Dan Gurney, Colin Chapman and Jim Clark at the Lotus Ford Indy Test, February, 1963

01

Artifact Overview

Drivers Dan Gurney (left) and Jim Clark (right) combined forces with designer Colin Chapman (center) to revolutionize the Indianapolis 500. Front-engine roadsters still dominated the race in the early 1960s, but Gurney believed a rear-engine Formula One style car could win. Gurney brought Chapman together with Ford, and Clark won the 1965 Indy 500 in a Ford-powered, Chapman-designed rear-engine car.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Subject Date

February 1963

Collection Title

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

2009.158.66

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 8 in
Width: 10 in

Inscriptions

printed label with handwriting in categories adhered to back of image: Must Credit / The Dave Friedman Photo Collection / [address] Driver: GURNEY, CHAPMAN, CLARK / Machine: LOTUS FORD / Date and event: INDY TEST 2-63 / This photograph is the copyright of Dave Friedman and must / not be reproduced without the expressed consent of the / photographer. handwritten on lower right corner: 132555-444
02

Related Content

  • 1965 Lotus-Ford Race Car
    Set

    Jim Clark and the 1965 Indianapolis 500

    • 21 Artifacts
    Scotsman Jim Clark won the Indianapolis 500 with this rear-engine car in 1965. After his victory, a traditional front-engine car never won that race again. The Lotus-Ford combined a European Formula One-inspired lightweight chassis with a big Ford V-8 engine. The Lotus-Ford's success effectively killed the traditional Indy roadster and established a new design for American race cars.
  • Brick From Indianapolis Motor Speedway
    Set

    Indianapolis 500 Materials at The Henry Ford

    • 25 Artifacts
    When Carl Fisher and his partners opened Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909, the crushed stone and tar track surface quickly proved too dangerous. Fisher had the entire track resurfaced with 3.2 million paving bricks. The track was fully paved with asphalt by 1961, but a three-foot brick strip -- at the start/finish line -- remains, as does the speedway's nickname: the Brickyard.