Lotus 59 & 69

[Dan Rear]

Originally Posted by JCDimsdale

Coming in very late on this, I can confirm that 59/69 F3 37 did go from Sutcliffe to me and did get damaged in Macau, but not badly - just rad and o/s/f suspension. I sold it to Percy Chan in Kuala Lumpur, where it stayed for a couple of years before probably going on to Australia. It is NOT the one recently entered for an auction. I had a spare chassis, onto which I rebuilt the car after a major shunt at Mallory, and so this one is probably a complete new rebuild onto the original bare chassis, which I sold when I returned from Macau. And I saw Johnny Blades a couple of years ago at Silverstone, very much alive and kicking! And he was the tailor from Northumberland.

I met Johnny D at Cadwell yesterday and had a good chat with him, very nice chap. And still very quick in his FF2000 Van Diemen too...

Johnny told a story of his 69, which I only caught the end of. I think, he said that his Far East/Australian 69, was now owned in Oz by Sonny Rajah. Can you confirm this, Johnny?

[driftwood]

i know Sonny has his old march 73B cum 732 car

i will ask him if he still has the lotus

[JCDimsdale]

How kind you are!! Yes, I've started again after a 35 year break - no fool like an old fool. I have indeed found my old car and Sonny Rajah has it and is now living in Perth, W.Australia. He has his old March 732 and his 712 and also claims to have the ex-James Hunt Lotus 69. You can find the details on his website http://www.warm.org.au/images/WARM-a...jah/SRajah.htm.

[ace rimmer]

Is there a system lotus used when numbering the cars?

59-F3-1 = an formula 3 car
59-FB-9= an formula B car
59-F2-20 = an formula 2 car

I’ve been looking at this and it seems right to me

[allenbrown]

That was the idea but then a F2 car might end up in FB, a FB car in F3 etc.

[driftwood]

or a 59f3 gets upgraded parts to run as a 69B/F2 etc to throw things into another dimension !!

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by driftwood

or a 59f3 gets upgraded parts to run as a 69B/F2 etc to throw things into another dimension !!

Thanks Drifty, that's put the bloke right off!!!

[driftwood]

always willing to oblige in throwing the spanner into the works

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

I know I have a nasty habit of digging over old ground but I've come back to 69/71.2.F2 again.

Firstly, Lotus production records show '7169 2F2' going to 'Irish Racing ….. A Rollinson)' - my copy's a bit faded but good enough. Secondly, Autosport (8 Apr 1971 pp10-13) gives the number 69-71-2 at Hockenheim, Rollinson's only appearance in the car. But then it gets wierd. The IRC Lotus 69 doesn't appar again that season and Rollinson races a F5000 Surtees instead. Then, at the Torneio Brasiliero in November, Emerson Fittipaldi is said to be in "his faithful" Lotus 69 but the number is given as 69/71.2.F2, not 69/71.18.F2. Given the "his faithful", I have real trouble believing that he is really in the long-lost IRC car.

Then in 1972 I had Jay Pollock in the ex-IRC/Rollinson Lotus 69 at Mondello on 30 Apr. I just checked this in Autosport in case there was a clue where the car had been and it turns out I've got it completely wrong. It's actually John Pollock in his regular Team Ireland Lotus 69, a 1970 model. I've quickly fixed that.

Barton later had an ex-Fittipaldi/Torneio car but if Emerson's car was 18.F2, not 2.F2, Blades doesn't come into this either. Simon has found Blades' name on the bodywork of 18.F2.

So where did the IRC/Rollinson Lotus 69 go after its one and only appearance? Competitive F2 cars don't just vanish.

Allen

My new collection of MN gives a clue to this aged mystery. In the 15 Apr 1971 edition (p18) it says that Rollinson has lost his F2 sponsorship due to a string of FVA blow-ups and the Lotus is to be put up for sale.

I'd still love to know where it went but at least Rollinson's withdrawal from F2 is now explained.

