<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Chapman had very high hopes for the car, which he believed was one of the fastest racing cars ever built. The Lotus 29 showed its potential in testing, shattering the lap record at Snetterton. The prototype was then shipped to the United States for further testing at Ford's private track in Arizona. Meanwhile two new chassis were readied for Jim Clark and Dan Gurney to drive in the Indy 500. Clark's car was painted in Lotus' familiar green and yellow, while Gurney's 29 sported a variation of the American white and blue racing colours.
In practice the big Roadsters still proved to be faster but it was part of Lotus' strategy to make fewer pit-stops with their lighter and more frugal machine. Clark, the only non-American in the race, nevertheless set the fifth fastest time. For Gurney, the practice sessions were not quite as straightforward as he crashed his 29. The car was hastily repaired, using parts from the original prototype. He would start the race from 12th on the grid.
The Lotus strategy seemed to pay off as after running 9th and 10th early on, Clark and Gurney moved into the lead after the first round of pit stops. Clark eventually only had to stop once compared to Gurney's three stops. This placed the young Scotsman right on the tail of Parnelli Jones' Watson Offenhauser, which was spewing oil badly. Despite Chapman's pleas, Jones was not black flagged and would go on to take the win. Clark had to settle for second, while Gurney ended the race in seventh place.
Although the Indy 500 had turned out to be the single most lucrative race Lotus had competed in, Chapman still had a point to prove. He entered Clark in the Milwaukee 200-mile race where he led from start to finish and set a new lap record. Ford acquired Gurney's car and used to test the new quad-cam engine. It was raced in the 1964 Indy 500 by Bobby Marshman, who briefly led the race before being side-lined with engine issues. The car was back in 1965 when Al Miller finished fourth.
For Lotus and Ford, the Type 29 was just the beginning and over the winter the new Type 34 was readied. Powered by the quad-cam engine, it had a disastrous race in 1964 due to tyre problems. It would turn out to be third time luck for the Lotus-Ford partnership as Clark would go on to win the 1965 Indy 500, finally breaking the Roadster stronghold on the legendary race. Although overshadowed by its successors, the Type 29 did remarkably well to finish second and seventh at what was the manufacturer's debut in the Indy 500. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Chapman had very high hopes for the car, which he believed was one of the fastest racing cars ever built. The Lotus 29 showed its potential in testing, shattering the lap record at Snetterton. The prototype was then shipped to the United States for further testing at Ford's private track in Arizona. Meanwhile two new chassis were readied for Jim Clark and Dan Gurney to drive in the Indy 500. Clark's car was painted in Lotus' familiar green and yellow, while Gurney's 29 sported a variation of the American white and blue racing colours.