1960 Lotus 18 Flockhart

Lotus 18 was first rear-engined car by Team Lotus and third F1 vehicle of the company, after front-engined formula cars, the 12 and 16. The 18, designed by Colin Chapman, was the lightweight, powerful, and simple car which proved to be rather competitive. It was powered by a 2.5 liter Coventry Climax, and later in 1961 the displacement was reduced to 1.5 lirtes according to new Formula 1 regulations. The engine was positioned behind the driver’s seat but in front of the rear axle, so it was mid-engined rather than rear-engined. Many Lotus 18 cars were built for F1, F2 and Formula Junior regulations, all based on the same chassis. Team Lotus used the car in 1960 and occasionally in 1961, while some privateers continued to use it in F1 until 1965. The first Formula One victory for the Lotus 18 came from a private Rob Walker’s team when Stirling Moss won the 1960 Argentinian Grand Prix. Later the season he also took the victory in French Grand Prix while the best result of the works team in the 1960 season was 3^rd place achieved by  Innes Ireland at Silverstone and by Jim Clarke at Oporto. The scale model by Spark represents the work car driven by Ron Flockhart to 6^th place in the 1960 French Grand Prix. It was the only outing of Flockhart in Team Lotus, as well as his last season in Formula One. In 1961-62 Flockhart moved to the field of record flights. United Dominions Trust made plans to break the record for the time taken to fly from Sydney to London in order to gain publicity for its UDT Laystall racing team. A Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation-built Mustang World War Two fighter was purchased in Australia and Flockhart was engaged to make the attempt. He started in February 1961 from Sydney, but the attempt was terminated at Athens because of engine problems. Next year another CAC Mustang was bought to repeat the attempt. But during the test flight in preparation for the record attempt, Flockhart crashed in poor weather near Kallista, Victoria, and was killed.

Season	Series	Event
1960	F1WC	French GP
Driver	No.	Entrant
Ron Flockhart	18	Team Lotus
Scale	Manufacturer	Collection
1:43	Spark
Cat. No.	Quality	Rarity
S1823