Lotus 41

Anyone care to have a go at Lotus 41's? You'll be doing mankind a favour!

Chris,
It was between a Lotus 41 and the 35 as to which car to buy!
Now I have had to remove the engine and gearbox to enable me to reach the starter motor, one can see why the F3 continental circus went for space frame cars !
I have also borrowed a load of 41 pics from Ted Walker. Lovely car, and some one needs to sort out the detail.

I must express an interest here. As part of my enthusisam I publish a bi monthly mag, "Lotus Single Seaters", which I hope will go someway to offsetting the cost of my racing !

Kevin

Chris.
I notice you have been buried in takers for your Lotus 41's.
The problem with any of these cars is that they contain a goodly percentage of F3's , and ch.no. for them are seldom reported.

Ken Smith in N.Z. had one in period which according to Vercoe was the Charles Lucas Championship winning car of 1967.
We have one here ex. S.E.Asia , but am unable to advise previous owners at the moment , it has been here since circa 1970 , Frame no is 41-7., which may or may not be ch.no. as well.
Steve Holland ran one at Macau in 1967.
A. Laurel also in 1967. This was the car he died in in a horrific accident. His full name was Arsenio , with the nickname of Dodgie, terrible photo in Colour and noise.

On the for sale's at this moment are 41C-FL-58 , race-cars .com
Len Selby's site has 41-FL-29 and 41C-FL-38

Bryan.

Brian,
the 41 with TC in France FL29, was fitted with 1500 ATS F1 motor at one time the owner told me (L Sufryn)
Kevin

Lotus 41s:
The earliest known chassis no. that I have is 41-F3-6 advertised by Malcolm Payne at the end of 66 as 'two races only' [which were at the start of the season]
F3-8-E is advertised by a "Jennings" in Autosport in 1967. Any ideas who he?
Most of the other early season cars were F3s, going to Derek Bell, Tony Dean and Melvyn Long.

I can beat you by one, Chris
•41 F3 5 was the Frank Manning car raced by Chris Moore in 1966 F3. It would be logical to guess that the earlier numbers would have included the RHTL cars.
•I have ‘06’ as the 1966 Gunnar Carlsson car, which remained in Scandinavia to 1970, and was offered at auction in 1998. I suppose Malcolm Wayne could have advertised it at some stage, but it seems more likely that ‘06’ is not the same as 41 F3 6
•41 F3 8 was Mo Nunn’s 1966 mount. Jennings might have been hillclimber Bob Jennings, an associate of Mike MacDowel
•41 F3 12 was Derek Bell’s (at least at the beginning of 1966)
•Kenny Smith’s ex-Lucas car was 41 F3 14 and, last I heard (1998), was still in NZ
•41 F3 15 was the John Willment car 1966, driven by Tony Dean
•41 F3 19 was run by Motor Racing Stables for Tetsu Ikuzawa 1966
•There seem to have been three Charles Lucas cars in 1966, raced by Lucas, Courage and Pike. Lucas also raced his in 1967, while the ex-Courage car went to Steve Holland in Hong Kong
•Of the other Asian cars, Laurel had his late 1966. Other drivers included William Gray of Singapore in 1968, John Macdonald of Hong Kong the same year, Ricky Ohkubo of Japan in 1969, Tokomitsu Urushibara with Honda engine 1970 (possibly not a 41), A N Other in the 1971 Japanese GP (with Waggott engine) and T Tsutsumi at Macau in 1972
•Not a lot of people know this, but there was a second 41 in NZ. It arrived with a very shady history and under the name of Teal rather than Lotus, but I’m pretty sure it never raced beifore being converted to FF (and entered as a Lotus). I haven’t heard of this car since 1975, when it was still racing.
•Apparently 61 units (including 41Bs) were sold

41Bs
(F2/FB version)
•41B F 1 was the Team Lotus car driven by Jackie Oliver in late 1966 F3
•41B-FL-30 was the Lotus Components car which Oliver raced in F2 in 1967. Later a UK hillclimb car (Geoff Rollason, David Blankstone, Martyn Grifiths etc) into the 1970s.
•41B-FL-46 raced by Manfred Behnke mid 1968 (or do I mean 1988?)

