Lotus 17 Race Car

Class	Race Car
Constructor	Lotus
Chassis	Aluminum frame reinforced
Suspension (front)	Single with double wishbones
Suspension (rear)	single struts
Engine	Coventry Climax
Transmission	manual four-speed

TThe Lotus 17 was a two-seater racing sports car , which was built by Lotus in March 1959 as the successor to the legendary Lotus XI .

History

This was largely unsuccessful model and was the successor to the Eleven introduced for 1959. It was small, compact and light and featured strut-type suspension front and rear.
There was the choice of 742 cc and 1100 cc Climax engines. The car was no match for the contemporary Lola, but remained available until superseded by the rear-engined 23 in 1962.

It is today considered the smallest and lightest racing sports car, which originated in the company of Colin Chapman . From the company founder's quote comes: "More power makes a car on the straights faster, less weight makes it faster everywhere." At the time it was claimed that 6 hp (4.4 kW) would be enough to the only 72 cm low vehicle 100 km / h to make it fast.The goal of the Type 17 was to develop a lighter and successor in order to beat the now very successful Lola MK1 .

The chief engineer of the De Haviland aircraft factory Frank Costin (brother of the later Cosworth founder Mike Costin ) was responsible for the first time used in Lotus plastic body. Colin Chapman and racing car designer Len Terry were responsible for the construction of the 23 kg lightweight aluminum tubular frame . Here, Chapman sat down with a MacPherson system on the front axle over the concerns of Len Terry. This turned out later as a mistake.

The factory drivers including Graham Hill and Alan Stacey  and private customers described the original handling of the 17 as life-threatening. Accordingly, the hoped for greater success in racing. Only Graham Hill won in October 1959 a victory in Brands Hatch for the factory team. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans , two teams ( Michael Taylor , Jonathan Sieff and John Fisher, Alan Stacey, Keith Greene ) used the Lotus 17 with a 750 cc engine. To date, this is considered the fastest 750 cc racing car in Le Mans and set new records of performance .

The homologation weight of the vehicle was only 360 kg. Magnesium wheels, differential with magnesium housing and the very light Coventry Climax engine made this possible. Most vehicles were delivered with 1098 cc FWA, two with 750 cc, in Canada a vehicle was used in 1959 with a 1460 cc FWB engine. In Denmark, a Lotus 17 launched in 1959 with a 1216 cc FWE engine. The vehicle had all Girling disc brakes as they were then used in Formula 1 . On the rear axle these are arranged inside directly next to the differential.

Because of the dangerous driving behavior, it was finally decided to repair the already delivered vehicles on the front axle. All but one vehicle were converted to wishbones in the style of the Lotus Elite . Thus the suspension problems were over. The conversion fell into a troubled time for Lotus with the move to new premises in July 1959 from Hornsey to the much more spacious buildings in Chesthunt, Hertfordshire.

Even before the Type 17 could show its real potential was his era to an end, because as early as 1960 dominated the racing sports cars with mid-engine. Only today, the few surviving specimens in historic racing show the genius of an uncompromising Lotus design with a possible power to weight ratio of less than 3 kg / hp.

23 vehicles built at the time, of which today around the 10 originals exist.