Lotus 48 Race Car

Constructor:	Lotus
Class	Race Car
Years	1967 to 1968
Designer:	Colin Chapman
Engine:	Cosworth FVA

The Lotus 48 was a Formula 2 racing car, built and used by Lotus in the late 1960s.

History

The 1967-8 monocoque Formula Two car, with 1594 cc Cosworth FVA engine and ZF gearbox raced by Team Lotus. Although the class was largely dominated by Brabham’s, Clark scored wins at Barcelona, Madrid and Kei-mola (in Finland). It was driving one of these cars that Clark was killed at Hockenheim in 1968. After Clark's death, a single car for Graham Hill was run-in Gold-Leaf Team Lotus colours, but another example was raced by Jackie Oliver and entered by the Herts & Essex Aero Club.

The model was no match for the rival Brabham’s and Matras and failed to finish in the first three in any race apart from the Circuit of Buenos Aires at the end of the year.

Lotus built a Formula 2 vehicle for the new 1.6-liter formula in 1967. The Lotus 48 had a full monocoque and an auxiliary tube frame, which received the Cosworth -FVA four-cylinder engine. The car made its debut in 1967 in the Tasman racing series and was driven in Europe during the entire Formula 2 season in 1967 by Graham Hill and Jim Clark. Clark was able to win at least three victories with the agile car against the strong competition of the Brabham Formula 2 cars.

In 1968, the car was upgraded and, now painted in the colours of the tobacco sponsor Gold Leaf, was designated 48 GLTL, with TL for "Team Lotus". The red-white-gold 48 came to sad notoriety when Jim Clark on April 7, 1968 at the Formula 2 race at the Hockenheim ring fatal accident, probably due to a flat tire. The 48 was withdrawn from the factory team at the end of the season and replaced in 1969 by the Lotus 59. In private hands ran some 48 but until 1970 in the European Formula 2 Championship. The car also had an appearance in Formula 1, as at the 1967 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring also Formula 2 cars were at the start. Jackie Oliver reached the fifth place with a 48.