Lotus Goes Turbo is a 30 minute documentary covering the Lotus Formula One teams switch from naturally aspirated to turbo V6 engines in the 1983 season. It’s a fantastic little piece of history, seeing engineers designing a Formula One car on a drafting table with a pencil and slide rule is a reminder of just how brilliant these guys actually were.
As Formula One will be returning to turbo engines next year, this film is both a look back and a look forward. The shift to forced-induction engines has been met with derision from many sectors of the F1 world but I’m looking forward to it – there’s nothing like a major shake up in the regulations to knock top teams down a peg and reward mid-level teams who are willing to take a few innovative risks.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
This original 1956 Porsche 356 A training chassis was developed to give American mechanics a detailed understanding of Porsche running gear and engineering – most of which would have been a little unusual to them back in the mid-1950s when Porsche was still a relatively new company. Interestingly the suspension arrangement differs between the left…
The Lamborghini Miura P400 SV was the third, final, and fastest major iteration of the world’s first supercar. The Miura was a design and engineering revelation when it was first shown to the public at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, the chassis had been shown a year before at the 1965 show in Turin where…
The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was a hot hatch from the golden age of the genre that would go on to astonish the motor racing world by winning the 1981 World Rally Championship, competing against the Audi Quattro, the Renault 5 Turbo, the Fiat 131 Abarth, Ford Escort RS1800, and the Toyota Celica 2000GT. Des O’Dell and…
MotoLady is one of the enduring personalities in the world of motorcycles, she created the website TheMotolady.com back in early 2011 and has now become a globally respected motoring journalist and advocate for women on two wheels. This short film by director and founder of Stories of Bike Cam Elkins offers a unique insight into…
This 1973 Ford Mustang was built to race in the Trans Am series, with a heavy duty tubular frame developed by the Le Mans-winning Ford GT40 veterans at Kar Kraft, a highly modified Windsor 351 V8 built by Jack Roush, a close-ratio 4-speed transmission with a Hurst shifter, and a 4.11:1 locked differential. From a…
This Boeing 747 Wheel Table by Plane Industries is more or less exactly what it says on the tin – it’s an authentic Boeing 747 alloy wheel that’s been meticulously rebuilt into what is undeniably one of the greatest coffee tables money can buy. Each wheel is sourced directly from the airline industry, wheels that…
