Road & Track - Dario drives the Lotus

[piasite]

If I recall, Clark and his 1965 Lotus held the average Indy 500 race speed record for over a decade (150+ MPH) and won by nearly 2 laps and 2 minutes over Parnelli Jones' second place car!

[gordonsucks]

sweet, i want one.

[me3do4]

What a GREAT experience for Dario ! The video gave me cold chills !!! I am so glad these racing machines are preserved so future generations can appreciate them.

[MonsterXQuattro]

I also liked Dario's period firesuit

[MonsterXQuattro]

OMG,I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!! I love this car!!!!!!! THis car is oozing with history and tech echievment!!!THis was an amazing vid!!!!!But,Kinda upset that an IRLer was driving it....

[dot350]

@MonsterXQuattro Um, Dario drove in CART from 1997-2002 and was very competitive.

[CesarPT6]

Its me or I saw the Lotus so slower than the Indycar.

[DinsdalePiranha67]

@CesarPT6 It's certainly slower than a modern Indy car, in large part because it has no aero and much harder tires. But it was pretty fast in its day; this was one of the cars that ushered in the switch from front- to rear-engined cars.

[BrookssRobinsonn]

@DinsdalePiranha67 not to mention that Dario wouldn't even try to push the car's limits, that duty was for Jim Clark alone. The car could probably go faster if he wanted to really drive it, but like you said, the harder tires and lack of aero could make it extremely unpredictable

[DinsdalePiranha67]

@BrookssRobinsonn Aside from the possibility of damaging a vehicle with the historical value of this one, Dario was probably also keeping in mind that this car dates back to a time when race drivers were regularly killed in action.

[carlosbragatto]

Dario Franchitti rocks. I believe this have been very touching for him, because he's a huge Jim Clark fan

[Juihi2]

Bet Dario was in 7th heaven

[utuberevlimitracing]

He drove right by me in the paddock in toronto on his mini bike,

freaked me out, I was like a statue for a second

[NicksEvilTwin1]

awesome Dario, see ya soon man!!

[Gordandro]

Totally awesome for Dario to drive Jimmy's car - great image of bygone classic race car. I am old enough to remember the great moment when Jimmy won the 500!

[Punkdoggy1]

ja man!! geile kiste

[atryan]

Yes lotus was a F1 team but the Lotus 38 was designed specifically for Indy. Notice the offset suspension in the video.

[xhogansherox]

awesome, things are starting to look good for indy car.

[Brantoc]

i can't imagine being able to take that thing out on the track.. Lucky !!

[irlcrew]

Lotus Ford, Indy 500 1965

[atryan]

uh no, it's an old Lotus IndyCar

[welsby43]

@atryan this may not be correct, but i think that this was during the time when f1 teams competed in the indy500. so i would say it was f1 car. this is stemmed from a documentary i watched on jim clark the other night,.

[DBoy02]

@welsby43 It was rare for F1 teams to race at Indy, even during the brief period(1950-1959) where Indy was a points-paying F1 round. What few teams DID go to Indy, like Lotus, used cars specifically built for Indy. Though Ferrari's occasional efforts used a converted F1 car, all other efforts from F1 teams -including Lotus and McLaren- were built from the ground up solely for the Indy 500. This car included. They did not meet Formula One rules and thus cannot be considered F1 cars.

[gilkeen]

@DBoy02 Your right there not F1 cars, there Indy cars!!!

[Yuri600ru]

Is that old Lotus Formula-1 car?