41Cs
(1967 F3)
•FL-29 - the Midland RT car, driven mainly by Walter Habbegger 1967/68 (with twincam engine)
•Gus Hutchison raced one successfully in US FB 1967
•Geoff Rollason in UK hillclimbs once or twice in 1967

41X
•one-off F3 car built 1967

There's not much I can offer here except to say that Gus's team ran three "41C"s (were they really 41Bs?) in 1967. One of them is still active in vintage racing but I don't think anyone knows exactly which one it was.

Allen

David

That's pretty amazing record keeping! Allen can now put Kenny Smith's 41 properly in place in the Tasman records. This was the car in which Lucas won the 67 British GP support race, but from the race reports I always thought that it was a 1967 built car.

The Mo Nunn car is interesting too. He had a 41 for a long time and eventually sold it to Sid Watkins [I don't know if that's the Dr Sid Watkins] in 1969. David's chassis confirmation suggests that either he had two cars, with a new one in 1967, or perhaps Bob Jennings [who lived in the same part of the W.Midlands as Nunn] really owned the car and in the end it didn't sell. I think the first 41 on the hills was Geoff Rollason's FL-30, so Jennings didn't use it himself.

Given those chassis numbers here is some 1967 ownership based on contemporary updates of ownership and race reports:
F3-6 Manning for John Cardwell and John Kendall
F-12 [assuming it's the only car Bell uses] Felday for Mac Daghorn, then sold to Jo Tacquet, retained by Tacquet in 1968

Chris

I always understood that a number of 41's were sold by the factory well after they were new. Into the late 60's early 70's.

I chased up several 41's before buying the 35, so I'll check out owners/chassis numbers, plus the Ferret Fhotos captions, and post that tomorrow.
Kevin
PS I think there is a Registrar for the 41 in USA.

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Allen can now put Kenny Smith's 41 properly in place in the Tasman records. This was the car in which Lucas won the 67 British GP support race, but from the race reports I always thought that it was a 1967 built car.
You might well be right. My original info would have come from KS at the time - or shortly after - he bought the car, and it's quite possible that he or I made an assumption regarding its 1966 use

Two 41's in this pic of the start of heat 2 at Oulton in October 67. John Miles leads in the Lotus Components car, which I captioned as a 41C, and the 6th placed 41 is driven by John Hine. The Miles car sported a periscope type air intake in the final.

This is Mo Nunn in his 41 at Mallory in either late 67 or early 68.

Freddy Kottulinsky also drove a 41.

Here is John Miles again, this time winning the F3 race at the Silverstone International Trophy meeting in April 68 in the 41X.

Re the Mo Nunn car [F3-8]. Autosport race report for the Lombank Tr race at Mallory in March '68, says it's still his 1966 car, so it may well be that the Jennings ad was the original owner trying to sell it. after Nunn had used it for a season or so.

Do we know how long Bill Robson had the ex-Sellers Racing car?

Chris

I was told by Stuart Rolt that there was more than one 41X was built.
One of my subscribers living in Italy has a 41X, and found it fitted with wings and Alfa engine. The car is due to be restored. The car starred in a Italian film along the lines of Grand Prix, but starring the motorcylist Agostini. I have tried to obtain a copy of the film and posted a request on the motogp board, but no response.
Kevin

From Ferret caption
May 69 C Palace M Watkins
68 Int Trophy 41X
6/67 Prescott G Rollason new 41B with TC on TJ injection and Ft2004/66
8/67 F3Snetterton Mo Nunn in a reddy brown car
67 Int Trophy C Lucas 41 with side draught carbs non crossflow. Also J Fenning, ditto side draught carbs.
9/69 Brands Ken Cook ditto
3/67 Silverstone Mac Daghorn side draft carbs. Also Mo Nunn Downdraught carb.
5/69 C Palace Mike Watkins down draught carb.
66 C-Mans Champs Tetsu Ikusawa. Wet race, side draught carbs. I last heard of him running a major motorcycle business back in Japan.

Kevin

I don't think this has been listed .
Team Lotus for Jack Oliver is 41B-F-1 at Brands 27-12-66.

Doug Nye calls out Lotus 55 as Formula 3 Lotus 41X for Gold Leaf Team Lotus use only , one off .
I wonder what the ch.pl. said ?????

