Lotus 41

The Lotus 41 was a Lotus Formula Three and Formula Two racing car that ran from 1966 to 1968. John Joyce, the founder of Bowin Cars and then Lotus chief designer, designed it with the help of Dave Baldwin, starting from a clean sheet of paper. Its chassis was a welded tubular steel space frame, since the racing classes of the period set minimum weights and steel could be used in place of aluminium without a penalty. The most notable feature was the extensive use of stressed steel panels in the bulkheads, around the footwell and instrument panel, round the driver's shoulder and in a double-sided cradle around the gearbox, with welded floors for extra stiffness. The rear bulkhead doubled as an oil overflow collector, and even the front oil tank overflow was routed through the chassis tubes to the back. The Formula Two chassis was also considered as the base of a sports-racing car using the 500 bhp Type 868 V8, but nothing came of it.