“Sometimes there are good grounds for saying “it’ll never work”.
To paraphrase the famous Richie Ginther quip, the Lotus 30 was a 40 with 10 fewer mistakes. But still too many to make it anything better than occasionally successful, even in the hands of Jim Clark. Ever the loyal Lotus professional, Clark did what he could with the car but, like everyone else who drove the 30, he disliked it, and it sometimes got away even from him.
Designed to compete in ‘big-banger’ racing against Lola and McLaren, the 30 sold quite well in 1964 — 21 were built — but quickly earned a reputation for evil handling. An improved Series 2 version was prepared for 1965, but only 12 of them were made. Although the 30’s modified 4.7-litre 350bhp Ford Fairlane V8 was inferior to the Chevy opposition, that was the least of its problems.
One person who foresaw the car’s failure was Lotus’s own Len Terry, but his concerns were largely ignored. “Colin Chapman gave me the scheme and asked for my comments,” recalls Terry. “I studied it for two days and by the end I’d produced a critique covering two foolscap pages. Of all that I considered wrong with the car, the only thing he agreed to change was boxing in the rear chassis members. That was it. He was not prepared to change anything else. That’s when I told him somebody else would have to draw the car because I didn’t want my name attached to it.”
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