Lotus 38

The Lotus 38 was a single-seater racing car, the British Motorsport Team Lotus built in 1965.

He was the first mid-engined race car that won the 500-mile race at Indianapolis. Colin Chapman and Len Terry designed this completely new racing car, which, except for the engine no longer had anything in common with the types 29 and 34, which were running in Indianapolis. The powerful Ford V8 engine, which made ​​almost 500 hp, was built as a mid-engine and managed for the drivers in the Oval excellent handling. In the Urkonstruktion had the 38 asymmetric chassis. For the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has only left turns and Terry wanted to take this into account. He experimented with different length wishbones. What works in theory, but does not lead to success on the racetrack. In the first training runs the car out of corners had an unsafe and Terry parked the car over to symmetric suspensions. Although the Lotus 38 was a lot longer than Formula 1 racing cars of that time, he worked against the powerful USAC single-seater car small and manoeuvrable.

Eight Lotus 38 were built and most used by the factory team. Two were delivered to the U.S. racing driver AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti.

1965 Jim Clark qualified for the 38 on the front row and led 190 laps of the 200 - lap race. In the end, only four other pilots in the same round as Clark, who celebrated a superior triumph. In 1966, Clark Graham Hill was beaten narrowly and 1967 he fell early in the race after an engine failure from.

The Lotus 38 was groundbreaking in the U.S. Monopostobau the 1960s. All manufacturers took over the mid-engine concept and the end of the decade resembled almost all racing cars in Indianapolis the Lotus 38 also on the Formula 1 cars from Lotus had the 38, but many components have been included in the Lotus 49.