Post by Andrew Rowland on Dec 19, 2016 8:20:51 GMT -5
So Stewart has asked me the following 'loaded' question and I thought I might share it and the answer with you all so you have a better understanding of what we are doing....
"Is the forthcoming Policar JPS Lotus 72 the same as the previously released versions of the 72 apart from bodywork changes?
For instance, are the wheels and tires the same size?"
The short answer is 'yes the tyres and wheels are the same', but I should explain why:
Commercially it was necessary to sell more than the first two cars (gold leaf and Rob Walker) before Policar could afford to make a second wheel tyre combination. Each wheel and tyre combination requires two tyres (C1 and F22) and two wheels (plastic and aluminium), so is a fair investment.
At the same time we didn't just want to sell a very slightly different gold leaf car, we thought it more important for club racing to have a completely different livery / colour, i.e. the JPS livery.
The intention was always to produce the cars in order of their original release from 1970 to 1973/4.
In 1971 slick tyres started to become available and by 1972 they were the normal tyre. Wheel sizes were also about to change from 15" to 13".
So it looked like to produce any JPS car we needed a slick tyre and that would point towards a 13" wheel.
Then Maurizio discovered that at Monaco in 1972 there was a 'wet' race and the cars drove on treaded tyres. So we decided that although 1972 wets weren't 'exactly' the same as 1970/71 treaded dries we could just about justify releasing the JPS from Monaco with the same tyre.
Plus by 1972 the cars usually ran a little more 'nose down' than the earlier cars but in the wet they ran higher which meant we didn't need a redesigned chassis yet.....
Following this the next Lotus 72 release Policar is likely to make will be the Lucky Strike livery from the same 1972 season as it is the same mould design as the JPS car....
Apart from the wheels and tyres the JPS car has different side pods, intake box, rear wing and oil tank.
I hope that 'explains' the thinking. Of course for racing purposes most people will be adding aluminium rear wheels and slick tyres anyway. Actually that makes the Monaco car 'wrong', but hey.......
Finally, I was hoping the bell star helmet was going to make it onto this JPS model but sadly it won't come into production until the March 701 in the new year. For now we are stuck with the slot.it helmet design.
Best wishes and Merry Christmas
Andi
"Is the forthcoming Policar JPS Lotus 72 the same as the previously released versions of the 72 apart from bodywork changes?
For instance, are the wheels and tires the same size?"
The short answer is 'yes the tyres and wheels are the same', but I should explain why:
Commercially it was necessary to sell more than the first two cars (gold leaf and Rob Walker) before Policar could afford to make a second wheel tyre combination. Each wheel and tyre combination requires two tyres (C1 and F22) and two wheels (plastic and aluminium), so is a fair investment.
At the same time we didn't just want to sell a very slightly different gold leaf car, we thought it more important for club racing to have a completely different livery / colour, i.e. the JPS livery.
The intention was always to produce the cars in order of their original release from 1970 to 1973/4.
In 1971 slick tyres started to become available and by 1972 they were the normal tyre. Wheel sizes were also about to change from 15" to 13".
So it looked like to produce any JPS car we needed a slick tyre and that would point towards a 13" wheel.
Then Maurizio discovered that at Monaco in 1972 there was a 'wet' race and the cars drove on treaded tyres. So we decided that although 1972 wets weren't 'exactly' the same as 1970/71 treaded dries we could just about justify releasing the JPS from Monaco with the same tyre.
Plus by 1972 the cars usually ran a little more 'nose down' than the earlier cars but in the wet they ran higher which meant we didn't need a redesigned chassis yet.....
Following this the next Lotus 72 release Policar is likely to make will be the Lucky Strike livery from the same 1972 season as it is the same mould design as the JPS car....
Apart from the wheels and tyres the JPS car has different side pods, intake box, rear wing and oil tank.
I hope that 'explains' the thinking. Of course for racing purposes most people will be adding aluminium rear wheels and slick tyres anyway. Actually that makes the Monaco car 'wrong', but hey.......
Finally, I was hoping the bell star helmet was going to make it onto this JPS model but sadly it won't come into production until the March 701 in the new year. For now we are stuck with the slot.it helmet design.
Best wishes and Merry Christmas
Andi