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  Lotus 38 Ford      

  Article Image gallery (61) Chassis (3) Specifications User Comments (5)  
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Country of origin:Great Britain
Produced in:1965
Numbers built:8
Designed by:Len Terry for Lotus
Author:Wouter Melissen
Last updated:May 13, 2015
Download: All images

Add your comments on the Lotus 38 Ford

 Corrections  
Miklos
10-25-2015
dfm 1981
I think you are in error on a couple of points. Jim Clark's Dunlop shod Lotus 34 suffered a left rear suspension collapse, not a front suspension collapse. Also, the 1965 Lotus Indy car, the Lotus 38, used Firestone tires, not Goodyear.
 #83 was displayed at the 2003 Ford Centennial  
dfm1981
05-14-2015
I saw #83 at the Ford Centennial in Dearborn, Mi. It was in the same tent as the 3 1966 Le Mans top 3 finishers and A bunch of Ford racers.
 Corrections to certain specs.  
Ford Engr
05-14-2011
I had the distinct pleasure of being one of the six Ford engineers who designed and developed the 4.2L pushrod(1963) and DOHC(1964-65) Ford Indianapolis Racing engines. I noted the "spec" about top-speed of the Lotus 38 is not correct. The Ford Engined 1965 vehicles actually achieved up to 245 MPH in the straightaways before running the quarter-mile turns at appoximately 162MPH average speed.

The 1963 Pushrod engines produced 376 HP at 7400-7600 RPM, the 1964 DOHC gasoline-fueled engine produced 423-428HP at 8000 rpm and the 1965 DOHC methanol-fueled engines made 515-525 HP at 8600 rpm. The volumetric efficiency of the 1965 engine was at or above 100% from 7500 to 8400 rpm and peaked at 103.5% at 8000 rpm through the intake tuning effect of the 12.8 inch intake track {top of the airhorn to the intake valve gage line
 A few inaccuracies in the article  
dfm1981
01-08-2011
Those "fiery crashes" referenced about the Lotus tire problems in the 1964 Indy 500 were not fiery nor more than one. Clark's Dunlop shed some tread and the vibrations broke his front suspension on one side of the car and he had to wrestle the car along the front straight on only three wheels and pulled off on the inside of turn one but there was no fire and he was unhurt. Dan Gurney's car was also on the same Dunlop tires and when they showed tread problems at a pit stop, it was withdrawn. The next year, 1965, Lotus had Goodyear tires. Also, in 1965 the had the Wood Brothers from NASCAR performing the pit stops during the race.

The article also says that Ford had Lotus provide a car to Dan Gurney for 1964. Gurney was the second driver for the Lotus-Ford team for both 1963 and 1964. In 1965, Gurney entered a Lotus 38 (like Clark's) under his fledgling All-American Racers team. He qualified his Yamaha sponsored #17 Lotus on the outside of the first row next to Clark's #82 but DNF'd with timing gear failure during the race. Bobby Johns was the second Team Lotus driver in 1965 in car #83.
 1965 Indy 500 not show live  
Bullitt5435
12-16-2010
In those days the only place you could watch the race live was in movie theatres which carried the race on a closed circuit feed. ABC showed the highlights a week later in those days. Sometime in the 80's they started showing the race on same-day delay, in prime time on Sunday night. The race was not shown live on regular TV until some time in the 90's, but I am not sure what year.

  Article Image gallery (61) Chassis (3) Specifications User Comments (5)