Lotus 12

Lotus 12

Category	Formula Two, Formula One
Constructor	Lotus
Designer(s)	Colin Chapman
Technical specifications
Chassis	Steel spaceframe
Suspension (front)	Double wishbone
Suspension (rear)	Chapman struts
Engine	Coventry Climax FPF 1,475, 1,964 and 2,207 cc inline 4, gear-driven DOHC normally aspirated. front engined, longitudinally mounted.
Transmission	Ansdale-Mundy transaxle 5-speed, with ZF diff. in bespoke casing
Competition history
Notable drivers	Graham Hill Cliff Allison
Debut	1958 Monaco Grand Prix

The Lotus 12 was an unsuccessful Formula Two and Formula One racing car.

Colin Chapman's first foray into single-seater racing, the 12 appeared in 1957. 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"^[1] five-speed sequential shift transaxle located in the back. This transaxle was designed by Richard Ansdale and Harry Mundy. The car had a (long-undiagnosed) oil starvation problem, thus earned the nickname "Queer Box" 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.^[2]

	Lotus-Climax 12
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Lotus 12 was the first Lotus to be fitted with the iconic wobbly-web wheels.^[3] Reflecting Chapman's emphasis on engineering for lightness, these were cast in magnesium alloy, a kind of crimped cylinder, resulting in minimum material and maximum strength, without the weaknesses induced by slots in conventional designs.^[1]

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.

• 

  Lotus 12 in the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition in 2007

• 

  Lotus 12, Chassis No. 353 in 2010

• 

  Lotus 12, Chassis No. 353 in 2013

Complete Formula One World Championship results

Works team results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Points	WCC
1958	Climax Straight-4	D		ARG	MON	NED	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	MOR	3	6th
			Cliff Allison		6	6		4	Ret	10			7	10
			Graham Hill		Ret	Ret		Ret			Ret*

• No points scored by the Lotus 12 as it was run in a Formula Two Category.

Notes

1. Setright, p. 1225
2. Setright, pp. 1225–6
3. Ludvigsen, Karl (2010). Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator. Haynes Publishing. pp. 119–121. ISBN 1-84425-413-5.

Sources

• Setright, L. J. K. Lotus: The golden mean, in Northey, Tom (ed.) World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, pp. 1221–34.