Lotus 12

 ( Formula Two Cars ) 

The Lotus 12 was a England racing car used in Formula Two and Formula One. It debuted at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix and was Colin Chapman's first single-seat racer.

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Design Colin Chapman's first foray into single-seater racing, the 12 appeared in 1958. It featured a number of important innovations Chapman would use on later models. To better use the power of the Coventry Climax engine, it was designed, as usual, for low weight and low aerodynamic drag, relying on a space frame. It placed the driver as low as possible, reducing the height of transmission tunnel by way of a "conceptually brilliant" five-speed sequential-shift transaxle located in the back. This transaxle was designed by Richard Ansdale and Harry Mundy. The gearbox had a (long-undiagnosed) oil starvation problem, thus earned the nickname "Queerbox" for its unreliability.

Although the first two examples of Lotus 12 had De Dion rear suspension, it also introduced a new suspension configuration with what came to be called "" in the rear, essentially a MacPherson strut with a fixed length halfshaft with on the ends utilised as a suspension arm.Setright, pp. 1225–6

Lotus 12 was the first Lotus to be fitted with the iconic .

Karl Ludvigsen (2025). 9781844254132, Haynes Publishing. ISBN 9781844254132

Reflecting Chapman's emphasis on engineering for lightness, these were cast in magnesium alloy, a kind of crimped cylinder, resulting in minimum material and maximum strength, without the weaknesses induced by slots in conventional designs.Setright, p. 1225

Despite its engineering advances, the 12 was not a success in F1. In F2, the car won the class in the mixed F1/F2 1958 BRDC International Trophy, driven by Cliff Allison, but in spite of a small number of podiums, was usually drowned in a sea of Coopers.

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Gallery Lotus 12 Donington.jpg|Lotus 12 in the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition in 2007 Lotus 12.jpg|Lotus 12, Chassis No. 353 in 2010 Lotus 12 Chassis No 353 of 1958.JPG|Lotus 12, Chassis No. 353 in 2013

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Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Team Lotus

Coventry Climax Straight-4

ARG

MON

NED

500

BEL

FRA

GBR

GER

POR

ITA

MOR ! rowspan="4"

3 ! rowspan="4"

6th

Cliff Allison

6

6

4

Ret

10

7

10

Graham Hill

Ret

Ret

Ret

Ecurie Demi Litre

Ivor Bueb

11*

Dennis Taylor

Coventry Climax Straight-4

MON

500

NED

FRA

GBR

GER

POR

ITA

USA

! rowspan="2" 5 ! rowspan="2"

4th

Dennis Taylor

DNQ

All points scored using the Lotus 16.
     

* F2 driver

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Notes

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Sources

• Setright, L. J. K. Lotus: The golden mean, in Northey, Tom (ed.) World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, pp. 1221–34.

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