Lotus 23

The Lotus 23 was a small-displacement sports racing car that Colin Chapman designed for FIA Group 4 racing in 1962 and 1963. It was nominally a two-seater and, unlike the earlier Lotus 15 and 17, carried its engine amidships behind the driver, as on the Lotus 19. To meet the rules it had regulation trunk space, a windscreen wiper, a horn, headlights and tail lights and a licence plate light. It used a wider version of the Lotus 22 space frame under a fibreglass body, with engines of 750 to 1300 cc and a Renault or Hewland transaxle. It debuted at the 1962 Nuerburgring 1000 km race, where Jim Clark led before crashing out. Lotus 23B and 23C versions followed, and about 130 were built in period.