Lotus 58

The Force Pre-1972 Grand Prix Cars race at the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park in August 2002 included classes for Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 cars. The photograph below shows one of the cars in the Formula 2 class.

It's the 1968 Lotus 58 FVA of Malcolm Ricketts. This car was designed by Colin Chapman with DeDion front and rear suspension to try to keep the wheels vertical when cornering, in order to take advantage of the increased grip offered by the wider tyres that had been introduced in 1967. The wedge-shaped profile of the car also helped in this respect. The car was due to be tested by Jim Clark when he returned from the Hockenheim Formula 2 race, but sadly he was killed in an accident in that race and the testing was eventually carried out by Graham Hill and John Miles. They reported that although the handling of the car was excellent it was just too slow, so the project was shelved and the car was never raced in period.