Monday, 05 September 2005 10:24 Team Lotus was one of Formula
1's most successful teams. 1950s - A New Presence The following
year the Lotus 12 appeared. Driving one in 1958 Allison won the
F2 class in the International Trophy at Silverstone beating
Stuart Lewis-Evans's Cooper. The remarkable Coventry Climax
powered Type 14, the Lotus Cars production version of which was
the original Lotus Elite, won six class victories, plus the
"Index of Performance" several times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
race. As the Coventry Climax engines were enlarged in 1958 to
2.2-liters Chapman decided to enter Grand Prix racing, running a
pair of Lotus 12s at Monaco in 1958 for Graham Hill and Cliff
Allison. These were replaced later that year by Lotus 16s. In
1959 - by which time the Coventry Climax engines had been
stretched to 2.5-liters - Chapman continued with a front-engined
F1 cars but achieved little, and so in 1960 Chapman switched to
the milestone mid-engined Lotus 18. By then the company's
success had caused it to expan