Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

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Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by Icon_Modeler »

Hello Guys,

Merry Christmas and Happy New year to you all!!

I have started to focus my 1/20th F1 collection somewhat and I have been selling off the kits that don't fit into my new criteria. Along with the WDC cars dating back to my birth year of 1963, I have a collection that is pretty standard to any F1 collectors list of all the F1 Senna cars (as well as his gokarts and smaller formula cars of note).

When I was a kid there are two drivers that garnered most of my attention though and these cars and drivers are special to me. One is Niki Lauda. He is the first driver I can remember following closely in print media and when I could find a GP on TV throughout the season to witness his first world championship in 1975. Another driver I have always held in high regard is Ronnie Peterson and I have realized without much effort that I have amassed most of the cars Ronnie drove throughout his F1 career.

Ronnie spent a lot of his career in a Lotus and of that time most was spent in the Lotus 72. Ebbro has provided a nice rendering of the 72E. My first question is, what are the biggest, if any, outward visible differences between the 72D of 1973 and the 72E of the same year?? Next question is what are the biggest, if any, outward visible differences between the 72E of 1973 and the 72E of 1974?? And my last question is what are the biggest, if any, outward visible differences between the 72E of 1974 and the 72E 1975?? I would like to be able to use the Ebbro Lotus 72 to realize all of these version of the cars Ronnie drove since it is nearly impossible to find MM kits of these versions.

Before we get started I should let you know that I do understand that the 72D had separate scoops at the waist for the radiators and the 72E they were fillited and molded together with the sidepods. and that depending on year and race the airbox height could change. I imagine that the rear wings also changed throughout. I understand all of this, my problem though is believing what is found on google when doing a search. I have searched out "Ronnie Peterson Lotus 72D" for example only to find many pictures of the 72E list as 72D so it is hard for me to believe what I'm looking at.

Any help is deeply appreciated, Thanks!!
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Re: Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by Steffen_T »

Hi Derek,
merry Christmas and a happy new year for you too!

It has been several years since I have read "Lotus 72 - Formula One Icon" by Michael Oliver. I don't recall every modification done on the Lotus 72 during the Peterson-years, but there are some I remember at the spot.

First of all the switch from the 72D to the 72E should have come for the Spanish GP 1973 (the first on European soil). From this race onwards the fueltanks had to be protected by a deformable structure. This protection was included in the new sidepods introduced for the 72E.
Another 1973 feature was the position of the rearwing:
As you know aerodynamic devices are not allowed to be moveable. Lotus used a trick on that rule in 1973: The rear wing was firmly attached to the radiator behind the gearbox. The radiator and its housing were movably mounted and, on top of that, placed very far behind the rear axle. So in 1973 the car had a considerable overhang.

Following this the FIA (or however it was called back then) changed a few rules for 1974 regarding the length of F1 cars: A maximum distance between the rearaxle and the rear edge of the rearwing was defined. So the 1974 Lotus 72E got a new rearend and became a bit shorter behind the rear wheels. I even read somewhere, that Ronnie's Monaco winning Lotus 72E from 1974 was a Lotus 72 chassis combined with a Lotus 76 rearend. So if you have a Lotus 76 by MFH you could check out which parts at the rear are different from those of the Ebbro Lotus.

For 1975 not many changes were done. The 74 and 75 versions should be very similar. Ronnie got a new chassis built to fullfil his contract of "a new car for every season". Very much to Ronnie's annoyance of course.

That's what I remember right now. If there is something wrong, please feel free to correct me, folks.
I could also take another look in the book, as it should be still in my bookshelf somewhere.
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Re: Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by Icon_Modeler »

Hi Steffen,

Thank you for the reply. After I made my post I thought I remembered having a book on the 72 so I looked around and indeed I have the Oliver book you mentioned. I will now spend countless hour in review. Thank you for your input. I will also need to figure out what is best to do since Ebbro prices on eBay are approaching MFH prices. Thanks again!!
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Re: Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by ronnie1972 »

As I recall, after the ‘73 Swedish GP the rear wing/oil cooler assembly with the addition of a spacer was moved further aft, and from the German GP on a larger, more square opening air box was installed. After Austria the oil coolers were mounted much lower behind the rear wheels on each side of the gearbox, giving a cleaner air flow to the rear wing. This configuration first appeared on the spare car in practice at the Osterreichring, then was installed on the race cars in Italy, and stayed in that configuration for Mosport and The Glen. This was layout was also copied by Tyrrell for the North American races.

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Re: Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by SBEST »

All, another book that provides additional photos is Pete Lyons Lotus 72 book. I purchased it because I enjoyed his race reports from 1976 in Autosport. What Steffen states about the 1973 Lotus is true. The Lotus 72E 1st appeared at the Spanish GP. All of Ronnie Peterson victories were with the 72E.

Model Factory Hiro, at one point offered a 72E conversion for the 1974 car using Tamiya as a base. Why there is not more "conversion" upgrades for the Tamiya Lotus 72 is beyond me. The car has been produced several times over the last 30+ years.
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Re: Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by smirkoff »

There's also another book on the 72 to recommend: the Haynes "Lotus 72 Owner's Shop Manual" offers good detail pictures of cars in restoration process, and an updated history of each chassis to complement the info in Oliver's book.

From memory I could add that the 74 cars had new front wheels, and the 75 cars have new four-spoke rear wheels. The 75 version, from Belgium onwards, had extra cooling openings alongside the front brake disks "chimneys". From the 1975 mid-season Lotus tried a longer wheelbase 72, using an oil tank as spacer between the monocoque and the engine, but Peterson never used that configuration in races, leaving for the many second drivers to do the development work. The 72 spec used in 75 from the French GP onwards is mentioned as "72F".

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Re: Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by sandrino »

I mounted a 72 Tamiya trying to make it in the '73 version, but looking at the photos of the time, I realized that the modifications and the parts changed or replaced were many ... and a "hybrid" model came out.
in doing so, however, I have learned several things ... besides what they have already written to you here.
I don't have the Ebbro kit, so I'm not sure what versions they made and if they diversified the various aspects between the 72D at the end of the '72 championship, the 72D already modified from the first '73 championship races and then the E, very different from the versions previous ....
I can only tell you a few different aspects between the versions that are quite easily noticeable from the outside:
-Surely with each '73, '74 and '75 version the periscope grip has become bigger in height year after year.
- the shape and width of the rear wing has changed, as have its side bulkheads and support, which has become very simple and "Y" shaped
- the oil tank has changed shape, very large, with different and asymmetrical shape to stay as close as possible to the gearbox
- the type and arrangement of the battery and the external extinguisher on the nose must be checked almost race by race
- consequently, also the oil radiators, in number of three, and relative ducts have been arranged in a different way.

In addition to the books they recommended to you, there is also the little book by Joe Honda that MF Hiro printed a few years ago ....
Alessandro
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Re: Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by Icon_Modeler »

Thanks guys for all of the suggestions!! In addition to the Joe Honda book on the 72 there is also a fair amount on the 72 as well as all of Ronnie's other cars in the Joe Honda Pilot series book on Ronnie!!
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Re: Ronnie Peterson and his Lotus 72's

Post by ModelTime »

Besides all the many technical differences pointed out, the graphics on the JPS livery changed quite a bit from iridescent gold in '72/'73 to a solid yellow as did some contingency decals on the front wings for '74-'75. The 1/20 MFH kits of the Lotus 72E and 76 capture this quite well.
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