Why number 2 lotus never reached the top ?

[WANHER]

Why driver like Taylor, Arundell, Spence, Oliver,
Wisell, Walker etc never got any succes in
F1 Championship ?

[zealot]

If memory serves, Lotus' number 2 driver has always been a very loyal team player, willing to let number 1 have all accolades and honors. Just look at Ronnie Peterson - many a time he gave up position to ensure the number 1 (Emo and then Mario) would get the results he needed.

[fines]

Monza '73, for example...

[WANHER]

also with a great % of DNF

[Chris Townsend]

Arundell was probably the most unfortunate. He was badly injured in a ccrash in his first full season (1964) and when he came back in 66 was clearly not the same driver. If you look at his results from FJ and what he did in that first season he clearly could have matured into a very special racer.

Of the others, Chapman tended to employ second drivers who could get the car round but who wouldn't get in the way of his relationship first with Clark and then Rindt. EG Trevor Taylor and John Miles. Those who were difficult lost the job. Hence Ireland, who apart from a propensity to throw it off the road and not try when he wasn't in the mood (see also Jean Alesi) was a pretty good racer, got sacked and never got in a decent car again. If Clark hadn't been killed it would have been interesting to see how the relationship between Chapman and Graham Hill panned out. In 1967 Team Lotus had two top drivers for the first time, with Hill playing second fiddle.

[WANHER]

I think it 's the same for T Taylor, he was also
one of the top driver in FJ but after his crash
on the spa track with W Mairesse. He wasn't anymore
the same. He also didn't finish any race if I good
remenber after that. He also gets a poor 63 season
also clocking with 1 point.

[ingo]

Dave Walker was an interesting case. Again, I assume Chapman saw him very much as second fiddle to (young) team leader Fittipaldi in 1972 but great things were expected of him. He'd had an incredibly successful 1971 racing in Formula 3. Whereas in 1970 the F3 wins had been shared between Pace, Trimmer, Beuttler, Birrell etc, in 1971 Dave Walker proved very hard to beat. I saw him race a few times that year and, at the Silverstone GP meeting for example, he bided his time and maturely picked his way through a very competitive field to take the flag.
Yet, once he was in the Lotus 72, he had a disastrous time. Fittipaldi couldn't stop winning while Walker didn't score a single point. Very sad. I remember some reference to him "trying to drive the 72 like an F3 car" but I've always been bemused by his sudden change of fortune. He tried his hand at sports cars and F5000 I think. Anybody know any more about him?