Lotus 72D

[Taffy]

Well, there are the Scaley- and the Policar-slotcars, so why should I scratchbuild a Lotus 72?

The plan is, together with a few friends, to establish a small racing series with formula cars of the early 70´s, held on our home tracks. The Lotus will be the prototype for this series. That is one reason, why I have chosen the Penelope Pitlane-chassis for my car, because we want to have comparable technical components and not all of us are able to build their own chassis.

I have decided, to build the Lotus 72E, driven by Ronnie Peterson in 1973, a similar car to that shown at Wikipedia

Fortunately, I had one of the (I think so..) sold out PP-bodykits in stock. The kit came with a complete decal sheet of the John Player Special- version of the car and included the body, airduct and rear wing, made of resin, a driver´s head, a clear windscreen and some white-metal parts.



The chassis is a PP SMs1m, stiffend by some solder. Wheels are PP with Pendleslot rubber tyres, that give a good grip.





Not easy, to get enough space tor the guide flag under the very flat body.





to be continued...

[Andrew Rowland]

Looking good Taffy, nice to see people stepping into the later period.
I think the car you are making is a phenomenal one. Arguably the nicest looking Lotus with the lower nose, longer side pods and the long cantilever rear wing.
Awesome although in terms of slot cars I find black cars not so easy to see, especially on black plastic tracks.

Looking forward to see the car develope Taffy.
Cheers
Andi

[David Lawson]

To answer your question Taffy as to why you should build a Lotus 72 when there are RTR versions available, it is because we are scratchbuilders and this is a Scratchbuilding Forum and you can't beat the pleasure of racing a slot car you have built yourself can you.

The PP kit is out of stock, I think I am right in saying that fellow scratchbuilder Marlon Foakes made the master for PP.

I like the sound of your new class using the PP chassis and wheels as it levels the playing field and should encourage more people to have a go. I hope your group of friends have an enjoyable race series.

I agree with Andi that the Lotus 72 never looked better than during 1973 in the 72E specification. I was fortunate enough to see the 72 "in the flesh" race at Brands Hatch and Silverstone in every year with every driver and in all the various specifications from 1970 to 1975 but the "perfect" version was Ronnie Peterson in the 72E.

Any excuse to get out one of my old grainy black and white photographs... Peterson coming through Becketts at Silverstone at the British Grand Prix in 1973. The Lotus looks elegant yet low, racey and purposeful at the same time.

I look forward to seeing your build progress Taffy.

David

[Taffy]

Ah, David, even a german is able to pose a rhetorical question... :-))
But if there should be an answer to this question, you did answer totally right!
That is the reason, too, why I´m feeling lucky to be a member of this forum...

Thank you for posting the contemporary picture, too! You must be a very lucky man having seen all these cars in "their" time, screaming, racing, drifting....

In the german 1/32 Scratchbuilt-Forum, where I have posted this car, too, I have said: "In meinen Augen ist das insbesondere in der schwarz-goldenen Livrée einer der elegantesten Rennwagen aller Zeiten." i.e.: "in my eyes, this one (the Lotus 72E), especially in the black and golden livery, is one of the most elegant racing cars ever".

You see, I totally agree with you David, and with you, Andi!

I usually don´t like black cars, too. The older my eyes, the brighter have to be the colours of my cars. But what can I do? I HAVE to build THIS car...
My own track is painted in lighter grey, so it will be no problem to race the car there, but it might be a problem to race it on the tracks of the other chaps.
We are four guys, who want to race these cars, what is enough for the moment. Unfortunately, we are all living in far distances to each other, but I hope we will manage to meet three or four times in a year...fingers crossed! Thank you, David, for your good wishes.

I´ll keep you updated with the progress of this car and with the "series".. now I must go back to my workbench ;-)

Cheers,
Taffy

[formula14kdc]

What are PP wheels and what sizes are they? Which Pendle Slot front and rear rubber tyres did you get? Love to scratch build but getting the right tyres and wheels can be a hassle. Thanks

Kent

[Chris Wright]

PP wheels are Penelope Pitlane wheels (now owned by Pendle's).

