Just a minute! It's...Bob Dance! By Peter Windsor

A captivating photo of Colin Chapman smiling from the cockpit of the unique, ground-breaking but never-raced Lotus 58 greets all who drink tea these days in the canteen at Classic Team Lotus. The image is enduring: for one thing, this is proof that Chapman obviously drove the 58 around the Hethel test track - this in the absence of Jim Clark, who in 1967 was in tax exile from the UK. And there in the background sits a Ford Cortina Mk1 - road cars given to all the team that year, by Chapman, in recognition of their achievements. Most of all, though, the 58 sits there, ready and waiting - a revolutionary, wedge-shaped F2 car, powered by the Ford Cosworth FVA engine, featuring a DeDion rear end and - at Jim Clark's insistence - an extra brake pedal on the left hand side of the footwell, by the footrest. For Jim was intrigued by the concept of left-foot braking and wanted to try it, way ahead of his time, in the Lotus 58. Bob Dance, a Team Lotus mechanic who worked on the 58 throughout the winter of 1967-68, recalls in this short video how Jim never drove "his" car (prior to his passing at Hockenheim, in April, 1968) but how Graham Hill did test it over a limited programme. By May, 1968, though, Graham was focused on restoring Team Lotus morale and on winning his second F1 World Championship. The 58 was shelved.
Just a minute! is our series of brief encounters with interesting racing people. We try to keep the vids to 60sec but in a few of them we may use a bit more road. We're talking to drivers, mechanics, engineers, management types, fans and anyone else linked to the sport - and you can watch all of them on the adjoining channel playlist.
With thanks to Bob - one of the best F1 people I've been lucky enough to know.
And to Classic Team Lotus
https://classicteamlotus.co.uk
Images: The Peter Windsor Collection
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