The Lotus 56, powered by a turbine engine, was designed for the Indy 500. Three exemplars were entered in the 1968 edition, finishing in the top twenty with Joe Leonard, Art Pollard and Graham Hill after showing promise during qualifying. The engine was a Pratt & Whitney that could develop, according to the fuel, from 430 to 550 horsepower. The Granatelli brothers, the main sponsor of the team, who had wanted this very unusual engine, thought that this technical innovation would attract the attention of the media. And that's what happened, even though the Lotus 56 was never really a winner. Lotus also attempted to apply it in Formula 1 with poor results.
Swede Reine Wisell made his F1 debut in 1970 with Lotus. Confirmed for the 1971 season, he raced with the 72C and 72D but at the British GP at Silverstone he used the 56B powered by a Pratt & Whitney turbine engine. Qualifying 19th out of 24, he was forced to make 2 pit stops during the race and finished 11 laps behind the winner, without being classified.
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In the history of static modeling, Spark has truly revolutionized the market. The brand was created by Hugues Ripert, whose father André had been one of the main contenders of the artisanal modeling scene in the 70s and 80s. After working for Vitesse, Quartzo and Ixo, Ripert jr did not choose the diecast technique but opted for resin, with production in China but development and conception strictly in the European tradition. In practice the idea was to offer special models built in small series (what were later called "resincast"). The first Sparks were released in 2000, with a quality-price ratio unapproachable for most industrial and artisanal producers. Today Spark continues to churn out dozens of new products a year, having also expanded its production to other scales, such as 1:18 but also 1:64. There are numerous numbered and limited series for the various national distributors and for private customers such as teams, sponsors, drivers and so on.
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