primotipo…

Jim Clark in his last Championship drive of a Lotus 33…

Colin Chapmans’ revolutionary family of cars, the Lotus 25/33 had been kind to Jim, World Championships in 1963 and 1965 in his symbiotic relationship with Chapman, his Team, his Cars.

The ’25’, introduced at Zandvoort in 1962 was not the first ‘monocoque’ chassis but it was the first ‘modern one’, all Grand Prix cars, indeed most racing cars can trace their parentage back to the 25 and the trends it set.

The good ‘ole multi-tubular spaceframe wasn’t dead mind you, Brabham were still winning Grands’ Prix in 1969 with their BT26, but even Brabham changed to aluminium sheet ‘tubs’ in 1970 as the use of ‘bag’ safety fuel tanks effectively precluded spaceframes.

At Zandvoort in 1967, the following race Chapmans’ Lotus 49, and its Ford Cosworth engine again set a standard all others followed, much as the ’25’ did in 1962, the ’72’ did in 1970 and the ’78’ did in 1977…

Clark qualified his 2 litre Lotus on the third row amongst the 3 litre cars, spun on lap 2, battled his way up to fourth from fourteenth, his race ending on lap 43 with a duff shocker. This tragic race claimed the life of Lorenzo Bandini who died when his Ferrari caught fire after an accident with the straw bales on the outside of the corner where Clark is pictured. Denny Hulme won the race in a Brabham BT 20 Repco. (Pinterest)

Graham Hill in the other Lotus 33, BRM powered did better than Clark, finishing second, always a happy hunting ground for Hill who won the race 5 times. Amazing shot, he looks a bit wide! (Cahier Archive)

Lotus 33 : aluminium monocoque or stressed skin chassis, inboard suspension at front by top rocker and lower wishbone, coil spring damper unit within the tub. Rear suspension outboard by single top link, inverted lower wishbone, 2 parallel radius rods and coil spring/ damper unit. Coventry Climax 2 litre, by this stage, DOHC, 4 valve V8, 5 speed ZF gearbox, just a lovely, successful bit of kit…! (Bruno Betti)

Photo Credits…

Pinterest, Bruno Betti cutaway drawing, Cahier Archive

Tailpiece: You don’t often see the super smooth Clark with so much attitude on a car. Here he is giving the 33 plenty of welly ahead of Dan Gurney’s Eagle T1G V12, Dan’s car out on lap 4 with fuel pump problems so ’tis early in the ’67 race…

(unattributed)