Home » Racing Sports Cars » Lotus 15
Source
Specifications
24 units built, 9 series I, 8 series II (from july to end of 1958), 7 series III (1959)
Click here
Click here and here and here for 2.0
Click here for 1.1
Click here for 1.5
Coventry Climax FWA "85", straight 4 cyl, 4 stroke, petrol engine
1098cc, 72.4 x 66.68 mm
9.8 : 1
63.5 kW / 85 hp @ 6250 rpm
100 Nm / 74 ft-lb @ 4400 rpm
drop forged steel crankshaft with 3 main bearings
2 valves / cylinder, SOHC
aspiration, natural with 2 x 1-1/2" SU H4 horizontal carburetors
distributor ignition
water cooled
1475cc, 81.2 x 71.1 mm
10:1
112 kW / 150 hp @ 7500 rpm
149 Nm / 110 ft-lb @ 6500 rpm
aluminium alloy block and head
forged steel crankshaft with 3 main bearings
2 valves / cylinder, DOHC, gear driven
aspiration, natural with 2 x SU DU6 horizontal or 2 x Weber 45 DCO/3 carburetors
water cooled
dry sump
Source
Coventry Climax FPF "200", straight 4 cyl, 4 stroke, petrol engine
1965cc, 86.4 x 83.8 mm
12.4:1
175 bhp / 131 KW @ 6500 rpm
aluminium alloy block and head
forged steel crankshaft with 5 main bearings
2 valves / cylinder, DOHC, gear driven
aspiration, natural with 2 x Weber 45 DCO/3 carburetors
water cooled
dry sump
Coventry Climax FPF "250", straight 4 cyl, 4 stroke, petrol engine
2467 cc, 93.98 x 88.9 mm
12.4:1
220 bhp (160 kW) @ 6500 rpm
Larger aluminium alloy block and head
forged steel crankshaft with 5 main bearings
2 valves / cylinder, DOHC, gear driven
aspiration, natural with 2 x Weber 48 DCO 2S/P carburetors
water cooled
dry sump
For lowering the center of gravity, the Climax engine was tilted 28o from vertical in Series I. But due to problems in lubrication, in series II the inclination was reduced in 17o from vertical
"Queer Box" transaxle: sequential-shift five speed gearbox and a ZF limited slip differential in a common magnesium housing with a dry sump lubrication system (Like a motorcycle transmission, constant mesh gears and a simple fore-and-aft gearchange mechanism promised very quick gear changes)
Series I, used ZF/Lotus "Queer Box"
Series II (since Le Mans '58) and III (1959) used BMC B-series of ZF 4 speed manual gearbox for 2.0 lt and over and "Queer Box" only for 1.5 lt engines
Borg Warner T10, 4 speed Manual gearbox with Girling 5/8" bore master cylinder
1st: 2.50/1
2nd: 1.67/1
3rd: 1.23/1
4th: 1.00/1
R: 2.50/1
final drive, 3.73/1, 3.90/1, 4.22/1, 4.55/1, 4.875/1
Steel Tubular lightweight 1.75 square and round steel tubing Spaceframe chassis. Williams & Pritchard Ltd Aluminum Bodyshell
front suspension: double wishbones with coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers
rear suspension: Chapman struts with radius trailing arms and fixed length half-shaft, coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers
(master) dual Girling (3/4" bore) master cylinders with adjustable bias bar.
(front) Girling AR 2" bore aluminum brake calipers with 9.5" solid rotors, mounted outboard.
(rear) Girling NR 1.5" bore aluminum brake calipers with solid rotors, mounted inboard.
Length 3480 mm (137 in)
Width 1524 mm (60 in)
Height 610 mm (24 in)
Wheelbase 2235 mm (88 in)
Track (fr/r) 1194 mm (47 in) / 1219 mm (48 in)
tires, front 4.50 - 15", rear 5.50 - 15"
450kg
fuel tank, 85 lt
drag coefficient, 0.35
Results in WSCC
| Car entry, chassis number | Car number/ result | ||||||||||||||
| Buenos Aires | Sebring | Targa Florio | Nurburgring | Le Mans | Tourist Trophy | ||||||||||
| Team | 1000km | 12h | 1000km | 24h | |||||||||||
| Team Lotus Engineeering, 15-603-1 (FPF 200) | #30, eng ine | ||||||||||||||
| Team Lotus Engineeering, 15-607 (FPF 200) | #26, head gasket | ||||||||||||||
| Team Lotus Engineeering, 15-608 (FPF 150) | #35, acci dent | ||||||||||||||
| J. King, 15-605 (FPF 150) | #25, acci dent | ||||||||||||||
| John Coombs Racing Organisation, 15-609 (FPF 200) | #24, gear box | ||||||||||||||
| Car Exchange (FPF 150) | #27, eng ine | ||||||||||||||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Works Starts/finishes 6/0 | 1/0 | 2/0 | 3/0 | ||||||||||||
| Drivers | Team entries and car number | ||||||||||||||
| Team Lotus Engineering | |||||||||||||||
| Cliff Allison | 26 | 30 | |||||||||||||
| Graham Hill | 26 | 30 | |||||||||||||
| Jay Chamberlain | 35 | ||||||||||||||
| Pete Lovely | 35 | ||||||||||||||
| Car Exchange | |||||||||||||||
| Bill Frost | 27 | ||||||||||||||
| Bob Hicks | 27 | ||||||||||||||
| John Coombs Racing Organisation | |||||||||||||||
| Bruce McLaren | 24 | ||||||||||||||
| Syd H. Jensen | 24 | ||||||||||||||
| J. King | |||||||||||||||
| Edward Greenall | 25 | ||||||||||||||
| John Campbell-Jones | 25 | ||||||||||||||
Source
Source
Drawings
Rear suspension
Source"Chapman strut" as it was located in Lotus Elite