May 18: Team Lotus takes part in its first Grand Prix in Monaco in 1958
Wednesday May 18, 2022 by René Fagnan
Team Lotus, led by Colin Chapman, took part in its very first Formula 1 Grand Prix on the streets of the Principality of Monaco on May 18, 1958.
An engineer by training who was briefly a member of the British Royal Air Force, Colin Chapman was passionate about automobiles and aeronautical technology. In 1948, he modified an Austin 7 which he renamed Mk1 and took part in trial events, which were very popular in the United Kingdom.
Chapman then founded Lotus Engineering Ltd in Hornsey in 1952. His small company was very successful with its sports cars, the Mk6 in 1953 and the Mk8 in 1954. For the 1957 season, the FIA changed the technical regulations of Formula 2 and several Mk11 Coventry Climax engines are engaged. The official Team Lotus is racing two cars named Cliff Allison and Reg Bicknell.
The following year, Chapman and Harry Mundy decided to design the first Lotus single-seater, intended to race in F2 1500cc, but which would also be capable of competing in F1 Grands Prix. Chapman wants to create a car that’s super light and super maneuverable, no matter if the engine isn’t very powerful. This car is the front-engined Lotus 12.
He designed an extremely effective rear suspension which will be called “Chapman strut”. It is a long vertical strut combining a coil spring and shock absorber with a universal joint drive shaft which itself forms the lower arm of the suspension. This arrangement allows for excellent handling when cornering at high speed.
On April 22, 1957, the Lotus 12 took part in its first Formula 2 race on the Goodwood circuit. Cliff Allison goes only three laps and retires. That season, no Lotus 12 won an F2 race.
Chapman still aimed to race his F2 Lotus 12s in Formula 1 before racing his first real Grand Prix car, the Lotus 16. car too far. Chapman decides to enter his cars for the second event of the season, the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix scheduled for May 18.
Chapman has two Lotus 12s modified to suit F1 regulations. The Coventry Climax FPF engine with a displacement of 1475cc is changed for a 1960cc double overhead camshaft of the same brand.
Great debuts in the streets of Monaco
The two Lotus 12s, named to Cliff Allison and Graham Hill, feature the new hard-stop gearshift mechanism, magnesium wheels, starter and, in the case of Allison, a power clutch. hydraulic. This five-speed transmission is of the sequential type. At 320 kilos, the Lotus 12 is indeed ultra light and should, normally, be very agile in the narrow and winding streets of Monaco.
Graham Hill’s tests are disrupted by brake problems. The Lotus 12 stamped with the number 26 even hit the safety barriers during the tests, which required the mechanisms to carry out a repair on the spot.
Hill qualifies 15th out of 16 starters. Allison managed to qualify a little better, in 13th position. Both Lotuses are just over five seconds behind pole position holder Tony Brooks in a Vauxhall VW5. Among the 14 non-qualified, we note the presence of Louis Chiron, Maria Teresa de Filippis and… Bernard Ecclestone who is at the controls of a Connaught with an Alta engine.
The Monegasque race is contested over 100 laps. Allison, not very fast, even climbed back to seventh place, but fell to last position to finally cross the finish line in sixth position, 13 laps behind the winner, Frenchman Maurice Trintignant.
As for Hill, he followed Allison’s car and overtook her on lap 37. He was in sixth place when his Climax engine failed on lap 69.
Thus ends the first F1 Grand Prix contested by Team Lotus. The Lotus 12s will be back at the next round and Allison will score the team’s first points with a fine sixth place.