Lotus Reveals Type 66, a Can-Am Racer You Can Buy

• Lotus has simply revealed a Kind 66 for the fashionable period, bearing the identical identify as a automotive that was as soon as proposed, however by no means constructed, to enter the 1970 Can-Am championship.
• A run of 10 vehicles can be constructed, every with a seven-figure value.
• The track-only particular may have a period-correct V-8, a contemporary sequential gearbox, and ABS.

Whereas there have been loads of Continuation fashions from long-established automakers, the Lotus Kind 66 is one thing totally different: a newly constructed model of a historic automotive that was designed, however by no means constructed. Now the British sports-car maker has introduced plans to create a run of simply 10 of a contemporary tackle what was initially proposed to be a Can-Am race automotive. Every of those track-only specials can be priced within the seven figures, and we’re promised they’ll have efficiency akin to that of a present GT3 race automotive.

Lotus dropped a teaser for this automotive final yr, on the similar time we have been advised that it will be produced by the corporate’s new Lotus Superior Efficiency division. Now the Kind 66 has simply been revealed at The Quail in Monterey, the place Lotus has launched it as “testomony to the model’s need to reimagine the very best parts of its heritage, updating them in essentially the most exhilarating means attainable.”

The apparent historic anachronism is that Lotus by no means competed in the Can-Am series. The Canadian-American Problem Cup began in 1966, working a calendar that mixed races in each Canada and the USA, and shortly established itself as some of the viscerally thrilling collection in motorsport’s most enjoyable (and harmful) period. Can-Am was run below Group 7 laws for what have been nominally two-seat vehicles, however with minimal technical restrictions. Can-Am vehicles quickly had power-to-weight ratios superior to these of latest Method 1 vehicles.

53 Years Later, It Involves Life

Lola and McLaren dominated the early period of Can-Am, however Lotus put critical consideration into creating its personal entry within the late Sixties. Lotus founder Colin Chapman ordered Group Lotus draftsman Geoff Ferris to provide you with a design for a Group 7 racer. That by no means went past technical drawings and scale fashions, nevertheless it has been delivered to life 53 years later with the Kind 66.

The brand new Kind 66 would not have been attainable with out sketches and designs provided by Clive Chapman, Colin’s son and now the managing director of Traditional Group Lotus. Apparently, many of those have been present in a fireproof case containing 28 rolls of microfilm, a few of which contained pictures of the Can-Am undertaking relationship from September 1969. These have been by no means was a full-size automotive as Lotus was too busy with quite a few different motorsport commitments, but when the undertaking had gone forward it will possible have change into the Kind 66.

The brand new automotive is completed in a period-appropriate shade of pink, white, and gold, the colours the Method 1 group competed in due to Lotus’s pioneering tobacco sponsorship on the time. Different improvements are additionally shared with the group’s F1 vehicles of the period, together with the usage of side-mounted radiators. On the rear is an unlimited rear-width wing, which has seen considerably extra improvement work than would have been attainable within the early Nineteen Seventies: Lotus says that greater than 1000 hours of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modeling has gone into creating the Kind 66. The corporate quotes a peak downforce determine of greater than 1764 kilos at 150 mph, a determine it says is greater than the automotive’s complete weight.

The unique Lotus Can-Am proposal by no means superior far sufficient to achieve an engine, though it will have virtually definitely adopted the instance of rivals and raced with American V-8 energy. McLaren used Chevrolet engines all through its period of dominance, with the big-block 8.3-liter engine within the 1971 M8F reported as making over 800 horsepower.

Whose Engine?

Lotus hasn’t confirmed which producer’s engine can be within the Kind 66 however says that it will likely be a “period-representative V-8 pushrod.” This has a cast aluminum crank, pistons and con rods, plus a spectacular set of particular person induction trumpets, and is focusing on an influence output of an estimated 819 horsepower at 8800 rpm and 550 pound-feet at 7400 rpm.

The brand new automotive’s construction can be much less interval applicable, with a central carbon-fiber tub. Physique panels can be aluminum, so it will not look too trendy, and Lotus says it’s going to additionally function electrical energy steering, a contemporary sequential racing transmission with an anti-stall system, and even an ABS system. Throughout simulator testing it has matched the efficiency of a GT3 race automotive, and Lotus says that on circuits like Laguna Seca it ought to really be faster.

Tempted? Do not wait too lengthy to get your identify onto the listing; Lotus says it is just going to supply 10, with every costing “in extra of £1 million.” That is almost $1.3 million at present change charges.