1971 Lotus 72

This car contested the F.O.R.C.E. Pre-1972 Grand Prix Cars Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's the 1971 Lotus 72 of Mike Littlewood and is chassis R6, the car with which Ronnie Peterson won the French, Austrian, Italian and USA Grands Prix of 1973. The Lotus 72 was designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Phillippe and had several innovative features including an air intake above the rear engine, inboard brakes, and radiators in side pods instead of the front of he car enabling a wedge shaped and more aerodynamic nose. It was powered by the 2,993cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine and competed in Grand Prix races for six seasons, from 1970 to 1975, winning the World Constructors' Championship three times, in 1970, 1972 and 1973. Lotus Team drivers Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Ronnie Peterson won 20 Grand Prix races between them in that time, Jochen Rindt winning the World Drivers' Championship in 1970 despite losing his life in an accident during practice for the Italian Grand Prix late in the season. Emerson Fittipaldi won the 1972 World Drivers' Championship in the car, but it became increasingly less competitive over the next three seasons and was replaced in 1976 by the Lotus 77.