Lotus 17

The Lotus 17 was a sports racing car that Lotus Cars built in 1959 as Colin Chapman's answer to the Lola Mk1, which by late 1958 was beating the older Lotus Eleven. Len Terry designed it from Chapman's ideas, and it was the last front-engined sports racing car Lotus made. It was the first Lotus sports racer with a glass fibre body, with a very low frontal area, Chapman strut rear suspension and a declared dry weight of 340 kg, the lightest multi-seat production Lotus ever made. Small Coventry Climax engines of 742 cc, 1,098 cc and 1,216 cc powered it. At its first race in early April 1959 the front struts bent and bound under racing loads, and although conventional wishbones replaced them and were offered to every owner, racing had moved on. Only 21 cars were built, and the Lotus 19 replaced it in 1960.