Lotus 30

The Lotus 30 was a racing automobile, Colin Chapman's first attempt at a Group Seven / Can Am racing machine, and was first built in 1964, designed by Len Terry. It was most notable for its one piece fibreglass body work and the "pickle fork" backbone chassis design, based on the method used in the Lotus Elan. In the 30 the chassis was turned back to front, so the engone was now located behind the driver. It was powered by a 4.7 litre Ford V8 engine, the same type as used in the Ford GT40, mated to a 5 speed ZF syncromesh gearbox. It used 13 inch wheels and solid disc brakes on each wheel. The Lotus 30 was regarded as unsuccessful and / or dangerous, (depending on whether or not you had to drive one fast).

It had several inherent design flaws, mainly relating to the chassis backbone, as it wasn't deep enough to provide enough stiffness, and thus had major flexing problems even after Lotus started using thicker 18 gauge metal on the later cars instead of the original 20 gauge.

Jim Clark laboured long with the car, and managed to prize some promising results with it, before it was replaced with the Lotus 40, which used 15in wheels and vented disc brakes, as well as a larger engine, which was as recalcitrant as the 30. Probably, the most telling comment about race cars was that made by the American driver Richie Ginther. When asked what he thought of the new Lotus 40; Ginther, a lugubrious Texan drawled, "Same as the 30 but with ten more mistakes!"