Lotus 68, 70 and 70B
Old
Lotuses, mainly of F1 or Indy origins, were plentiful in the early days
of FA and F5000 but the first purpose-built design did not appear until
the very end of the 1969 season. Colin Chapman commissioned the car in June
with designer Martin Wade and Lotus Components originally targetting the
Riverside FA event in September.
The prototype car, dubbed the Lotus 68 at first, followed the prevailing Lotus "wedge" design and was fitted with a Shelby-tuned 302ci Ford Boss V8 engine. Customer cars were expected to use Chevrolet engines.
The car was tested in England and missed its intended debut, instead being sold to Koshland Competition for Mario Andretti to race at the Sebring FA race on 28 December. Andretti led the first heat comfortably but the engine blew after just 12 laps. Not a bad performance, and enough to sell a few cars in 1970 and, in 70B form, in 1971.
All and any help would be gratefully received, especially anyone who is in touch with - or crewed for - Max Mizejewski (Santa Ana, CA), Mark Dillon (Minneapolis, MN), Mike Rounds (South Richfield, MN), Ed Hinchcliff (Ypsilanti, MI), Tim Duke (Lewisville, TX), Tony Nawrocki (Sardinia, NY), Bruce Davis or Jerald Dulski. Please e-mail Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com if you can help.
| Chassis | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Lotus 68/70 01 |
 Koshland
Racing (Ford) for Mario Andretti US 1969: Sebring 28 Dec 1969
- Falconer & Dunn (Culver City, CA):
driven by George Follmer US 1970 (F&D
Boss Ford engine)
at Elkhart Lake (3rd) and St Jovite (1st) 1970 [then said to have been
sold to Ron Grable for USAC racing but it
appears Follmer continues racing the car until the end of 1970, entered
by Brian O'Neil] - Bruce Eglington (South
Pasadena, CA): US 1971;
US 1972 (one race only); US 1973 (one race only) - Butch Henneger
August 1973: US 1973 (R7 Road Atlanta
19 Aug 1973) - Rodney Green (Aurora, CO)
US 1974 (first two races only)
... later to historic racer Ron Hunter (died
about mid-late 80's) - Ken Johnson (restored
by Rodney Green) - Rodney Green (Kiowa,
CO). Believed retained 2001. |
Rodney Green (US) 2001 |
| Lotus 70 02 |
Alan Rollinson in Lotus 70/02. Copyright Ted Walker 2001. Used with permission. 
Dave Walker in the rebuilt 70/02 at Oulton Park in September 1970. Copyright Alan Cox 2006. Used with permission. |
Unknown |
| Lotus
70 03 |
 Smothers-Wintersteen
Racing/Echlin Ignition (PA) for George Wintersteen
(#12 Chevy): US 1970 (debut at Riverside, April 1970),
advertised 7 Nov 1970; unused 1971, 1972; advertised by
Wintersteen (Rosemont, PA) 23 Sep 1972 ... Mark Dillon
of Minneapolis, MN (entrant: Dillon Racing) R6 Road America 1973 Q39
nptr
(see the "Steve" and "The Book" adverts below) -
Mike Rounds (South Richfield, MN) adv 11
Oct 1975 "Bartz, Webers, Carillo". Raced by Rounds at 1977
Road America June Sprints. Subsequent history unknown. |
Unknown |
| Lotus 70 04 |
Bill Brack (Chevy V8) US 1970, US 1971, US 1972 (up to R5 Donnybrook 29 Jul 1972) - Tope Racing Enterprises (Troy, MI) for Ed Hinchcliff (Ypsilanti, MI) US 1973: one race only at R5 Watkins Glen 17 Jun 1973 (DNS Heat 2). Subsequent history unknown but see the Adam Enterprises advert below. Next seen when bought in Idaho or Montana as 'a beat up regional FA car' by Bruce Trenery of famed California dealer Fantasy Junction (early/mid 1980's). Bruce was told that it was from Canada and was the Brack car. Sold to Dennis Greenwood (early/mid 1980's) who Autocrossed it then to John McDonald (CA). Reported to be for sale in Northern California January 2002. McDonald died early 2005 and the 70 was bought from John McDonald's estate by James Faulknor (Petaluma, CA) Apri 2005. With RM Auctions for sale at their Monterey auction Aug 2005. Bill Brack has identified the car for RM Auctions. | James Faulknor (US) 2005 |
| Lotus
70 05 |
Barry Prehodka's ex-Smothers Lotus 70 at Lime Rock in 1990. Copyright Norbert Vogel 2007. Used with permission. 
Richard Drewett's Lotus 70 at Goodwood in 1999. Copyright Jeremy Jackson 2003. Used with permission. |
Barber Museum (US) 2006 |
| Lotus 70 06 |
 Jock Russell (Ford V8) UK
1970 (debut Mallory Park May 1970), UK
1971, UK 1972 (first rounds only); retained by Russell for many years
- Peter Denty (date unknown): restored and
raced in UK by Peter's son, James Denty. Retained 2003. |
Peter Denty (UK) 2003 |
Lotus 70B
A refinement of the Lotus 70 built for the 1971 season but only the first car was finished by Lotus Components. The other two were sold for 1972 in kit form. This ended Lotus's interest in F5000.
