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Reading
Stillborn Can-Am
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By <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://picasaweb.google.com/106718143195745659856">Reilly Hamilton</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://picasaweb.google.com/106718143195745659856/HistoricsFriday#5370221751460286786">IMG_0956.JPG</a>, CC BY 3.0, Link
First Turn

Stillborn Can-Am

 Casey Annis

Clive Chapman, son of famed Lotus founder Colin Chapman and the guiding light at Classic Team Lotus, revealed an interesting little bit of Lotus trivia recently. Apparently, tucked away in some dusty corner of their Hethel shops was a fireproof case that contained 28 rolls of old microfilm. When they went through to digitize the microfilm, they discovered drawings for a number of Lotus projects, many of which never saw the light of day. One of these projects was a set of sketches, made in September of 1979 by then designer Geoff Ferris, for a “Type 66” Lotus Can-Am car. So intrigued by the discovery was Chapman that he enlisted some help from Lotus Cars to have the drawings rendered into a 3-D image of what the previously unknown Can-Am contender would have looked like, yielding an image that is both reminiscent of the McLaren M8F, with its slab-sides and integrated rear wing, and yet very Lotus with a unique pseudo-single-seat driver cockpit, offset by a hole in the deck for the “passenger seat.” An interesting look into an alternate Can-Am universe that might have been.

Casey Annis (Editor)Photo: Dan R Boyd
Casey Annis (Editor)
Photo: Dan R Boyd

This Lotus discovery is just one of a number of stillborn Can-Am contenders that, had circumstances tipped in a slightly different direction, might have dramatically changed the direction of the series…and perhaps racing in general.

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Brand (Chevron)Brand (Ford)Brand (Lotus)Featured (First turn)Featured (Racecar Feature)Group (FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile))People (Clive Chapman)People (Colin Chapman)People (Dave Wilson)People (Derek Bennett)People (Sachio Fukuzawa)Series (Can-Am - The Stories)Series (Can-Am)Series (Formula One (F1))Series (Group 7 Racing)

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Casey Annis
Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.
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