absmiami

Yup …

Well - actually the early Road & Track drawings did include an overhead with susp drawings but it turns out that the fr susp drawing wasn’t accurate - the included angle was too narrow …

Suspension members : the lower fromt A arms were soldered w silver solder - using .040 nickel silver tube, with short lengths of .060 and .047 tube for the joints - this was tricky because none of the published chassis plans have susp overhead susp drawings - so the first part required multiple attempts to find the correct angles - the second one will be easier …

Happy family …

Air ducts left and right - made with Evergreen channel strip and tube - one of the curious things about the first or early 25s is that there were no visible radiator sub-frames - it appears that Chapman thought that the radiator was adequately supported by the water hoses and the airducts - but the subframes soon appeared - and all of the survivors have them - another example of commen sense over Chapman …

In between the radiator and the footbox is an oil tank that feeds an oil radiator - thats integrated into the left hand portion of the radiator shell - made fr Evergreen strip - mostly a sandwich of .125 by .250 … i’ve pegged it to the base of the footbox - thats a guess as my many photos fail to show just exactly how it was attached …

Back to the … front …. The resin Joker Lotus kit contributes a resin radiator casting that has the correct size and shape to fit within the white metal nose casting fr the Auto-Kits 25 - with some detail mods - the white stuff is Evergreen …

Rear susp half shaft U joints -

Will use the Girling brake castings that Norman made for me for the 18 …. And i’ve got to make some brake discs - in the mean time …

Spa is such a great circuit - top of my bucket list …. Lots of stuff to make in front of the foot box …

Front uprights - will have to shape some tie rod posts … and make some brake discs -

You’re probably thinking that i’ve abandoned the Lotus kit entirely - au contrare - the uprights fr and rear are usable with these mods …

Some more mods for a better fit within the tail - the rear gear case cover is simplified and trimmed - and a brace added for the support bracket for the exhausts - mite still need to take a scale inch or two out of the length of the transaxle casting …

And adding some detail to the half shaft couplings - which were rubber donuts during the 62 season …

Making mine by modifying a GT 40 transaxle casting that models a later ZF box - including making the side plates …

F1 Motorsports site is a great source of on line contemporary photos of the cars taken during the racing season - and some of the photographers must have known what i needed - 60 yrs ago … as an example … this is the ZF transaxle used by Team Lotus in 62 and some of 63. it’s a ZF DS10 …

My opportunity- one and only - to photograph a 25 - at Laguna Seca - eons ago - gave me a few good pix of a restored 25 - so the trans - for example - is a Hewland and not the ZF that Team Lotus used in ‘62 -

Here’s a book that re-published contemporary magazine articles from the sixties - lots of great drawings and cutaways etc - if you’re building a sixties Lotus open wheeler - look for this in the usual places -