Lotus 56

Lotus 56
Lotus 56B

Indy 500

Joe Leonard's Lotus 56 at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Lotus 56 on a Demonstration run.

The Lotus 56 used a modified version of the ST6 gas turbine used on the STP-Paxton Turbocar ("Silent Sam") that almost won in 1967. The ST6 was based on a small aircraft engine that would become one of the most popular turboprop aircraft engines in history. But the car itself was an entirely new and more advanced design which introduced a distinctive aerodynamic wedge-shaped body rather than a cigar-shape, just a few years before the introduction of front and rear wings.^[1] USAC, the governing body of the Indy 500, had implemented new rules aimed at handicapping turbine powered racing cars by drastically reducing the air intake size. The Lotus 56 made up for reduced power with a sophisticated suspension design, retaining the 4 wheel drive concept of the Silent Sam, but with lighter weight, and advanced aerodynamics.

Lotus had suffered the death of Lotus' ace driver Jim Clark in a Formula 2 race in Germany. Mike Spence was killed at Indianapolis while testing one of four 56s built. The remaining three cars with Graham Hill, Joe Leonard, and Art Pollard were entered for the race, with Leonard claiming pole position. Unlike the year before, when the STP-Paxton Turbocar easily outperformed the other cars in the race, in the race the turbine cars were relatively evenly matched with the other top contenders, much of which must be attributed to aerodynamics and chassis design and not to the turbine engine. Hill's car crashed, Pollard's car broke down, while Leonard was leading with just a handful of laps to go when the a fuel pump shaft failed. Shortly thereafter, the USAC imposed additional restrictions on turbine cars that essentially removed them from competition. For the second year in a row STP turbine cars had brought innovation to the Indy 500 and had failed to win while leading within a few laps of the end of the race. USAC subsequently banned turbine cars and four-wheel drive completely, but it was unusual enough that Mattel produced as model as the "Lotus Turbine" as one of the popular mass-produced die cast Hot Wheels cars.

In 1971 the Lotus 56 was raced in Formula 1 on occasion by Team Lotus but the large fuel tanks required to allow it to run an entire race without refueling left it overweight and uncompetitive.

The Lotus 56, while never winning a race, demonstrated the importance of aerodynamics in racing cars, along with Jim Hall's Chaparrals, and effectively set the mold for open wheeled racing cars for the next ten years. Chapman's Lotus 72 employed the same wedge nose shape and went on to win three world championships in Formula 1.

Formula One

Colin Chapman developed the 56 as a potential F1 contender, part of his plan to have a single design to compete at both the Indy 500 and in Formula 1, but it was too heavy and never competitive. The car was designated as the 56B and Emerson Fittipaldi tried it in the 1971 Race of Champions and International Trophy non-Championship meetings. At Brands Hatch, during wet practice, the 56 was far and away the fastest car on the track, but the race was held in dry weather and the car was lost in midfield. At the Silverstone-based International Trophy, the car only lasted three laps of the first heat before suspension failure forced Fittipaldi's retirement. Dave Walker ran the car in the Dutch Grand Prix, and had progressed from 22nd to 10th in five laps of the very wet track, before sliding off the road and into retirement. Fittipaldi used the car again in that year's 1971 Italian Grand Prix and managed to bring the fragile design home 8th.

Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Engine	Tyres	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WCC	Pts.
1971	Gold Leaf Team Lotus World Wide Racing	Pratt & Whitney ST6 gas turbine	F		RSA	ESP	MON	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA	0	NC
				Dave Walker				Ret
				Reine Wisell						NC
				Emerson Fittipaldi									8

Formula One non-championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Tyres	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1971	Gold Leaf Team Lotus	F		ARG	ROC	QUE	SPR	INT	RIN	OUL	VIC
			Emerson Fittipaldi		Ret			Ret
			Reine Wisell				Ret

Notes

↑ PT6 nation

Lotus production car timeline, 1950–present
Type	1950s										1960s										1970s										1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s
Type	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6
Sports racer					Mark VIII	Mark IX	Eleven		15	17	19		23		30	40		47		62
Sports racer			Mark VI					Seven																																											340R							2-Eleven
Roadster													Elan																											Elan M100							Elise					Elise
Coupé									Elite							Elan																																			Exige				Exige								Exige
Coupé																									Eclat									Excel																										Evora
Grand tourer																		Elan +2							Elite
Grand tourer																		Europa									Esprit																														Europa S
Saloon														Ford Cortina Lotus				Ford Cortina Lotus																							Carlton/Omega
Race cars	Mark I Mark II Mark III Mark IV Mark V 12 16 17 18 20 21 22 24 25 27 29 31 32 33 34 38 39 41 42 43 44 48 49 56 59 61 63 64 69 70 72 73 74 76 77 78 79 80 81 86 87 88 91 92 93T 94T 95T 96T 97T 98T 99T 100T 101 102 107 109 112 114 115 119 T125 T127 T128 F1 T128 LMP E20 E21 E22 E23 Hybrid
Related cars	Caterham Seven Ford Cortina Lotus Talbot Sunbeam Lotus DeLorean DMC-12 Hennessey Venom GT Isuzu Piazza Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 Opel Lotus Omega/Vauxhall Lotus Carlton Kia Elan Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 Tesla Roadster Proton EMAS
Concept cars	M90 APX Ethos
Key figures	Colin Chapman Tony Rudd Romano Artioli Dany Bahar
Group Lotus	Official website Lotus Cars Lotus Engineering Team Lotus Lotus F1

Cars that competed in the 1971 Formula One season

Bellasi F1 Brabham BT26A Brabham BT33 Brabham BT34 BRM P153 BRM P160 Ferrari 312B Ferrari 312B2 Lotus 56B Lotus 69 Lotus 72C/72D March 701 March 711 Matra MS120B McLaren M7C McLaren M14A McLaren M19A Surtees TS7 Surtees TS9 Tyrrell 001 Tyrrell 002 Tyrrell 003

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