Monterey Car Week 2023: Lotus Type 66 Track Car Debuts with 830bhp V8 Engine, Limited to 10 Units

Lotus has revealed the Type 66 during Monterey Car Week, which will be manufactured as a limited-run racecar. The Type 66, which is based on lost Lotus concepts from 1970, fuses the company's rich racing history with cutting-edge materials and design. Now, the British sports car manufacturer has revealed that it will produce only 10 examples of a revised version of the vehicle, which was originally intended to compete in the Can-Am series. Due to Chapman's focus on F1, however, the concept never got farther beyond the blueprints and prototype stages. Lotus, having rediscovered and redesigned the Type 66, plans to build it at a cost of around USD 1.3 million each, with performance guaranteed to be on par with modern GT3 racing cars.

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Lotus Type 66: Design

Paying homage to its history, Lotus has faithfully replicated the iconic red, white, and gold colour scheme, the colour scheme of its Formula 1 team during that era. Drawing inspiration from its Formula 1 vehicle of the time, the newly resurrected Type 66 incorporates various enhancements, including side-mounted radiators. Lotus claims that more than a thousand hours of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modelling has gone into producing the Type 66. This remarkable commitment to innovation far surpasses the technological capabilities of the early 1970s.

Designed to generate greater downforce than the vehicle's entire weight at the top speed, the car’s front wing directs airflow from the front through and below the rear wings. Modern Lotus cars, such as the Emira sports car and the Evija hypercar, continue to use this trademark aspect of Lotus vehicle design, which involves air travelling through rather than around the vehicle.

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Lotus Type 66: Engine

While Lola and McLaren dominated the Can-Am series in the 1960s, Lotus gave serious thought to entering the series in the latter years of that decade. Throughout its dominant period, McLaren employed Chevrolet engines, including a big-block 8.3-litre unit in the 1971 M8F, which reportedly produced over 800bhp. While it's likely that the initial Lotus Can-Am plan would have followed competitors' lead and competed with American V-8 power, the project was never developed far enough to acquire an engine.

Although Lotus hasn't named a specific manufacturer, it has described the Type 66's engine as a ‘period-representative V-8 pushrod’. Power output is projected to be 819bhp at 8800 rpm and 745Nm of torque at 7400 rpm. The engine is equipped with a forged aluminium crank, pistons, con rods and an amazing set of unique induction trumpets.

The new vehicle's central carbon-fibre tub makes it less period accurate structurally. Lotus claims that it will have electronic power steering, a contemporary sequential racing gearbox with an anti-stall system, and an anti-lock braking system (ABS), but the body panels will be aluminium so it won't seem too modern. Lotus claims that it will be faster than a GT3 racing car on circuits like Laguna Seca.