Kevin.
Re. your post about the 41X in Italy.
Autosport page 4 ,dec.-11-1969.
Photo and piece re. this car with Agostini in car , called out as ex. John Miles 41X F3 car , now being raced by an Italian privateer.

The film was called '' Formula Uno ''.
Bryan.

Everyone
I have had quite a few Lotii over the years

41's Had several of these.
1. F3 Bought from Nick Gould. Sold in France to Ballot Lena
2. 3 x Real automobile Club de Catalunia F3 cars.
ran them under comtract for Club members. One I retained and took to Monaco F3 in 1969. Blew engine and dns.
Fitted Twin cam and took to States at end of year as a F/B.
Recall still quite competitive at Mosport, Lime Rock etc
Came 2nd in each race and finally wrapped it up in a big way whilst leading at Lime Rock. I think it stayed in the States Repaired??

Hi, I have some numbers for you, which were not listed yet. On 21/6/1970 during international race Czech republic Prix in Jicin started two Lotus 41C cars, which were delivered in 1967 to Czech republic. 41C/F3/39 DNF with driver Vladimir Hubacek, car is today in Czech National Technical Museum in Prague and 41C/F3/40 with driver Vladislav Ondrejik, winner of this race. This car was, 3 months later, heavily crashed and never raced again. I purchased this car one and half year ago and I am starting restoration.

Thanks Michal,

I am pleased to get more information. 41C/F3/40 I assume was fitted with a Holbay screamer? Any photos of car?

Regards
Kevin

Bryan,
you asked on 25th July what the 41X chassis plate said.
I have had a photocopy from the current owner of the plate. It reads
41 X F3 50

Kevin.

Thank you , it is interesting that while it is called as a Lotus 55 , it gets a 41 type ch.no.

It was something that I was wondering about.

Regards Bryan.

Just digging around for something else unrelated and found a few more Lotus 41 titbits...

Freddy Kottulinsky was still racing his 41 in 1967 (I think Chris T had him driving the car in 1966 and 1968). He raced (and won) in the car at Keimola, May 4 1967. Also racing a 41 was H. Nilsson, who finished fifth at Roskilde May 28 1967.

Geoff Rollason had an accident in his 'brand new 41C' at the Shelsley Walsh hillclimb in early June 67, although he still won his class.

In the Lotus Book, the 41 is listed as having 5 x 13/6 x 13 tyres on 13 x 7/13 x 9 rims (probably the 1966 F3 version).

Paul

[QUOTE=David McKinney•Gus Hutchison raced one successfully in US FB 1967
[/QUOTE]
I worked at Lotus Southwest in Dallas Texas in 1967/68 as a youthful parts chaser.
Gus Hutchison and his team ran three 41s, one driven to the CONTINENTAL championship by Hutchison and subsequently sold to Keith G. Saunders of Albuquerque NM for use in SCCA club events. Another was raced by Gus's longtime friend Harold Krech and the third by another Texan.
Lotus SW imported two other 41s, one purchased by Scotty Keith and raced and crashed at the 1970 (I think) F5000 race at the now defunct Dallas International Motor Speedway (Krech then finished 4th or 5th in a Tecno). Race won, incidentally by Hutchison in the ex-Jackie Ickx BT-26/DFV over Hobbs, Cannon, Grable, Smothers and others.
The fifth 41 that came in (1968 for this new and probably last chassis from Lotus) I don't know about, other than it was BRG and without engine.

My 41 was FL/20/67 and came from Montreal c/w Ft 200 , in Michigan at last report. There was also a plate riveted on the left rear tube just behind the header C/12/67 but I never understood what it was for - a series entry ?
In 1990 41/FL/8 was owned by Larry Griggs of California
41C/ FL /45 was for sale by Peter Boyle of California
Andrew Ferguson told me 41/3/FL
Jim Bennett of Colorado had (has?) the factory build records from Nigel Halliday
John Lindsay
Canada

John

When did you buy your 41 in Montreal? Who did it come from?
Not many original Canadian 41s so there's a good chance this might be
the Craig Hill - Egilio Siconolfi car

Chris

Chris
I believe it was Siconofli's car but was never able to prove it . Apparently he died years ago. I did not know the Craig Hill connection but could ask him.It is definitely not Bill Bracks car.
John

John

Sorry to mislead you but the Siconolfi car seems to have come from Jacques Couture when he damaged his Lotus 59 and then been replaced with a 69 later in 1971.

