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The Lotus 25 (1962-1965) - Jim Clark's tailor-made suit

Name: Lotus 25 1963
Brand: Lotus

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Created on September 8, 2012

Text:

Daniel Reinhard

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

Archiv Daniel Reinhard

Christian Baur, Basel

Archiv

Daniel Reinhard

Archiv Daniel Reinhard

Christian Baur, Basel

Archiv

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Lotus 25 (1963) - The Lotus 25 could be admired at the SAR racing car exhibition at the Züspa in Zurich in the mid-1960s

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Lotus 25 (1962) - Winner Jimmy Clark at GP of Rand on the Kyalami circuit

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Lotus 25 (1964) - Jim Clark in his tailor-made suit without raincoat at Solitude 1964

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Lotus 25 (1963) - exhibited in the Tinguely Museum in Basel - Donation Niki de Saint Phalle - in the background you can see "The Five Widows" by Eva Aeppli ca. 1972

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Summary

The Lotus 25 is rightly regarded as a stroke of genius and the pioneer of a new generation of formula cars. It was designed for the masses by Jim Clark. And he thanked him with a world championship title in 1963 after curing the teething troubles. This racing car report shows the beautiful formula car in all its details and tells the story of its development and the change that was triggered.

This article contains the following chapters

Colin Chapman and Mike Costin
Harbinger of the monocoque
A trend is set
Debut in Zandvoort
World championship title 1963
Production statistics
From racing car to work of art
Technical data of the Lotus 25
Success statistics/Palamares

Estimated reading time: 5min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Jim Clark's bespoke suit was not made by Hugo Boss, but by Colin Chapman. A pinstripe in green and yellow, with red lining. The "Secret File 25" was started by Chapman at a dinner with designer Mike Costin. The first sketches of the new and extremely revolutionary racing car are said to have been made on a napkin. This car replaced what had previously been considered the "non plus ultra" tubular frame with a revolutionary shell construction. The car was built in extreme secrecy. Even Jim Clark, who was to drive the new racer, was only made aware of "File 25" at a very late stage, even after he had signed his new contract. The Lotus was built like a cocoon around Clark's body. Both larger and smaller drivers had absolutely no chance of driving the car, which is why the 25 never became a "customer car".

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