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Chassis:
The first Lotus 38 constructed in 1965 was not surprisingly allocated to Jim Clark. He used it to set the second fastest time qualifying at that year's Indy 500. Clark subsequently dominated the race in 38/1 and recorded a historic victory; the first for a mid-engined car, the first for a British car and the first for a Ford engine. As part of Lotus' deal with Ford, the winning car would remain in Detroit. After show duties, Ford retired the car to the lovely Henry Ford Museum.
In 2001 the highly original Indy 500 winner was given a thorough cosmetic clean-up. A decade later, the car was returned to its place of birth for the first time. After a brief appearance at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed, it was sent to Classic Team Lotus, where it was meticulously rebuilt following instructions of Len Terry and many of the mechanics that had originally constructed the car in 1965. Their first encounter is documented in a fascinating article in the July 2010 issue of Motorsport magazine. Amazingly almost all original parts could be retained, down to the pistons in the Ford V8 engine, which was refurbished in the United States. Some suspension parts were replaced for safety reasons but the originals have been retained and will be fitted on the car once the car returns to the Henry Ford.
The fabulous Lotus 38 Ford made its post-restoration debut at the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Here it was driven up the hill by event organiser Lord March. Jackie Stewart also took to the wheel and as a tribute to his friend and rival he wore a replica of Clark's familiar dark-blue helmet. Startingly this was the first time Terry saw his one of his most successful designs at speed. Later in the year the car was also shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and current Indy 500 champion and fellow Scot Dario Franchitti demonstrated the Lotus at Indy to kick off the centenary celebration of the legendary race.
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The Henry Ford |
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