1968 Lotus 49

This is one of the cars that took part in a paddock display and track demonstrations to celebrate 50 years of the Formula One World Championship at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 2000.

It's the ex-Rob Walker 1968 Lotus 49, chassis R7, and it was driven in the track demonstrations by Jackie Oliver. The Lotus 49 was designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1967 F1 season and, like many of the other teams, the car was powered by the 2,998cc V8 Ford Cosworth DFV engine. The Lotus 49 continued to compete in World Championship races until 1970, twice being updated as the 49B and then the 49C. Jackie Oliver never drove for Rob Walker, but was a Team Lotus driver with the Lotus 49 in 1968, finishing in 15th place in the World Championship with his best finish being third place in the Mexican Grand Prix. The Rob Walker car was driven in 1968 and 1969 by Jo Siffert who finished in seventh place in 1968, winning the British Grand Prix, and in ninth place in 1969 with his best effort being second place at Zandvoort in the Dutch Grand Prix. In 1970 the car was driven by Graham Hill, but he didn't manage a podium finish and was thirteenth in the Drivers' World Championship.

Lotus 49

This is one of the cars I photographed at the Donington Park Museum on a visit in March 1996.

It's a 1968 Lotus 49 which has a 2,998cc Ford Cosworth DFV engine. The Lotus 49 was introduced in 1967, and despite reliability problems Jim Clark managed four wins to finish second in that year's World Drivers' Championship, although Graham Hill only managed to finish in two of the Grands Prix that season. Jim Clark won the first race of the 1968 Championship in South Africa and Graham Hill finished the race in second place. This was the last race for Lotus with their traditional green livery with a yellow stripe as the following race in Spain was the first appearance of the car with its new John Player's Gold Leaf livery - as seen in the above photograph. Graham Hill was now team leader as Jim Clark had died in an accident in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim, and he won the Spanish Grand Prix and two other races to end the season as World Champion, Lotus winning the Constructors' Championship. 1969 was not such a successful season, the team only managing to win two races, one each for Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt, and Jochen Rindt only won one race in the car in the 1970 season before it was replaced by the Lotus 72. The car at Donington Park was chassis R12, a car built for Ford for promotional purposes, but was never raced in period as a new Lotus 49B had been produced before the car was released by Ford.

Lotus 49

Here's a couple of photographs I took at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1993.

This car was in a display of 'British Racing Green' and is the Lotus 49 driven by Jim Clark in the 1967 season when he finished in third place in the World Championship for Drivers, and in which he won the first race of the 1968 season, but died in an accident in a Formula 2 race at Hockenhein before the next race. Team mate Graham Hill went on to win the World Championship that year in his Lotus 49. In 1969 Jochen Rindt was the highest placed Lotus driver in one of these cars, finishing in fourth place, whilst Graham Hill was seventh. The team started the first four races of the 1970 season with the Lotus 49, but this was superseded by the Lotus 72 for the remaining races.

This car is the Lotus 49 of the Rob Walker team which competed in the 1968, 1969 and early 1970 seasons.

Lotus were second in the Constructors Championship in 1967, won the title in 1968 and finished in third place in 1969.