![]() ![]() At that time it was really an unknown animal". We could not sell them a revolutionary car which might not work at all and might need a long and expensive development programme. At the time though, Lotus was also developing the Lotus 24 which was built like a traditional spaceframe: "I'd never seen one before and we didn't know if it would work. In both the left and right boxes fuel is carried in rubber tanks to use the internal space in the frame.īecause of the solid structure moulded as one part, this car is known as being the first monocoque ever in F1. The car's main structure was made out of box sections built around the drivers seat. ![]() ![]() The resulting stiffness allowed Lotus to use more supple suspension which offered great advantages in slower, tighter turns. The main benefits of this design were increased torsional rigidity for lees weight and with a smaller frontal area. Out of an idea sketched on a restaurant napkin an aluminium space frame was developed which was structurally stronger and lighter thanks to L72 aluminium alloy used in the frame. While the Formula One grid at the time was filled with tubular steel frame chassis, Lotus designer Colin Chapman thought out an idea to replace the frame with a new type of structure.
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