Story and photos by Sean Smith unless otherwise noted
Sometime form doesn’t follow function.
Sometimes it follows revenge.
In 1962, the diminutive Lotus 23 gave the racing world a kick in the seat of its pants. Making its entrance at the Nürburgring, the 1.5 liter, 100 hp racer with Jim Clark at the wheel left cars with 4 times the horsepower in its rearview mirror. The first lap was run in the rain; by the end of lap one Clark was 27 seconds ahead of Dan Gurney in a Porsche, adding more and more seconds each lap until the track dried.