| Chassis | History | Current owner |
|---|---|---|
| Lotus 70B 01 |
First seen at the London Racing Car
Show. Intended for Bill Brack but when his
sponsorship deal fell through, the car was refitted with a Ford and
sold to Bruce Burness for Follmer to drive
in the Questor GP at Ontario. George Follmer
US 1971 (debut Questor GP March 1971) - Pete Brock
of BRE (El Segundo, CA) for John Morton
US 1972 (from R4 Road America 16 Jul 1972, R5, R6). Adv by Brock 21
Sep 1974 "Crashed at Road Atlanta - extensive damage". In
2002, Brock commented:
'The Lotus 70B with John Morton aboard indeed crashed at Atlanta in a freak rainstorm that flooded the track instantly leaving the entire field, on slicks, to spin off helplessly. John wasn't going more than 20 MPH when he hit the water and lost it. There was nothing he could do and the car was totaled. We were just lucky we didn't lose John. I'd put every dime I had into the car and had nothing left to repair it with. The crew was very angry and frustrated with me, as they'd put their hearts into it for months and we were on the verge of winning (in only our second race!) I sold off the remaining bits and have no idea where what was left ended up.' |
Destroyed |
| Lotus 70B 02 |
 Jefferson
Racing Enterprises (from Lotus in kit form) for Bob West:
US 1972 (Boss Ford): R6 Road Atlanta 20 Aug 1972 (Q24) and R8 Riverside
24 Sep 1972 (Q19). Crashed on the second lap at Riverside, hitting Lunger's
Lola and damaging the front left suspension and tub. Advertised by Roland
Jefferson (Los Angeles, CA) Autoweek 28
Oct 1972: "damaged at Riverside". To
Bruce Russell (Estacada, OR): racing history
unknown except for a SCCA Regional at Riverside 26 May 1974. Advertised
by Russell "70B ... Boss 302" on 16 Oct 1976. Sold to Dave
Edgar (Eugene, OR) late 1970s. To Dave Swigler
(Florida) 1988: raced at SVRA Road Atlanta Oct 1991. Retained July 2003. |
Dave Swigler (US) 2003 |
| Lotus 70B 03 |
Kerry & Charlie Agapiou
(from Lotus
in partial kit form) fitted with Bartz Ford V8: financed by Roy Woods
for George Follmer US 1972 (from R4 Road
America 16 Jul 1972 to end of season). The brothers had previously run
Follmer in Can-Am in a Lola and then in the Ford G7A. The Lotus was
still at Woods' garage September 1973. In or around 1992, G&G
Motorsport (Indianapolis, IN) advertised "1970 Lotus 70B,
Chassis #03, Bartz/spares, restored to original AGAPIOU livery with
race #16 (photo has #58), ex George Follmer." This may have been
advertised on behalf of the Agapiou brothers as the car was reported
to still be owned by Kerry Agapiou January 2002. |
Kerry Agapiou (US) 2002 |
The mystery cars
Other adverts for Lotus 70s were placed by Lotus Racing East (Millerton, NY) "1971 Lotus type 70 ... as new condition ... including 2 Ford engines ... in storage in California" on 23 Oct 1972, "Gary" (Los Angeles) "complete with spare engine" on 24 Feb 1973, "Steve" (Minneapolis, MN) 16 Mar 1974, Adam Enterprises (Brighton, MI) "Lotus F5000 New, Bartz Lucas injected 305, second car in spares" also on 12 Oct 1974, Brian Stack (Palo Alto, CA) on 1 Mar 1975, "The Book - Motor Racing Equipment (St Paul, MN) on 22 Mar 1975 and Bobby Howlings' AMCO Motorsport (Manchester, England) late 1988/early 1989. Robert Thompson advertised a "Lotus Formula/A", presumably a 70, on 8 Nov 1975.
These histories last updated on 16 April, 2007 .
Sources
James Bennett has researched these cars in detail and has been able to trace almost the complete racing record of each car. He has also made good progress finding the cars: six of the nine are now known, there are clues on a seventh and one of the others may have been wrecked. Added to the results of James' research are the research and recollections of Wolfgang Klopfer, Gerr Measures, Pete Brock, David McKinney, Helmut Dango, Jim Crawford, Edwin Lindsay, Michael Oliver, Bruce Trenery and James Faulknor is shown above. Thanks also to "RoadsterGB" for passing on Pete Brock's comments on the end of 70B/1. Thanks to Ted Walker, Alan Cox, Jeremy Jackson, Mark Manroe, Norbert Vogel and others for the photographs used.
In particluar, Wolfgang Klopfer has located advertisements in the classified columns of Autoweek between 1970 and 1976 and Gerr Measures has added other advertisements from the late 1980's and early 1990's. Race results have been drawn from Formula 1 Register Fact Book: Formula 5000 1968-1971 and Formula 1 Register Fact Book: Formula 5000 1972-1981 augmented and corrected by Wolfgang's research as required.
A note on chassis number identification
The chassis numbers above are not the numbers that necessarily appeared on the cars at the time but are derived from Lotus build records. The actual numbers on the build sheets are shown below. They do not agree completely with numbers used in Paul Sheldon's Formula 1 Register Fact Books. The identification of the Wintersteen and Smothers cars came from James Bennett, based to some extent on the Smothers bodywork still being with Richard Drewett's car when he bought it.
| Number | Lotus build sheet |
Formula 1 Register |
|---|---|---|
| 68/70-01 | None | Not given |
| 70-02 | MK70/C5/F1/2 | 70-02 |
| 70-03 | 70/F1/CA3 | Not given |
| 70-04 | 70-C5-F1-4 | Not given |
| 70-05 | 70-CA-S-5 | Not given |
| 70-06 | 70-F5-F1-6 | 70-04 |
| 70B-01 | 7170/F5/F1 | Not given |
| 70B-02 | 7170/F5/F2 | Not given |
| 70B-03 | 7170/F5/F3 | Not given |