The Type 56 was built by Lotus for STP, an oil additive manufacturer, for entry in the 1968 Indianapolis 500. Classic Team Lotus
The Type 56 was built by Lotus for STP, an oil additive manufacturer, for entry in the 1968 Indianapolis 500.
The car ran on a turbine engine built by Pratt & Whitney, an aerospace manufacturer. Classic Team Lotus
The car ran on a turbine engine built by Pratt & Whitney, an aerospace manufacturer.
The Type 56 also had a state-of-the-art four-wheel drive system that kept it grippy though corners. Classic Team Lotus
The Type 56 also had a state-of-the-art four-wheel drive system that kept it grippy though corners.
The chimney behind the driver's seat was for exhaust from the engine. Classic Team Lotus
The chimney behind the driver's seat was for exhaust from the engine.
The car hit a 1968 speed record of 171 mph on the Indy 500 track. Classic Team Lotus
The car hit a 1968 speed record of 171 mph on the Indy 500 track.
None of the three 1968 Type 56es finished the race. Two broke down, and the other crashed. Classic Team Lotus
None of the three 1968 Type 56es finished the race. Two broke down, and the other crashed.
This Type 56 was owned by Richard Petty and has been restored to original working order, hopefully for vintage racing. Classic Team Lotus
This Type 56 was owned by Richard Petty and has been restored to original working order, hopefully for vintage racing.
The news coming from Lotus has been lousy of late. The British automaker known for its sports cars is slashing jobs and won’t be building a model year 2015 car (it’s promised something for 2016). This slide from relevance is a real bummer, but it also serves as a reminder of the brand’s career highs. It had the brilliant, lightweight Elise. The James Bond submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me (which Elon Musk bought last year). It made the cars that Hennessey turned into the world’s fastest production car, and that Tesla used for the all-electric Roadster.
Lotus’ racing heritage may be less well known, but it’s equally impressive. Take, for example, the 1968 Lotus Type 56. Made for that year’s Indianapolis 500, it was one of the most technologically advanced race cars ever made. It was gas-powered, but instead of a traditional internal combustion engine, it had a turbine engine, similar to what you find on jet aircraft.
Unlike a traditional internal combustion engine using pistons, a turbine system sucks air into a combustion chamber where the high-pressure hot air ignites to power a fan, which turns the driveshaft. The engine used by Lotus was light, produced a ton of power, and had a simple drivetrain, all of which made the car wicked fast. When paired with its four-wheel drive system, the Type 56 became a asphalt-gripping rocket. Like a jet engine, the turbine powerplant guzzled fuel, and the design required the installation of an exhaust chimney behind the driver’s seat.
The idea to use the turbine came from Andy Granatelli, head of STP, a motor oil company and prominent auto racing sponsor. STP had entered a different turbine-powered car in the 1967 Indy 500, whose victory was spoiled by a failed ball bearing three laps before the finish line. So Lotus co-founder Colin Chapman and his design team built the Type 56 around a gasoline-powered turbine engine made by Pratt & Whitney. You know, the aerospace company. The one that makes jet engines.
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The Type 56′s record on the track was brilliant but also frustratingly mediocre. Lotus brought three cars to the 1968 Indy 500. One broke down. Another crashed. The third was driven by former motorcycle racer Joe Leonard, who won pole position by hitting 171.559 mph in the qualifying round—then a track record. On race day, he was leading in the final laps, until he was taken out by a failed fuel pump.
The real setback for the Type 56 wasn’t mechanical troubles, it was regulation. Even before it entered competition, the U.S. Auto Club demanded that turbine engines reduce their air intake by 35 percent, to make them more competitive with piston-powered cars. Soon after the 1968 Indy 500, the organization banned the engine altogether. That’s too bad: In 1974, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wrote, “the apparent demise of the turbine engine is a technological tragedy, for of all the ways yet devised to power an automobile, it is very likely the best.” And while “the racing world banned the turbine engine; the automotive industry ignored it to death.” Lotus adapted the Type 56 design for use in Formula One a few years later with a new turbine, but the car never placed high enough to be noteworthy.
The car never won any trophies, nor did its technology usher in a new era of motor sports, but the vehicle remains a monument to the crazy ideas that have been poured into racing. Savvy folks know this—the famous chassis number three (of just four) belonged to NASCAR star Richard Petty until he auctioned it off in 2012. Now, that car is getting some attention: After being restored and presented at a few car shows this year, it’s been nominated by the International Historic Motoring Committee for its Car of the Year award.
The stiff competition for the award includes a recently auctioned Ferrari 250 GTO and the resurrected, racing version of the Jaguar E-Type. But on top of an exceptional restoration that brought it back to full working order, the Lotus is an artifact of racing history at a time when designers were using creative engineering to chase record lap times. Sounds like a winner to us.
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