[allenbrown]

The plot thickens. MN 17 Jun 1971 p26, talking of Gerry Kinnane's Lotus 69, says that it "looks suspiciously like the one driven by Alan Rollinson on a couple of occasions at the beginning of the season". Kinnane's first entry of his 69 (a DNA) was at Thruxton just days before the MN report above. Rollinson's car was on the same entry list - also a DNA.

So did Rollinson drive the ex-Ikuzawa 1970 Lotus 69 '69.F2.2' at Hockenheim and was the 1971 '71/69.2.F2' actually a typo/figment of the imagination?

[Chris Townsend]

I'd be a bit suspicious about the 'faithful' bit on the MN report of Fittipaldi's car - given that there are plenty of observations of him using chassis 5 [aka chassis 18] throughout the season. I wouldn't doubt the plate observation, just the description.
I can think of a number of ways in which a competitive 69 could disappear in the early 1970s. One of them would involve selling it to the USA for FB, especially to an SCCA racer.

[driftwood]

are you talking of tube frame car or monocoque?

[Simon Hadfield]

Chris, I am fairly sure Emerson's race car was always the same regardless of number, there is an "identifier" always present on the car - and still there to this day - that I have never seen on any other 69. The same that is from Pau onwards....

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

The plot thickens. MN 17 Jun 1971 p26, talking of Gerry Kinnane's Lotus 69, says that it "looks suspiciously like the one driven by Alan Rollinson on a couple of occasions at the beginning of the season". Kinnane's first entry of his 69 (a DNA) was at Thruxton just days before the MN report above. Rollinson's car was on the same entry list - also a DNA.

So did Rollinson drive the ex-Ikuzawa 1970 Lotus 69 '69.F2.2' at Hockenheim and was the 1971 '71/69.2.F2' actually a typo/figment of the imagination?

MN's correspondent at Mondello in July (MN 15 Jul 1971 p31) - a certain A.H. - seems even more certain about the Kinnane/Pollock Lotus 69: "which was originally handled by Rollinson in the first few races of the year".

[allenbrown]

I've never been sure which Lotus 69 Blades used in 1972. MN (15 June 1972 p13) is explicit that this is "basically the 1969 ex-Moseley [sic] example" so his old 69-ised Lotus 59B.

[studi53]

I drive since 1996 with the 59/FB/15 ( F2 specifikations ) in 1973 drove Philip Reader, Jr, Demar, NY ( Terri Novotny ) in the formula C
Who knows the story of 1969 --?
Gruss Peter Studer from Switzerland

[David Muter]

John Blades bought the Moonraker 69 then sold it to Andy Barton, then it passed into my hands, I can vouch that it was the original Fittipaldi car and was used in the Temporada series in S America

[driftwood]

where is the car now?
seen many adverts in AS for the cars for sale in 71/72

[Alan Brown]

While reading MNs of 1970 and 1971 recently I was reminded of the LIRA Lotuses and this lead to a re-appraisal of the Lotus 69 thread. I'll try and post some points, hopefully not to muddy the waters further.

Reine Wisell drove two different 69s in F2 in 1971. He started off in the LIRA (London International Racing Associates) Team Lotus team driving the updated ex Emerson Fittipaldi updated 1970 car. This is 69-70-1-F2 or 69-F2-1 according to MN reports. Richard Scott was his team mate in a new car 69-71-18-F2 or 69-F2-18. Wisell won at Pau in April, but problems arose at the Mantorp Park meeting in his home country in August. He arrived with a court order to impound his Lotus 69 and spare engine on the grounds that LIRA owed him money. This move was planned, it seems, as another Lotus 69 had been despatched from Hethel earlier in the week (he was, of course, a works Gold Leaf Team Lotus F1 driver). The problem was that the airline lost a crate containing various ancillary parts. Eventually he did a deal to race a Rondel Brabham BT36 (Graham Hill’s BT36-2). The car sent out was the car taken by Tetsu Ikuzawa with a 1.8 FVC engine to third place in the Japanese GP at Fuji in April. It was a FB car fitted with stronger drive shafts and a bit more fuel capacity.
He first raced it at Kinnekulle Ring, painted orange with his familiar green stripe down the centre. The chassis was 71-69-8-FB (MN 26-8-71). At Brands Hatch it was reported that the car was up to F2 specification except that the fuel capacity was a “couple of gallons less than the pure F2 version”. LIRA disbanded, Richard Scott entering his car under his own name.

