Car · Team Lotus · 1970–1975
Lotus 72
Twelve miles an hour quicker than the 49 on the same engine. The 72 raced for six seasons, which nothing else of its era managed, and it won the 1970 title for a driver who had died at Monza with four rounds to go - Rindt remains the only posthumous World Champion.
- Seasons
- 1970–1975
- Variants
- 4
- Entries
- 62
- Wins
- 5
- Poles
- 3
- Fastest laps
- 0
- Constructors' titles
- 3
- Drivers' titles
- 2
Why it mattered
The idea. Move the mass to the middle, get the radiators out of the nose, and make the whole car a wedge
New on this car. Side-mounted radiators in the sidepods, freeing the nose to be a pure aerodynamic wedge; inboard brakes to cut unsprung weight; torsion-bar suspension with anti-dive and anti-squat geometry
What it did. 75 races, 20 wins, 17 poles. Drivers' titles for Rindt (1970) and Fittipaldi (1972); constructors' in 1970, 1972 and 1973.
Variants 4
| Chassis | Seasons | Engine | Power (bhp) | Wheelbase (mm) | Races | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72B | 1970 | Ford Cosworth DFV | 465 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 72C | 1970–1971 | Ford Cosworth DFV | 465 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 72D | 1971–1973 | Ford Cosworth DFV | 465 | — | 13 | 5 |
| 72E | 1973–1975 | — | — | — | 15 | 0 |
Specification — 72B
- Chassis
- Aluminium monocoque
- Front suspension
- Double wishbone, inboard spring/damper.
- Rear suspension
- Parallel top links, lower wishbones, twin radius arms, outboard spring/damper
- Brakes
- inboard disc
- Gearbox
- Hewland FG400
- Gears
- 5-speed
- Tyres
- 1970–1972, 1974: Firestone ; 1974: Goodyear
- Fuel
- 1970–1971: Shell; 1972–1975: Texaco
- Engine
- Ford Cosworth DFV
- Configuration
- V8
- Capacity
- 2,993 cc
- Aspiration
- naturally aspirated
- Power
- 465 bhp
- Power note
- 440-465 hp @ 10,000-10,800 rpm
- Weight
- —
- Wheelbase
- —
- Track, front
- —
- Track, rear
- —
A blank is a figure nobody published for this car. Where several teams quote the same number in a season it is usually the rule they were all built to rather than a measurement, so it is kept with the regulation limits instead of here.
Seasons that cannot be attributed 2
Every entry 62 entries
Show all 62 entriesShow the first 10, Every entry
Where this comes from
- Constructor
- Team Lotus
- Predecessor
- 49 / 63
- Successor
- 56B / 76 / 77
- Races (published)
- 75
- Wins (published)
- 20
- Poles (published)
- 17
- Confidence
- reference
- Specification source
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_72
- Register source
- https://github.com/f1db/f1db