1959 Lotus 16

I took this photo at Lodge Corner in the Cheshire Building Society's Allcomers' Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in Jun 1981.

It’s Bruce Halford in his 1959 Lotus 16 which has a 2,495cc straight-4 Coventry Climax FPF engine. Bruce Halford raced in Formula One from 1956 to 1960, firstly with a Maserati 250F, then a Lotus 16 in 1959 and with Cooper T45 and T51 in 1960. In the mid-1970s he bought this Lotus 16 and competed at Historic meetings himself for several years. The Lotus 16 was raced by Team Lotus, and private entrants, from 1958 to 1960 with little success in World Championship races. Colin Chapman had to wait until the Monaco Grand Prix of 1960 for his first Lotus victory, achieved by Stirling Moss in Rob Walker's Lotus 18.

1958 Lotus 16

I took this photograph on a visit to the Donington Park museum in October 1989.

It's a 1958 Lotus 16 Grand Prix car, and the book 'Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection' says this about it:

The Lotus 16

a proper Grand Prix car

Working from experience with the Lotus 12 and also the successful Vanwall, for whose chassis design he had been responsible, Colin Chapman introduced the complex Lotus 16 to Grand Prix racing at Reims in 1958. Frank Costin designed the new car’s body, and it was no surprise that the family resemblance to the Vanwall was unmistakable.

Chapman’s concept of the 16 was a very light car with a competitive power-to-weight ratio. The body shape was intended to reduce drag and give a high maximum speed, and the all-independent coil-spring suspension was intended to promote superior road-holding in corners. To achieve a low frontal area the Coventry-Climax engine was canted at 17 degrees to the nearside, and raked at 10½ degrees to the car’s centreline to run the propellor shaft down its left side. This allowed the driver to be seated low down beside the shaft. The drive-line was complex and the Lotus-developed gearbox which had a gearchange similar to a motor-cycle was to prove extremely troublesome – as it had in the earlier Lotus 12s.

The Lotus 16 seldom made a great impression, and its Chapman strut rear suspension – subsequently adopted on the road-going Elite – proved too efficient for the front suspension. The car tended to unstick its front wheels first, and was plagued by understeer throughout its one-and-a-half season life. Graham Hill, Innes Ireland, Cliff Allison and Alan Stacey drove the cars – Ireland putting in the best performance on his Grand Prix debut when he finished fourth in Holland.

The Donington car is No. 363 - the very first Mark 16 – and after performing nobly in historic racing events in the hands of John Le Sage it was acquired by Tom Wheatcroft in first-class condition.

 

1959 Lotus 16

This was one of the competitors in the HGPCA Pre '60 GP Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996.

It's the 1959 Lotus 16 of Philip Walker and has a 4-cylinder inline 2,495cc Coventry Climax FPF engine. The first Grand Prix race for the Lotus 16 was the 1958 French Grand Prix where the car's 1,964cc Coventry Climax engine proved to be severely underpowered for the very fast Reims circuit and Graham Hill retired the car on lap 19 with an overheating engine. By 1959 the car was fitted with the 2,467cc Coventry Climax FPF engine, but the front-engined cars were now outclassed by the rear-engined ones and the Lotus 16 never achieved great success, the best efforts being Innes Ireland's fourth place in the Dutch Grand Prix and fifth place in the USA Grand Prix. Eight of the cars were built and Philip Walker's car is Chassis 368.

1959 Lotus 16

This car is at Lodge Corner during the Historic Car Championship race at the Aston Martin Owners Club's meeting at Oulton Park in September 1986.

It’s Anthony Mayman in Bruce Halford’s 1959 Lotus 16 which has a 2,495cc straight-4 Coventry Climax FPF engine. Bruce Halford raced in Formula One from 1956 to 1960, firstly with a Maserati 250F, then a Lotus 16 in 1959 and with Cooper T45 and T51 in 1960. In the mid-1970s he bought this Lotus 16 and competed at Historic meetings himself for several years. The Lotus 16 was raced by Team Lotus, and private entrants, from 1958 to 1960 with little success in World Championship races. Colin Chapman had to wait until the Monaco Grand Prix of 1960 for his first Lotus victory, achieved by Stirling Moss in Rob Walker's Lotus 18.

1959 Lotus 16

This car took part in the Allcomers Scratch Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's Richard Seaman Memorial Trophies meeting at Oulton Park in June 1973.

It's the 1959 Lotus 16 of John Roberts, a car previously campaigned in historic racing by Bill Wilks. The first Grand Prix race for the Lotus 16 was the 1958 French Grand Prix where the car's 1,964cc Coventry Climax engine proved to be severely underpowered for the very fast Reims circuit and Graham Hill retired the car on lap 19 with an overheating engine. By 1959 the car was fitted with the 2,467cc Coventry Climax FPF engine, but the front-engined cars were now outclassed by the rear-engined ones and the Lotus 16 never achieved great success, the best efforts being Innes Ireland's fourth place in the Dutch Grand Prix and fifth place in the USA Grand Prix. Eight of the cars were built and John Roberts' car is Chassis 365,

 

Maserati & Lotus

I took this photograph at Luffield Corner during the Chopard Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.

