1963 Lotus 29 - Dan Gurney In 1963, Colin Chapman, the man behind the Lotus Grand Prix program, decided to try his hand at the Indy 500. He had two Lotus cars built, based on the Lotus 25 chassis design, which had proved so successful in the 1962 Grand Prix season. The designation of these two cars was the Lotus 29. Jim Clark was to drive one of the cars, in the traditional Lotus British green and yellow stripe. The other car was driven by Dan Gurney, then an up and coming American Indy driver. Dan’s car was painted white with a blue stripe. These cars were radical at the time because they had the engine mounted behind the driver as opposed to the dominant roadster style cars that had dominated Indy since its inception. On May 30, 1963, Jim Clark placed 2nd in the race, behind Parnelli Jones. The race was controversial in that Jones’s car was leaking oil for much of the race and he was not black flagged. Dan Gurney placed 7th. During the development of the cars, Ford Motor Company supplied a number of engines to replace the Coventry Climax engine used in the Lotus 25. During the weeks leading up to the Indy 500, the cars were tested using different power plants and suspension layouts. There are a few photos of the development cars and this model depicts one of the testing cars of Dan Gurney. It used a double overhead cam engine that Ford was testing at the time. However, this engine was not used during the actual race. This car depicts the test version of Dan Gurney's car, with the overhead cam engine, dragster-like exhaust and telemetry (?) box behind the engine. The model is based on the old AMT Lotus Indy car, which has been released a number of times, but is currently out of production. There were a number of inaccuracies and missing details in the kit. A more detailed build article is located Lotus 29 - Dan Gurney (PDF 600 kb) Base Kit(s): 1/25 scale AMT Lotus powered by Ford Finished: May 2014 Modifications/Additions: - brake mounting brackets on both front and rear uprights - brake lines added, front and rear - front suspension modified to lower ride height and add poseable steering - windscreen from clear plastic, mounted with Scale Hardware rivets - seatbelts and gear shift lever added to cockpit - engine block from kit parts, heads from 1965 IMC Lotus - scratchbuilt intake manifold, exhaust pipes and coolant system piping - rear suspension parts made from styrene rod and RB Motion shock absorbers (different lengths) - RB Motion rod ends for anti-sway bar - most suspension and parts assembled with Scale Hardware simulated bolts - scratchbuilt telemetry box and bracket - carb intake trumpets from shortened flared metal aftermarket parts - aftermarket tires with better profile - Tamiya Pure White on bodywork, various Alclad metallic on other pieces - decals from Pattos Place (Australia) Awards: Toronto Model Car Show, September 2015, 1st place Competition Open Wheel Ajax 35, Ajax, ON October 2015, 2nd place Competition Open Wheel Click on Thumbnail to see detailed image. These images are 1024 x 768 and should load reasonably quickly, depending on your connection speed. The real car Some construction photos |