Lotus chassis numbers

Following on from Chico's 'Car Initials' thread, can anyone tell me why Lotus chassis numbers always had an 'R' in them?
i.e. the fifth Lotus 72 chassis is designated 72-R5. Any ideas anyone??

I was wondering about that myself, maybe R for Racing? Incidentally, not all Lotus chassis numbers carry an "R", only the Team Lotus cars from type 25 to 95T (?) Maybe Rainer can enlighten us, or anyone else with the Theme Lotus book?

I thought the 'R' stopped earlier - when they started all that JPS nonsense. Did they start again with the Lotus 81 and 87?

Allen

ALthough there are several views on this, the "R" series started with the 25 series and perhaps actually ended with the 72 series before the 72's became "JPS's" -- "JPS 11" or "JPS 15" or whatever. So, that makes it about 10 season -- 1962 to 1971 that the "R" series was used by Team Lotus. Sorta. The "R" probably meant "Racing" since the 25's were built by the racing team and not Lotus Components the usual source for cars. Of course, with "Chunky" there could be any number of reasons as to why it was an "R" so I wouldn't lose much sleep over it.

I am unaware of the "R" being used during or after the JPS days. At least by Team Lotus that is.

Solved! Right from the horse's mouth! I have just spoken to former Team Lotus Chief Mechanic Bob Dance and he confirmed that the 'R' actually stood for 'Racing'. So now we all know!

'R' is o.k. but I much prefer 'SB'.