The 1965 Lotus 38

In 1965, Colin chapman brought a more refined version to the Lotus Ford to Indianapolis. The chassis was a full monocoque tub. It featured an offset suspension with the chassis moved to a “left of center” location in hopes of balancing the tire wear on a track that featured only left-hand turns.

Driver Jim Clark set a new one-lap record in qualifying of 160.973 M. P. H. Clark was the first driver at Indianapolis to officially break the 160 M.P.H. barrier. That, however, did not garner them the pole, and the new lap record was short-lived. A. J. Foyt (driving a Lotus 34 from 1964) went out later that day to set new one and four lap records and secured the number 1 starting position, with Clark’s Lotus 38 in the second slot.

In the race itself, Clark led all but 10 laps, driving to a convincing win, followed by Parnelli Jones (also in a Lotus 34). Clark had lapped all but 4 cars. The race itself was run at a new record pace of 150.686. It is important to note that this is the very first rear-engine car to win at Indianapolis, and further, no front engine car has visited victory lane since.

The following year, Clark, driving the same Lotus 38 finished 2^nd, with the win going to Graham Hill. (It should be noted that there was some dispute in the eyes of the Lotus team, believing that there had been a scoring mis-hap that kept them out of victory lane).