The COAT - Round Two - Ferrari 312T vs Lotus 25

[crmalcolm]

The sixteenth and final match in Round Two sees the Ferrari 312T take on the Lotus 25.

The Ferrari too a 3-way win over the Williams FW26 and Ferguson P99 in the first round 5-2-1, whilst the Lotus took a 7-1 win over the McLaren MP4/6.

Ferrari 312T (bleacherreport.com):
By today's standards, it's almost inconceivable for a car to win four constructors' and three drivers' championships across five seasons, but that's exactly what the 312T series did. There were changes to the car throughout this period, but it remains an incredible record for the same chassis.

The car was aesthetically completely different from its predecessor, the 312B. That car barely had a front-wing as we would recognise it today, rather just two small winglets on either side of the nose. Otherwise the B was not far removed from the "cigar-tube" cars that had long since been prevalent in F1.

The 312T was a complete revolution and could be seen as the first car that resembles the basic configuration of a modern F1 car.

One of the outstanding visual features of the '75 car was the high air intake above the driver's head; in the image here, it almost looks like the driver is wearing a tall hat. Combine that with the short, compact overall car-length and the 312T is instantly recognisable.

Lotus 25 (grandprixhistory.org):
In 1961 the engine capacity for Formula 1 was reduced to 1.5 liters. Engines also need to run on 101.5 octane fuel instead of the 130 octane Avgas. The first year of the new regulations found all of the British teams down on power compared to Ferrari with the expected results. For 1962 Lotus would answer with the Lotus 25. Mid-engined cars were now standard and the Lotus 25 was not the first racing car with a monocoque chassis but its artistic simplicity and immense success in the hands of Jimmy Clark revolutionized Grand Prix racing car design. Monocoque construction had been used in aeronautical engineering for over 50 years. In 1915 Harry Blood campaigned a metal-fuselaged Carnelian at Indianapolis. Gabriel Voisin used a monocoque chassis for his car that he raced in the 1923 French GP and in 1955 BRM incorporated a semi-monocoque chassis in their Grand Prix cars.

Colin Chapman had experimented with a backbone chassis for the Lotus Elan sports car. He decided to apply the same techniques to a single-seater racing car. By using box-sections he created a tub just wide enough for a driver and within the box-section would go rubber bags to hold the fuel. While this was going on there was also a Type 24 being developed using a spaceframe just in case. As part of the design the drive would now sit in an almost reclining position that took some use to, and it took a brave man indeed to drive one of these cars at full speed. The main benefits of this design were increased torsional rigidity for lees weight and with a smaller frontal area. The resulting stiffness allowed Lotus to use more supple suspension which offered great advantages in slower, tighter turns. Colin Chapman was known as an instinctive seat of the pants designer. In fact when the first prototype was being built he took the opportunity of sitting in the car. To his surprise he found that he could fit quite comfortably and announced forthright that: "This cockpit's too wide ... take another inch and a half out out of it!" Dick Scammell, one of the mechanics that built the first car would later remark that: "None of us really knew what we were doing, but it all took shape very nicely and it certainly looked right."

Power was again provided by Coventry-Climax, the British forklift, fire pump, racing, and other speciality engine manufacturer. At £3000 per motor they hoped that Ferrari's engine advantage would be bridged. The car was fast straight out of the box and with Clark driving, when it finished it usually won. In 1963, Engineer Len Terry was coaxed in to returning to the team that had fired him in 1959. One of his duties was to improve the car's reliability. His work bore fruit when Scotsman Jim Clark after finishing 8th in Monaco won the next four races in a row. Clark would go on to win a then record seven out of ten races and his first World Championship. Graham Hill and Richie Ginther finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

[S griffin]

The 312T. Helped by Lauda’s input, the genius of Fogheiri was shown

[Gerard C]

If you need a good picture, ask M Werner he has a lot of them all having been signed by a certain Jean Al…
Lotus for me, thanks.

[wolfhound]

Lotus 25 v's 312T. The innovative Lotus used a full stressed skin monocoque chassis a feature Ferrari still had not fully adopted 13 years later in the 312T and would be the early eighties before they finally did.

[Aysedasi]

Lotus for me too.