Chris

The former chassis used by Gus to win the FB championship has a unique feature. The flat chassis bottom, which was originally welded under the engine's sump, was converted to a "bolt on" type, with about 50 small bolts pointing toward the ground. This was done by then owner Keith Saunders, who thought it might help with lower-end twincam maintenance.

My 41, FL/20/67, had a bolted floor and engine sump - one for each of mild steel about 18 ga with about a 1/8 " 90 degree bend on either side for stiffeness
John Lindsay

I have just purchased 41C-FL-35 which comes with evidence that it is the previously referred to (on this thread) Gus Hutchison car, delivered in May '67 with a BRM twin cam engine but later modified to run in Formula Ford. I have the history complete from 1972 to date but it is patchy from 68-72 and any information anyone has would be greatly appreciated. The car has now been fully restored again with a Lotus Twin Cam engine and I intend to run it as a Hillclimb and sprint car next year.

Have you spoken to Gus about it? He had three in his team.

I think the JRL car might be the specific Hutchison chassis...did the nose have small glassed-in Canard type winglets when you acquired it? Maybe those were changed by then, perhaps they were still around. I know about the floor pan because another young guy, Mike Lucero, and I fabricated it and put all those numerous bolts on. If a chassis doesn't have that feature, its probably not Gus' car. Unless, of course, its been changed back to the welded under engine tray!

He now owns this studio lighting company in Dallas, TX

President – gus.hutchison@kw2.com

Lotus 41 FB, formerly the Gus Hutchison car, driven at Phoenix International by owner Keith Saunders (of Albuquerque, New Mexico), in 1969. The car from Gus was originally yellow w/green stripe (reverse of UK "Team Lotus" colors) but here it appears in red.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y254/davhut/Lotus41fb_sm.jpg

As Twinny isn't here to do it, I get the press the button:

http://www.oldracingcars.com/images/copyrighted/Lotus41fb_sm.jpg

Cool, thanks.
Some of these old photos I'm receiving from former owners are in poor shape.

The Siconolfi 41 was stolen together with tow car and trailer. It apparently turned up much later in The Lake of Two Mountains with two gentlemen in the front seat of the tow car with an extra hole in each of their heads. The late Mr. Siconolfi was not a good man to mess with. At the track he always had a gentleman close to him who never took off his jacket no matter how hot it was. Where the car went then I have no idea. It might be your car John.
Gord Geen had a 41 that then went to John Jensen (Bruce's cousin) and it burned at Mosport. It originally had a TJ fuel injection but Gord went to Webers. We sold the TJ on E-Bay last year to Holland. I believe that John cut up the chassis. John was fairly badly burned as he had on my old early one layer Nomex suit and no undewear. It was a cold day and his wife Frankie had my old Nomex underwear on because of the cold. I was not there.
I see Gord Green quite often and will ask him where the car came from if he remembers the chassis #.

Irwin
I was told a similiar story that after the car disappeared a few large men in dark suits started coming to Tremblant and looking in every single seater trying to find the 41. They new nothing about cars and everyone avoided them
My car ( well a chassis and a few parts) came from the Deux Montagne area many years later and I learned of the story after I sold it.The chassis looked like it had only run a very few races as it was undamaged and had only a few minor scratches on the frame. I did not repai or change a tube including the bolt in floor pan
Is John Jensen still around . I would like to talk to him
Thanks
John Lindsay

John: Sorry, I lost track of John Jensen years ago. You might try Bruce Jensen. He is in Apopka, Fla. and his Co. has a website. I am not in touch with him.
How is the restoration of my old Elva Mk6 coming.
Leighton

An addition John: Bruce was running a Brabham BT21 at the time and at the race after his car disappeared Siconolfi was at the track with his usual bodyguard and a Sgt. from the QPP checking all Twin Cam engines. He was ok. with us as we had helped him at an earlier race but he did appear to be getting rather nasty with some of the PQ drivers. I don't think he ever raced again.

