful that it would end up some where in the black hole. With pushing 2.4k hits, along with the 2.6k Zandvoort first race posts...I'm glad you have enjoyed the journey considering the size of our group.

.
The legendary Jim Clark and the 49. ld     
 

[BDA]

More great pics! Who wouldn't check them out? Thanks for posting them!

The picture of Clark flying in his Lotus reminds me of the movie, '1', that I mentioned on the 'Bringing it home...' thread. I knew that cars jumped at the Nurburgring, but I didn't know that there were a dozen or more places where the cars would jump. The movie shows several clips of cars flying and landing - a real test for man and machine! I wonder if they worried about over-revving the motor when it left the ground or if it didn't matter since it wasn't under load. I also wonder if landing was difficult to finesse...

[jbcollier]

It matters regardless of load.  In fact no load makes it much easier to over-rev.  If you watch period movies of race cars leaving the ground, you'll see many of them get quite out-of-shape on landing.

[BDA]

I thought about it some more and googled it and I think that the main stress in a free reved unloaded engine would be strain in the rods (and related oil film) due to inertial loads. The engine is only generating enough force to turn itself (and everything it spins). It's as though you are pushing against something and most of the resistance is taken away. The f in f = ma would go down even though the a (acceleration of the piston or for example) goes way up because the m (the engine is no longer acting against the weight of the car but just the rotating bits) is much less. The other potential problem is valve float that could cause the piston to tag the valve, though I think the usual problem with valve float is reduced performance. I have no idea if F1 engines of the time would have a problem with that. I would think that the amount of time they free rev - if they were allowed to - would probably limit any damage. Having said that, certainly wouldn't rev my motor to 10K unloaded (even with a 7500 rpm redline!). I guess I don't have the courage in my convictions. In '1', they showed several cars jumping at the 'ring and some of them landed 'wrong' (on one rear tire at a time and/or not straight). It didn't seem to affect them, but those snippets were from much older cars and faster cars with more powerful engines may have a harder time if they don't land 'square'. Don't really know.

Thinking even more - dangerous for me! - this is something that motorcycle riders, as in motocross, would have a lot of experience with and since I'm dangerous enough on four wheels, for the most part, I've kept off of motorized two wheeled contraptions! Given the tender age of some of those motocross riders, I doubt they'd be able to finesse the throttle so they don't blow up their engines.

Having never put any of this to the test (and have always tried not to), I only provide my $0.02. 

[jbcollier]

Race engines have much more radical valve timing, if it idles, it's not a full race engine.  High compression and radical timing means there is no leeway for "floating" the valves, period.  Other components are timed: so many miles/hours before replacement.  IIRC TZ750 cranks were 300 miles between replacements.  I assume F1 would be similar.  Over revving can also stress components such that they do not make their allotted time: rods exiting the block pursued by a bear being the classic example.  Racing is a very expensive business.

[Lou Drozdowski]

It matters regardless of load.  In fact no load makes it much easier to over-rev.  If you watch period movies of race cars leaving the ground, you'll see many of them get quite out-of-shape on landing.

To continue...[from another angle] Clark takes flight at the "Ring"

I remember Jackie Stewart's description on his visual braking point while entering the famous Karussell turn...
" You could not see the entrance to the corner as it was uphill...there was a stand of 3 trees with the tallest in the center...when I was lined up with that tallest pine I braked and found the apex" ld