Lotus 72 number question

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Emersonsquirrel
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Re: Lotus 72 number question

Post by Emersonsquirrel »

Has anyone ever driven with a 38? I don't even pay attention since the personal thing started.
[/quote]

Not sure if you mean in the modern era or in GP history. Not sure (or bothered!) about recent times, but the number has certainly been used in the past - Howden Ganley, Argentine GP 1973 for one. Iso M@r!b*r* FX3B, also Christian Danner had it on his Rial in 1989.

Incidently the 'fixed' numbering system was largely used in 1973, but for some reason not until the Belgian GP and with some race to race exceptions thereafter. For the Argentine GP all the cars were allocated even numbers for some reason (anyone know?), so Emerson had 2, Ronnie 4 etc.

A fascinating subject!

ES

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Re: Lotus 72 number question

Post by SBEST »

Jeff wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2021 1:10 am Great topic, I learned something new : )
As for 1993, this is how the numbers were shuffled around, though it's not clear to me exactly why (e.g. McLaren didn't take Williams #5 and #6 which would have been the usual practice of old & new champion team swapping numbers; Benetton could have retained #19 and #20, etc)

Williams 1992: # 5 & #6 - Williams 1993: #0 & #2 (1992 champion Mansell not driving in F1 1993)
Brabham 1992: #7 & #8 - no Brabham team in 1993
McLaren 1992: #1 & #2 - McLaren 1993: #7 and #8 (took from Brabham)
Benetton 1992: #19 & #20 - Benetton 1993: #5 and #6 (took from Williams)
Larrousse 1992: #29 & #30 - Larrousse 1993: #19 and #20 (took from Benetton)
Sauber 1992: no entry - Sauber 1993: #29 and #30 (took from Larrousse)
My guess McLaren had 7/8 for a number of years so they decided to go that way........
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Re: Lotus 72 number question

Post by BMW »

...and there is also Ferrari, which retained their 28 and 27 numbers from 1982 to 1996, just to throw another spanner in to the numbers game. :)
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