[Taffy]

Kent,

I apologize for my late reply, but I was a little bit busy the last days and I want to give you a sufficient answer.

As Chris has explained right, the distribution of Penelope Pitlane items is now done by Pendleslot

front wheels:
item no. PPSWRWS, overall width (including stub) 11,4mm/0,45 inch, width of the wheel itself: 9mm/0.35 inch, inner diameter: 9mm/0.35 inch, outer diameter: 11,5mm/ 0.45 inch

rear wheels:
item no. PPSWRL, overall width (including stub) 16,6mm/0,65 inch, width of the wheel itself: 14mm/0,55 inch, inner and outer diameter: the same as above

the wheels have a central hub, that is 2,35 mm/ 0,9 inch thick

the right tyres are:

front: item no. PCS 32138/t, width 10mm/0.4 inch, diameter: 17mm/ 0.65 inch
rear: item no. PCS321413/t, width 14mm/0.55 inch, diameter 20mm/0.85 inch

As far as I can say after my testing, I think, these tyres are rubber tyres, no PU, and they give a very nice grip, that is between the original Scaley tyres and PU tyres. We didn´t race them yet, but I know, I will like them.

Best regards,

[formula14kdc]

Thanks Taffy, I'm at work so I'll have to check this out later. I've got the Lotus body also and see that Policar is providing some accessories in wheels and tires. Thanks

Kent

[Andrew Rowland]

The Policar combinations are good for 1970 to 1972,  but therafter you'll need to wait until the larger tyres come to market when we get the later versions in production.


Andi

[formula14kdc]

Hi Taffy, what are you going to do to make this an E version of the Lotus 72? PP sold these resin body kits as a D version. I don't know what the mechanical differences are between them but outwardly the E version had curved inlets to the the side radiator "boxes" which I like better. I think the D version ran from 1971-1975. The E version began in 1973 right? Any other outward difference can you see between the D & E versions? Probably already discussed before right? Would like to hear your opinion and comments!

Kent

[Taffy]

Kent,

you catched me!

I wasn´t aware of the differences, thank you for showing my fault.

You are completely right: I will build a Lotus 72D from the PP kit.

(Chris, would you please be so kind to edit the title from Lotus 72E to D? Thank you!)

Unfortunately, I´m not a connoisseur of the F1-history like many others are here in the forum and so mistakes happen. I only like the cars, like their look and their sound and I like the era, where they have been driven, but I have not even experienced this era, that means, I have no close view...

There must have been several mechanical changes from D to E, like better protected fuel tanks, crash pads on the sides, varied wing mounts and different air boxes. But I cannot assign these changes to the certain types of cars.

So I will continue to build my Lotus D.....

[Taffy]

Thank you, Chris!

[Taffy]

Several months without any progress…. But now there is time again to continue the build of the Lotus.
Some guys in the german scratchbuilt-forum told me, that the anterior air-ducts for the brakes seemed to be located too far from the cockpit. Comparing the body with contemporary pictures I had to say, that they were right. So I have shortened the PP-body by two millimeters in the length:



Next was the „marriage“ of the body with the chassis, and I began to prepare the body for some detail works. So I have removed the resin-air intakes to replace them later by thin ferrules



The detailing of the rear end will be a challenge….



The PP-decals are very good to handle. Nevertheless it took around three hours to put the decals to their right place.



I have put together all bits and pieces so far to get a first impression of the car:



Then I continued with the detailing by putting the ferrules in their place and by „sewing“ the ignition cables.







To be continued...

[Andrew Rowland]

Oh lovely, when pp made these kits i bought three and have only built one. Having then done the Policar Lotus I may never build the others I suppose but your thread makes me nostalgic for a bit of scratchbuilding...

Superb finish you've achieved there Taffy.

Cheers
Andi

[David Mitcham]

Good to see you back in action Taffy. I can well imagine it took hours to get the gold lining correct - excellent job. I've found the PP bodies can be a little generous in their dimensions too!

Best Regards

David