Lotus 21 Race Car

Class	Race Car
Constructor	Lotus
Year	1961 to 1962
Engine	Climax engine
Transmission	manual

The Lotus 21 was a  racing car built in the 1960s by the British motorsport team Lotus.

History

For 1961 Chapman produced the 21 Grand Prix car, with a space-frame constructed from smaller diameter tubing, a sleeker body and powered by the 1.5-litre 4-cylinder twin-cam Climax engine.

The Lotus 21 was an interim solution derived from the Lotus 20 . On the one hand, the Lotus 18 was maxed out, on the other hand, the Lotus 20 had been built for the Formula Junior . Although some 20s were upgraded for Formula 1, but the car was only partially suitable for this racing formula. In addition, the British teams were waiting for the promised V8 engine from Climax , but was not finished. Therefore, one had to fall back on the proven FPF engine with the ZF transmission.

In the face of strong Ferrari and Porsche opposition, these cars achieved little success, and their best performances were third place by Jim Clark in the Dutch and French Grands Prix and, in the absence of Ferrari opposition, a win by Innes Ireland in the United States Grand Prix at the end of the season.

The tank was like the Lotus 20 behind the driver, the suspension consisted of double wishbones; the front and rear of the car had external brakes.

His debut was the race car at the Grand Prix of Monaco with Trevor Taylor at the wheel. The big moment for the little car and the Lotus team came at the end of the year when Innes Ireland won the US Grand Prix on a Lotus 21 . It was the first victory for a factory Lotus. Ireland still won four non-World Cup races, but had to leave the team after the season.

Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor won four races in South Africa in the winter of 1961/62, then the Lotus 24 came .

Many privateers, including Stirling Moss (for the team of Rob Walker ), Jack Brabham , Willy Mairesse (drove the Lotus 21 as factory rider), Gerhard Mitter and Jo Siffert drove Formula 1 racing with the Lotus 21.