Lotus 23

[rogerch]

Remembering 1962 I think the Lotus 23 that ran away from the competition on it's debut at the Nurburgring.

Antone know the lap times and how fast can a standard Elise lap the Nurburgring? Might be one for Kimbers.

[Geoffers]

The only laptime I could find for Jim Clark in the 23 is a mention in the MotorSport report of the race. He did 9m46s when the track was still a little damp. The best race lap by Phil Hill in a Ferrari was 9m31s, the Ferraris were faster than the Lotus when the track dried out.

[rogerch]

Thanks for that, so it seems a standard Elise is about a minute and 10 seconds faster.  Awesome! 

[Geoffers]

I think you need to bear in mind that the track was a little different then & most laptimes quoted today are for the Tourist layout of the circuit which is somewhat shorter than the track used in 1962.

[rogerch]

But we can put Jim Clark in an Elise either.

[JayEmm]

Many of the publicly posted lap times are bridge-to-gantry, which ignores a large chunk of track. I think the circuit has been modified a number of times.

If you can find a copy I highly recommend watching Derek Bell's onboard lap from the video "In Car 956". Should be able to find a copy on youtube easily.