Leighton

Didn't Siconolfi race a Brabham BT38C in 1972?

Chris

Chris: That is possible. My memory certainly is not perfect after all these years. I would say that he would drive the car not RACE it. He was not very good, at least as a race driver.
Leighton

The SCCA Championship winning Lotus 41 (Gus Hutchison owner/driver) shown after being acquired by Keith Saunders in original ("reverse") Team Lotus SW colors of yellow with green. The car was later modified by the addition of small fiberglass canard type front wings and painted red. Top photo 1968, bottom 1969 at Ft. Sumner New Mexico.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y254/davhut/Lotus41_2sm.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y254/davhut/KGSFtSumner_3sm.jpg

Just talked to Gord Green. He bought his 41 from Bill Brack who was the Cdn. Lotus Distributor. Bill brought the car in for a person Gord could not remember but could not pay for the car. Gord did sell the car to John Jensen and he believes John did cut it up. Tranny went to he thinks to Peter Barker and engine elsewhere. Peter is still involved and could be reached thru the 3/4 litre web sit where his current car is for sale as driven by Penni Barker-Adams

nowdays picture of chassis number 41-F3-7 (A.Stoitzner)

http://www.vrchy.com/rechberg05/original/rechberg_05_604.jpg

Now that is a beautiful Lotus 41!

I've been asked about 41-FL-33, currently in France, but its past history is a bit of a mystery at the moment.

Is anyone able to shed some light on this car?

Gareth

There were several in French hillclimbs, two continuing well into the 1970s. What do you know about the car you've found?

Allen

There were several in French hillclimbs, two continuing well into the 1970s. What do you know about the car you've found?

Allen

Very little as yet, I'm afraid - just that it was restored in 1993-4. It's dark green with yellow non-standard wheels, and has a twin-cam fitted, without engine cover.
It's been used for a handful of hillclimbs since, before being put into storage for a few years.

Also, does anyone have any more info on chassis 12, other than it being sold to Derek Bell?

41-F3-12 used by Mac Daghorn in early part of 1967 and then sold to Georges Tacquet in France, retained by him 1968

Chris

Does anyone have any photos of chassis 12 in period?

Many thanks

Slightly off topic ... but used to have a Lotus 7 with IRS .... rear uprights were from a 41 !

Slightly off topic ... but used to have a Lotus 7 with IRS .... rear uprights were from a 41 !

Did that car end up with Paul Edwards?

Steve,

No the car was sold here in California to Rob Manson ..... it was featured in Ortenburger's book Legends of the Lous Seven.

Tony

Lotus 41 chassis 41/9 can be seen at vintageracer.com.
Sam Lang
daytona@pipeline.com

Hi,
May I add some notes about the 41s that were in Sweden. There were only three of them

41/F3/6 Seems to be some confusion about the chassis#. According to my notes this should be the Gunnar Carlsson car. Though if the chassis no is not right, the history that follows is. Carlsson didn´t get the car in time for the first race in Sweden 1966 at Knutstorp. Then he had two troubled races and got fed up and more or less finished his long career here. Then Egert Haglund might have done one or two races before it was sold to Hasse Nilsson. He did very well considering that he was a rookie as car racing driver after motor-cycle sidecar racing. He kept it 66-67 and fellow Bo Eriksson borrowed it for two or three races before it was sold to Lars-Erik Salé, ex rally driver in 1968. Salé kept it 1968-69 without success. It is probably that car that was in the Greger Petersson collection and sold at an auction at Nürburgring in 1998.

41C/F3/31 This is the Lotus that Freddy Kottulinsky raced in 1967 with lots of podium places. Kottulinsky had raced a 35 in -66 and then returned to another old 35 in 1968. This 41 was sold to Lennart Engström who raced it in 1968-69. Then it obviously was an object for used car dealers. In the early 70ies it was for sale in Malmoe for less than £ 300, and still in good condition!

41/F3/43 Raced in 1968 by Leif Englund. In 1969 it was bought by Bengt Rådmyr who also raced it the first half of 1970, till he got his Lotus 59.

So that´s all for to-night!

Thanks Hagis, great stuff
RAP

41-F3-12 at a test earlier this month: