Lotus 49 : The Formula One DataBase

Next Race: 2009-03-29 15:00:00 GMT+11:00

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Season:	1967,1968,1969,1970

Drive:	Rear

Engine placement:	Rear

Number of wheels:	4

Many people, when talking to nostalgic Formula One fans, will have discussed the Ford-Cosworth DFV, the most successful, and most likely the most famous Formula One engine of all time. Many other people, when looking at technical details of many open wheel racing cars, and even some high performance road cars, will have noticed mention being made of the engine serving as a stressed member of the chassis. Most modern-day F1 fans will have discussed the close relationship that the engine builder and a chassis builder must have when designing a car, with the chassis and engine being designed in tandem specifically for each other.

In fact, all three items mentioned above were first seen on the Lotus 49, first raced in 1967.

The pieces of the Lotus 49 puzzle began to fall into place after Lotus had struggled with engines with the introduction of the three litre engine to F1. The resulting unsuccessful 1966 campaign for Lotus resulted in Colin Chapman approaching Mike Costin, Keith Duckworth and Bill Brown (the beginning of Costin's surname, and the latter half of Duckworth's, would be combined to create 'Cosworth', a name seen in F1 as an engine builder until 2005, and very possibly beyond), experienced in making race engines for lower formulae, to make an engine for Lotus for the 1967 season. After sourcing funds from Ford Europe, the result was the Cosworth DFV, and the Lotus 49 was designed around this engine.

Until the Lotus 49 raced, the sole role of an engine in an F1 chassis was to provide power to the car. As such, the engine was merely 'dropped' into a chassis, be it a tubular spaceframe or a box-sectioned monocoque, which would be designed to accomodate the package. As such, it was not uncommon for a car to use more than one type of engine during the season with minimal difficulty. The Lotus 49, however, used the Cosworth DFV as a fully stressed member, having been bolted directly onto the car's monocoque using two bolts. The distinct lack of rear bodywork on the Lotus 49 highlights the use of the engine as a stressed member, given the rear suspension is directly attached onto the engine and gearbox cowling. The use of the engine as more as a powertrain but as a structural, stressed member continues right until the modern age, as examples of the simplicity and effectiveness of the design, which has also found its way into high performance road cars.

The Lotus 49 would win its first outing at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, but a poor reliability record would mean that the car would not win the championship that year. The 1967 championship would be won instead by Denny Hulme, the New Zealander ironically driving a Brabham that not only did not use its engine as a stressed member, but ironically also utilised a simple, but lightweight tubular spaceframe, a concept Lotus had abandoned with the Lotus 25.

The Lotus 49, like many cars of its day, would serve Lotus for more than one season - and would in fact be in use by Lotus in the next four years, up to and including 1970. In all three specs (Lotus 49, Lotus 49B and Lotus 49C), it would win two championships, both won in tragic seasons for Lotus. The 1968 season would be won by Graham Hill in the car, after his original teammate, and F1 legend Jim Clark was killed in a Lotus 48 in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim on April 7th 1968. Even more tragically, the Lotus 49 (in 'C' spec) partially powered Jochen Rindt to the 1970 championship (Lotus switching to the 72/72C during that season), providing the sport with its first posthumous champion. Rindt was holding what would eventually be a championship winning lead that season, when he went off during practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, fatally hitting a crash barrier.

References:
1. Grand Prix Cars - Lotus 49 (http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/lotus49.htm)
2. F1technical.net - 1967 Lotus 49 (http://www.f1technical.net/history/cars/1967lotus49.html)
3. Autoweek.com - 1968 Lotus 49C
4. BBC - Colin Chapman and Lotus Cars (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A827598)
5. Hill, Tim - Formula One, Unseen Archives, Parragon Books, 2003.

Statistics

Statistic	#	Percentage	First	Last
Number of Grand Prix	35	100%	1967	1970
Number of starts	35	100.00%	1967	1970
Number of finishes	13	37.14%	1967	1970
Number of finishes on podium	9	25.71%	1967	1968
Number of finishes in points	11	31.43%	1967	1968
Number of retirements	22	62.86%	1967	1969
Number of wins	6	17.14%	1967	1968
Number of pole positions	10	28.57%	1967	1968
Number of fastest laps	7	20.00%	1967	1968
Number of doubles (pole position & win)	3	8.57%	1967	1968
Number of triples (pole position, win & fastest lap)	2	5.71%	1967	1968