Leading the race is the 1957 Maserati 250F, chassis 2531, of Thomas Bscher, a car that was built with a 2,491cc V12 engine instead of the usual 2,490cc straight-6 unit. When Maserati disbanded the racing team at the end of the 1957 season the car was sold minus the engine and at one point acquired a Chevrolet V8 engine which was later replaced with a 3 litre V12 unit from a Maserati Tipo 63. The programme of the Silverstone event shows the engine capacity as 2,500cc. The car challenging the Maserati for the lead is the 2,200cc 1958 Lotus 16 of Chris Drake followed by the Maserati 250F of Jeffrey Pattinson, Tony Smith's Aston Martin DBR4 and what looks to be the ERA R9B of Peter Mann.

On 5 September 2015 I showed photographs of the Maserati 250F V12 that I had taken at Donington Park in  2005.

Lotus 16

This car competed in the Ron Flockhart Memorial Trophy race at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2007.

It's Philip Walker's 1959 Lotus 16, a car designed to compete in both Formula 1 and Formula 2 races, the bodywork being designed by Frank Costin who was responsible for the aerodynamic body of the 1956 Vanwall. Philip Walker's car has a 2,495cc engine, presumably the 4-cylinder inline Coventry Climax FPF unit. The Lotus 16 was campaigned by Lotus from 1958 till early 1960 when it was superseded by the Lotus 18, and its best result in that time was fourth place in the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix driven by Innes Ireland. Eight cars were produced in that period, and it seems that this car is chassis #368.

On 3 September 2014 I showed a photograph of Philip Walker in this car at Oulton Park in 1996.

Lotus 16

This car competed in the Flockhart Trophy Race at the Vintage Sports Car Club's SeeRed meeting at Donington Park in September 2006.

It's Philip Walker's 1959 Lotus 16 with what the programme of the event says is a 2,495cc engine - presumably the 4-cylinder Coventry Climax FPF unit. The Lotus 16 was raced by Team Lotus, and private entrants, from 1958 to 1960 with little success in World Championship races. Colin Chapman had to wait until the Monaco Grand Prix of 1960 for his first Lotus victory, achieved by Stirling Moss in Rob Walker's Lotus 18.

On 3 September 2014 I showed a photograph of Philip Walker in this car at Oulton Park in 1996.

The Flockhart Trophy Race

I took this photograph at Redgate corner on the first lap of the Flockhart Trophy Race at Donington Park at the VSCC's SeeRed meeting in June 2008.

Leading is Philip Walker in his 1959 2½ litre Lotus 16 from the 1957 2 litre Cooper T43 of Andrew Smith. Behind them is the 1958 3.8 litre Lister Jaguar Monza of Rod Jolley, and at the rear is Hubert Fabri's 1957 3 litre Aston Martin DBR4 just behind Ian Nuthall's 1952 2 litre Alta F2.

Lotus, ERA, Cooper Bristol

The VSCC's Richard Seaman Trophies Meeting at Oulton Park in June 1982 was run on the short circuit which leaves the main circuit just after the Cascades corner, and rejoins it just before Knickerbrook. This photograph was taken during the Cheshire Building Society Allcomers Race at Fosters corner which is between Cascades and Knickerbrook.

In the lead here is Bruce Halford in a 1959 Lotus 16 with a 2,495cc straight-4 Coventry Climax FPF engine. Bruce Halford raced in Formula One from 1956 to 1960, firstly with a Maserati 250F, then a Lotus 16 in 1959 and with Cooper T45 and T51 in 1960. In the mid-1970s he bought this Lotus 16 and competed at Historic meetings for several years. Behind the Lotus is the 1936 ERA R5B 'Remus' of the Hon. Patrick Lindsay with the Straight-6 1,982cc supercharged version of the ERA engine. I showed a photograph of this car, and other ERAs competing at this meeting, on 29 October 2012. Bringing up the rear is Roddy MacPherson in a 1,971cc straight-6 Bristol engined Cooper MkII (or T23). On 30 April 2014 I showed photographs that I had taken at this meeting of three Cooper Bristols, including one of this car.

Lotus 16

On 27 August I showed a photograph of a Lotus 12, the first single-seater racing car built by Colin Chapman. In the same race at that August 1996 Oulton Park VSCC meeting was a car which was the successor of the Lotus 12, the Lotus 16, shown here being driven by Philip Walker at Lodge Corner.

It was an improved version of the Lotus 12 with the bodywork designed by Frank Costin who also designed the Vanwall, to which it bears a passing resemblance. Like the Lotus 12 though it didn't have much success, being dogged by unreliability problems.