Lotus 101 Tickford

[FJBH10]

Hello all,

A few years ago I was volunteering at my local museum and in the stores there was a load of engines donated to the museum by Tickford Engineering, I thought one of them looked a bit different and upon further investigation found it was an F1-spec engine with Tickford branding. Back in 1989 Lotus was looking for a higher-power engine and experimented with a Tickford engine before dropping it and going with the Judd that eventually powered the car. I am now living elsewhere and so I cannot volunteer there anymore but recently I have been thinking about that engine. Does anyone have any information about it? There is very little on the internet. All I can gather from my research is that it was a 5-valve per cylinder experimental engine that didn't work out and was eventually abandoned. How many of the engines were made? If there was only one do you think the engine in the museum is the engine that was used? I moved it into the public section of the museum for people to see but I really don't think the museum knows what it might be. It was literally untouched, covered in dust with all the seals still attached. I am visiting home this weekend and if I have time I'll run down to the museum and see if I can get a photo or two.

 

[FJBH10]

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/4880/Lotus-101-Judd.html

Here is a page I found that has a little bit of information on the engine.

 

[rubaru]

Looks like you're going to have to be the one to write its history. I would suggest consulting with your museum's curator to discover how the museum came to be in possession of the engine (Try contacting them early rather than just show up...you wouldn't want to be there when the boss has an important meeting and can't see you). Perhaps you can find the engine's previous owner and go back in history from there. It could very well be that Lotus or Tickford themselves donated it directly to the museum with some intent of displaying it. It should be in the records somewhere what the owner's wishes were.

 

[FJBH10]

Looks like you're going to have to be the one to write its history. I would suggest consulting with your museum's curator to discover how the museum came to be in possession of the engine (Try contacting them early rather than just show up...you wouldn't want to be there when the boss has an important meeting and can't see you). Perhaps you can find the engine's previous owner and go back in history from there. It could very well be that Lotus or Tickford themselves donated it directly to the museum with some intent of displaying it. It should be in the records somewhere what the owner's wishes were.

I'm pretty sure the engines came straight from Tickford themselves, there are a few engines in the stores, some from road vehicles and stuff and the 101 engine. I think when Lotus gave up on it Tickford must have taken it back, never used it and then donated it to the museum kinda out of the blue to free up space or something because it was I think the nearest museum to their HQ at the time and then no-one there saw what it was until I found it.

 

[FJBH10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_101

Here is the new wikipedia article for the 101 now with a photo of the engine (I think it is the first ever photo of the engine to be put on the internet).

 

[Rob Every]

I am not sure the engine was going to be entirely Tickford? Maybe only the heads?

there was a thread about this on Autosport a few months back, possibly by you!!

 

[FJBH10]

Yeah I've just read that Autosport article, not by me but definitely helpful and yes it is just the heads that were by Tickford, rest of the engine was all Judd. I have photos on my laptop at home, I'll try to upload them hopefully by the end of this weekend.

 

[wombat999]

Zakspeed found out the hard way that 5 valve heads were not great.
The remarkably unreliable Yamaha 20V power plant virtually finished the team off by the end of the 1989 season.
Oddly enough there were plenty of Yamaha bikes running 5V heads around and they seemed very successful.
Just thinking out loud I wonder if Tickford heads were influenced by the Yamaha design, before Zakspeed had their unfortunate experience?
FTR, I believe the record from ignition to explosion for the Zakspeed Yamaha was reportedly 3 seconds!!