Lotus 38 Indy winner

[John Z. Goriup]

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Using the winter months to catalogue & better manage my automotive / motorsports images, and in the process ran across this shot of one of the most important and seminal racing cars of all time, that did more to alter American racing than any other. Jim Clark drove this car to victory in the 49th running of the famous Indianpolis 500 mile race in May of '65 in dominant fashion, becoming the first and only driver to win Indianapolis and the F-1 world title in the same year, after deciding to skip the Monaco Grand Prix , so he could practice,  qualify and comp[ete in the Indy affair.

Owned by the Ford Motor Company and stored in their Museum in Detroit, I never thought I'd actually get to see this car in the metal, it was shown at the Pebble Beach Concours in a year when Indy cars were the leitmotif of the Concours.

For those interested in technical details, note that the right side suspension arms are longer than the left side, to provide more even balance since the oval at Indy has only left turns

Leicxa M-9, 35mm Summicron Vers. IV

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JZG

[stuny]

Lovely.  Clark still ranks as one of my favorite drivers.

[Graham (G4FUJ)]

Mine too, Stuart. I was hoping to visit the Jim Clark museum last September when in the area, but it was closed all 2018 for a revamp.

Several years ago I did a tour of Lotus (together with a few Morgan pals), which included their heritage racing department. One of the guys in the workshops was a Lotus racing mechanic during Jim Clark's competition days. A very interesting gent to talk to.

Lovely photo John.