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Foyt, Lotus and the “British Invasion”

08. Feb 2023 
by Ziv Knoll
3872 views

A.J. Foyt at full speed in front of a packed house during the 1965 Indianapolis 500 (picture above). AJ had won the pole with a new track record in the highly modified Lotus 34-Ford, but fell out with gear failure. The car remains one of the best looking of the early rear-engine cars, with body modification by Lujie Lesovsky.

At these 1965 Indianapolis 500, the five-year old “British Invasion” finally broke through as Jim Clark and Colin Chapman triumphed with the first rear-engined Indy-winning car, a Lotus 38 powered by Ford.

Jim Clark (picture below), of Scotland, started from the front row, and led 190 laps (of 200), such was his domination. With only six of the 33 cars in the field having front engines, it was the first 500 in history to have a majority of cars as rear-engined machines.

Source: IMS Museum

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