Lotus 76

[PJE]

Ok, maybe I’m going way way over board, but I’m considering scratch building a Lotus 76. I don’t know of any kit that has ever been produced of this car.
I’ve got a PKAA 1/24 scale paper model on order and I’m going to enlarge it to 1/20 scale and look at using it as a template for the chassis, bodywork, and some of the suspension. Since it is such an angular car I think this is possible, if the PKAA model is accurate enough. I would probably use a Lotus 78 kit for engine, tires, etc.
What I’ve been able to find is that one of the cars was restored and displayed at Goodwood in 2002. I’ve found a few photos online. Namely, Gurneyflap and the Ultimate car page. Does anyone have any other photos they would like to share or can point me to any sites online that I’ve missed?

Paul Erlendson

[little-cars]

PJE,

SRC produced a nice kit in 1/43rd.

I should have a few photos of the 76 that was at Silverstone last July.

I'll send you a PM in a few days when I'm back in the office.

[DiemenRacer]

I'm confused, when did Lotus race the 76? At the Glen in 1975 they still had the 72 but when I pulled my 1976 magazines out to look for photos Lotus was running the 77.
Mark

[70sFAN]

Actually, the 76 was raced in some GPs of the 1974 season.
Paul,
I have a few more pics similar to these ones, but i suppose you're looking for detail pics, don't you?

Oliver

[PJE]

Thank you Oliver. Yes, I'm especially looking for photos of the tub and the transaxle. This effort would still probably be a curb side.
Paul, is the SRC kit still available?

Paul Erlendson

[little-cars]

Paul,

Yes the SRC is stil produced, but hard to get hold of.

I am hoping to get hold of a number of their kits and will let you know if there is a 76 in tehre.

[craggyisland]

How about this?


or this?

[PJE]

Thanks!

Paul Erlendson

[PJE]

I'm confused, when did Lotus race the 76? At the Glen in 1975 they still had the 72 but when I pulled my 1976 magazines out to look for photos Lotus was running the 77.
Mark

The car was built for the 1974 season, but the car was so bad that as the season went on the drivers gave up on it and asked for the Lotus 72s to be brought back. It took Lotus until the last race of 1976 ro recover with Mario Andretti winning the Japanese GP with the Lotus 77.

Paul Erlendson

[Emersonsquirrel]

Paul

I don't think it was as simple as the car being bad. It was more a case of neither driver having much interest in developing it and it being too complicated when it was first introduced. Ronnie for all his brilliance was never highly regarded as a test driver and having got good results with the 72 didn't really feel the need to develop a car that he was uncomfortable with!

Chapman was trying to make another quantum leap forward, as he had done with the 25, 49 and 72 in the past, but probably introduced too many new concepts, remember that the 72 was a dog until they shelved the anti-dive and anti-squat suspension!

While the 76 was quietly put on the scrapheap at the end of the '74 season it had shown some promise and might have been a success had Lotus persisted with it, however Chapman was not the most patient man and decided that the 72 would do for '75 while his next idea was fomenting!

The story of Lotus is littered with innovative ideas, but we tend to remember the successes more than the failures.

The 76 is certainly an interesting topic for a scratchbuild as lots of tweaks were tried throughout '74 and it seemed to change at every outing! I look forward to seeing it take shape!

All the best!

ES