1961 Lotus 21

This is a photograph that I took at the Donington Park Museum in October 1989.

It’s a 1961 Lotus 21, and the book ‘Great Racing Cars of the Donington Collection’says this about it:

 

The Lotus 21

Chapman’s slimline

 

For 1961 and the new 1½-litre Formula, Lotus produced a Formula Junior-based car which was a great improvement on the Lotus 18 both technically and aesthetically.The sleek Formula Junior 20 was in full production by the time the Lotus 21 made its debut in the Monaco Grand Prix. The new car was very small and sleek, although the body had a larger cross-section than the Junior to house 30 gallons of fuel; also bigger wheels were fitted to cope with its greater performance potential.

The front suspension was new, with coil-springs and dampers tucked away within the bodywork, and at the rear the drive-shafts were relieved of their wheel location duties. The four-cylinder Climax engine was canted at 18 degrees to reduce its overall height, and German ZF all-synchromesh transmission was adopted.

Team Lotus raced their 21s throughout the season, and although Innes Ireland had a bad crash first time out in the tunnel at Monaco, he won the United States GP at Watkins Glen right at the end of the year, and also won non-championship races in Austria and Germany. At last Team Lotus had won a major Grand Prix in their own right.