References: MN 12-8-71, 19-8-71, 26-8-71, 2-9-71.

[Alan Brown]

More observations from MN.

2-4-70 Thruxton report - Blades 59-F2-21

15-10-70 Hockenheim report - Blades had the "completely overhauled ex Mosley (sic) 59B/69" It was listed as 69/6 in the entry details. Did the reporter (AH) make up a new chassis number for this car, 6 being the next number in the sequence [69-F2-1 through to 69-F2-5 are well established]?

11-2 71 Colombia (Bogota) report - in the list of cars Blades is given as 69-F2-21 and is called a converted 59B. This could easily be a typing or transcription error.

18-2-71 Colombia (Bogota) report - Blades in his "69 rebuilt from 59B specification in the middle of last season" (ie 1970).

8-4-71 Thruxton - Blades had the " same car as last year".

The details are well known; my post draws attention to the way the numbers were reported.

In addition Carlos Pace hired the car for the Crystal Palace meeting in May 1971.

[Alan Brown]

Francois Migault drove a LIRA car at Rouen in June. This was Richard Scott’s (chassis 18). He shared chassis 3 (ex-Birrell) in the Brazilian Torneio with Jose Ferreira, as an ex-LIRA car was not available (still legal problems?).

Reine Wisell’s second car (the FB chassis) (borrowed) was a spaceframe.

Johnny Blades had a 69 (little used) for sale in MN 18-11-71 as a rolling chassis for £1900, plus an FVA and a FVC and transporter.

[Alan Brown]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

The plot thickens. MN 17 Jun 1971 p26, talking of Gerry Kinnane's Lotus 69, says that it "looks suspiciously like the one driven by Alan Rollinson on a couple of occasions at the beginning of the season". Kinnane's first entry of his 69 (a DNA) was at Thruxton just days before the MN report above. Rollinson's car was on the same entry list - also a DNA.

So did Rollinson drive the ex-Ikuzawa 1970 Lotus 69 '69.F2.2' at Hockenheim and was the 1971 '71/69.2.F2' actually a typo/figment of the imagination?

I have come to the same conclusion. Here are some references from MN in 1971, with some repetition for completeness.

11-2-71 – Gerry Kinnane (Team Ireland) acquires the ex Tetsu Ikuzawa 1970 Lotus 69 for John Pollock.

9-12-71 – in the season review it was stated that there were “only four totally new cars built” – these would be 69-71-3-F2 (MN style of reporting Lotus 69 numbers) for Gerry Birrell (J + J Stanton Ltd), 69-71-14-F2 for Emerson Fittipaldi (Team Bardahl), 69-71-18-F2 for Richard Scott (LIRA) and one for Tetsu Ikuzawa (presumably chassis 1). Thus the Irish Racing Cars entry for Alan Rollinson at Hockenheim in April would be a 1970 car.

17-6-71 – R St J Y reported of the Bishopcourt meeting that the John Pollock/Gerry Kinnane 69 “looks suspiciously like the one driven by Alan Rollinson”.

15-7-71 – John Pollock had his second run in Gerry Kinnane’s Team Ireland entry “originally handled by Alan Rollinson” (AH).

29-7-71 – AM reported from the Kirkistown meet that it was “ex Rollinson”.

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by Alan Brown

15-7-71 – John Pollock had his second run in Gerry Kinnane’s Team Ireland entry “originally handled by Alan Rollinson” (AH).

Is that new?

[Alan Brown]

I recorded this chassis number at the Great Auclum hill climb in 1972 on the Geoff Rollason car.

[Alan Brown]

1995
69-F2-1 Fredy Kumschick
69 F2-3 Gerard Cerney
71-69-5FB Claudia Neuhaus (D)/Kumschick Racing

1997
71-69-5FB Claudia Neuhaus (D)

1999
71-69-5FB Jochen Durstewitz (D)