1968 Lotus 56: Indy Banned the British Car It Couldn't Beat

In May nineteen sixty eight, Lotus arrived at the Indianapolis 500 with a wedge-shaped, four-wheel-drive car powered by an aircraft turbine. It had no pistons and no gearbox. It took pole position, broke a speed barrier nobody had touched, and led with nine laps to go before a fuel pump drive shaft sheared and handed the race to America. Within eighteen months the rulebook had been rewritten twice to make sure it never happened again. This is the story of the Lotus 56, the two drivers Colin Chapman lost before the green flag, and the one thing about the car that no regulation could stop.