Lotus 63 F1 car

Category	Formula One
Constructor	Lotus
Designer(s)	Colin Chapman
Chassis	forward monocoque
Suspension (front)	Independent
Suspension (rear)	Independent
Engine	Ford-Cosworth V-8
Transmission	Four-wheel drive

The Lotus 63 was a four-wheel-drive Formula 1 racing car , built and used in 1969 by the British Formula One team Lotus .

History

The Lotus 63 was one of several four-wheel drive cars which appeared in 1969. It was a difficult car to control and gradually more and more power was distributed to the rear wheels until it very nearly became a rear-wheel drive, Only two were built .

In designing the complex Lotus 63, Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe drew on the experience of building the Lotus 56 , which was used in the 1968 Indianapolis 500 miles . The vehicle had four-wheel drive and the engine, a DFV-V8 Cosworth sat "wrong" in the chassis. The clutch was behind the driver's seat and the transmission on the left.

The four-wheel drive was not new in Formula 1; as early as 1961, the Ferguson P99 came to a victory in a non-World Cup race in Oulton Park . In the late 1960s, some teams experimented again with this form of drive. The Cosworth 4WD designed by Robin Herd was the most striking design, but the car never had a racing performance.

The chassis of the Lotus 63 is a monocoque with auxiliary tube frame front and rear, to which the suspensions ( double wishbones ) and the differentials are attached. In the monocoque are on the left and right (side of the driver), the fuel tanks made of rubber, another is installed between the engine and the rear axle. The radiator is located in the bow of the car, the oil cooler alternately behind the engine or behind the driver's head.

Between the Ford eight-cylinder V-engine and the driver's seat are clutch, transmission and (left) the central differential arranged, from where the force is transmitted via rigid shafts to the front and rear differential.

The two regular drivers of the year 1969, Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt , rejected the new car and drove the entire season with its predecessor, the Lotus 49 . After initial tests Hill called the 63 a "death trap". The car was difficult to drive and difficult to tune by the complex drive. Nevertheless, the best result was achieved with Jochen Rindt, a regular driver. Rindt was persuaded by Chapman before the Oulton Park Gold Cup Race in 1969 , which did not belong to the F1 World Cup, to drive the 63 in a race. Rindt finished second, but complained that the car was extremely dangerous.

So it remained the third driver in the team, the British John Miles , and reserved for some races Mario Andretti reserved to drive the 63 in the World Cup. Miles finished 10th in the British Grand Prix , the best finish of the 63 in a WRC run.

End of the season gave up the idea of ​​the four-wheel drive at Lotus again and focused on the construction of a new model. The basis for the brilliant Lotus 72 but served many chassis parts of the unsuccessful 63.