Lotus 42B
The
Lotus 42B was originally designed as an Indianapolis car but would do most
of its racing in F5000. The 'B' does not indicate a revised design, it stood
for BRM. Like the sister design, the F1 Lotus
43, the Indy 42 was intended for the BRM H16 engine, this time in 4.2-litre
form.
Designed by Maurice Phillippe, the two chassis were built for the 1966 season but mothballed when the BRM engine project stalled. Even when the H16 did appear, it was massively overweight and blew up after just two laps of testing. The project was scrapped and the only 42 to be shipped to America for the 1967 Indy '500' was quickly fitted with a Ford V8. Graham Hill, the 1966 Indy '500' winner, drove the renamed '42F' but retired after 23 laps. Neither 42 would be run by Team Lotus again.
After the '500'. the unused second car, now designated 42B/2, proved hard to sell and eventually passed to Dave Lazenby's Lotus Components Ltd. From there it would be sold via Robs Lamplough to Bill Brack for 1969 Formula A. The 42F remained in the US and stuck around even longer, eventually going to Brack as a show car.
Both cars are still in existence but are reported to be 'in private collections'. So, as usual, more information is needed. All and any help would be gratefully received. Please e-mail Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can add anything.
| Chassis | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Lotus 42B/1 | Build for 1967 Indy '500'. Converted to Ford engine before leaving for Indy and renamed 42F/1. Team Lotus for Graham Hill Indy 1967: qualified 31st, retired early and classified 32nd. The car was then taken to Canada for permanent importation into the US and offered for sale. It then sat at Indy until sold to Brack in January 1969 - but not picked up until June. After using it as a show car with a dummy Chevy, Brack sold 42B/1 to Lamplough (the reverse trip that 42B/2 took) and it has since disappeared into a private collection. | 'Private collection' |
| Lotus 42B/2 | Build for 1967 Indy '500'. Team Lotus: unused and not even
shipped to US. Remained in England through 1967 and then sold to Lotus
Components in early 1968. Robs Lamplough bought the car but, unlike
his two Lotus 43s, he quickly sold the 42B on to Canadian racer Bill
Brack. Jo Marquart design revised suspension for the car and Lotus Canada
mechanic Barry Sullivan installed a 5-litre Chevy V8 at Hethel. Brack
acquired Castrol sponsorship for 1969 and the car was known as the 'Lotus
GTX'. Driven in the 1969 Canadian Formula A Series (six races: two wins,
a third and three retirements; third overall in championship) and the
SCCA Continental Championship (six races: two DNS and four starts; only
one finish: 16th at Elkhart Lake in July). Crashed heavily at Lime Rock
1 Sep 1969 and the car was 'a skip job'. Brack rented Al Pease's 1968
Lola T140 for the rest of the season and apparantly sold the Lotus for
scrap in Toronto. Somehow, it got to Alan Secrest in Ohio, then through
Chuck Haines to Noel Chiappa in
1990. It is now said to reside in an anonymous US collection. |
'Anonymous US collection' |
These histories last updated on 13 October, 2002 .
Sources
Sources used for this page include Andrew Ferguson's Team Lotus (especially pp168, 230) published in 1996 and Formula 1 Register Fact Book: Formula 5000 1968-1971. Many thanks to Bruce Smith for his recollections and photographs of 42B/2 and to Gerr Measures for additional information.