High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Lotus 18 was a race car designed by Colin Chapman for use by Lotus in Formula Junior, Formula Two, and Formula One. It was the first mid-engined car built by Lotus and was a marked improvement over Chapman`s early and only moderately successful front-engined formula cars, the 12 and 16. It was introduced for the 1960 F1, F2 and FJ seasons. As a stop-gap before the introduction of the 18`s successor models, the Lotus 20 and 21, some 18 chassis were rebodied with 21 skins to create the interim Lotus 18/21 hybrid derivative.