Anyone who has followed F1 motor racing for some years will have a strong impression of Team Lotus and Colin Chapman - both were icons of motor racing during the 1960s and 1970s.
Colin Chapman started in a modest way having completed an engineering degree at London University. His training had been in aeronautical engineering but Chapman's aspirations led him in the direction of motor car design, particularly the design of elegant sports and competition cars. His first design was in 1948 for a trials car. Lotus cars was established by Chapman at Cheshunt, just to the north of London. Lotus cars gained a reputation for being innovative and successful in competitions.
The late 1950s were a time of transition in F1, the big front engined Vanwalls and Ferraris were about to give way to rear engined designs. Credit must go to John Cooper for producing a successful rear engined design and to set the general layout pattern for F1 cars to the present day.
Chapman's first Lotus F1 car was front engined, although Cooper had already demonstrated a successful rear engined car. Chapman quickly realised that the future lay with the rear engined designs.
There was considerable rivalry between Chapman and Cooper. The Cooper cars looked very solid and "workman like" (a critic observed that they looked as if they had been designed and built by the local blacksmith). The Lotus cars in keeping with Chapman's design philosophy were elegant and as light as possible. Chapman's drive for weight reduction, was at times in his F1 career, to be criticised as possibly endangering safety. One critic observed that Chapman's approach was - if a component broke it required strengthening, if it operated without problems then there was an opportunity for weight reduction.
The first Grand Prix victory for a Lotus car was by Stirling Moss at Monaco in 1960 in a Lotus 18 entered by privateer Rob Walker. In 1961 the new 1.5 litre engine formula became effective and Innes Ireland took Team Lotus's first Grand Prix victory at Watkins Glen in the United States.
Chapman's design genius bought further success in F1, particularly the partnership between Lotus and Jimmy Clark (who was probably the best F1 driver of his generation). Using the innovative Lotus 25 monacque chassis, Clark gave Lotus their first Drivers World Championship in 1963, to be followed by a further drivers championship in 1965.
Lotus and Clark also competed at the Indianapolis 500 in the United States and won the race in 1965.
There appeared to be a real friendship and empathy between Chapman and Clark. Some of Chapman's other business relationships appear to have been strained.
In 1966, the 3 litre engine formula was introduced and for the first season Lotus lacked a suitable engine, but in 1967, a new innovative design was produced - the Lotus 49 powered by the new Cosworth DFV. This new car used the engine itself as part of the monoque structure and won at its first race with Clark at the wheel. The Cosworth DFV engine (which Chapman had suggested Cosworth Engineering should build with £100,000 of sponsorship from Ford Motor Company) was to be the most successful F1 engine of all time.
Disaster struck however in April 1968 when Clark was killed while driving in a F2 race at the Hockenhiem track, Germany. The car left the track and hit a tree. In those days it was quite usual for top F1 drivers to compete in other formulae.
Chapman was very upset by Clark's death but Graham Hill (who had won the Drivers Championship with BRM) took the 1968 Drivers Championship in his Lotus.
At the end of the 1960s there were a number of major innovations technical and commercial in F1. A spectacular innovation was the introduction of wings to give extra down force. Initially these wings were quite large supported on slim struts above the rear suspension to give extra down force to improve the cornering of the cars but after accidents occurred with struts breaking and wings coming adrift, rules were introduced by the FIA to improve safety by regulating the size and positioning of aerodynamic surfaces.
The other major innovation which Colin Chapman was directly responsible was large scale commercial sponsorship in F1. This was the beginning of the transformation of F1 from almost a semi-professional sport to a large scale business enterprise it is today. In 1968 Team Lotus shocked the F1 establishment by decking their Lotus 49 cars out in the livery of their sponsor Imperial Tobacco's Players Gold Leaf cigarette brand. Up to this point there had been sponsorship in F1 but it had been relatively 'low key' and restrained, the cars still raced in the national colours - red for Italy, silver for Germany, British racing green etc. The sport had now fundamentally changed and the era of large sponsorship budgets had arrived (and F1's long term links with the tobacco industry had been established).
Lotus enjoyed success with the Austrian Jochen Rindt as number 1 driver but tragedy struck again when Rindt who had a clear lead in the Drivers Points Championship, was killed in an accident at the Monza circuit However, Rindt's lead in the 1970 Drivers Championship was sufficient for him to become the Drivers Champion posthumously.
Lotus's next World Champion was the young Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, who at the age of 25 took the 1972 Drivers Championship to become the youngest ever champion.
Colin Chapman was always searching for the next innovation to give Lotus a competitive edge, and his fertile mind began to examine ways of improving the underfloor aerodynamics of the car to achieve what was to be called 'ground effect'. This area had been examined before but Chapman was able to perfect the techniques including effective 'flexible skirts' to create the required aerodynamic conditions under the chassis.
The result was the John Player Special Lotus 79 which was in a class of its own and allowed the American Mario Andretti to take the Drivers World Championship in 1978. However tragedy struck when Team Lotus's second driver, the talented Swedish driver Ronnie Petersen was killed in an accident at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza..
The FIA became increasingly concerned about the safety issues raised by 'ground effect' cars - the loss of control if the 'skirt' became damaged or torn, and changes were made in the construction regulations to effectively ban 'ground effect'.
Although Colin Chapman could not have known it - Andretti's Drivers Championship was to be the last for Lotus.
Lotus's long term sponsorship with Imperial Tobacco came to an end and the new major sponsor was Essex Petroleum and their controversial Chief Executive David Thieme. Some observers have commented that Chapman was becoming increasingly distracted by the other business commitments of the Lotus Group - the Lotus Group was acting as consultants to and undertaking work for the ill-fated De Lorean car project which was being mainly funded by public money to bring work to Northern Ireland. Other people have also commented that Chapman was becoming seduced by the opulent life style of David Thieme.. The bottom line was that Chapman was no longer giving Team Lotus the attention it required to remain at the peak of F1.
In December 1982, Colin Chapman suffered a fatal heart attack, removing one of the great innovators from F1. Team Lotus survived its founders death but eventually became separate to the other Lotus businesses. Peter Warr (Chapman's 'right hand man' for many years) became responsible for team Lotus and he brought in the French designer Gerard Ducarouge as Chief Designer.
Team Lotus enjoyed some success in the 1980s. Its drivers included Nigel Mansell at the start of his F1 career (but he had to wait until he joined Williams to score his first Grand Prix victory) and Aryton Senna also at the early stages of his F1 career who gained his first GP victory with Lotus in Portugal in 1985.
The Essex sponsorship came to an end with controversy surrounding the business ethics of David Thieme. Also following Colin Chapman's death, allegations were made that large amounts of public money from the De Lorean project had been misused. Observers have commented that these problems made it difficult for Lotus to obtain large scale corporate sponsorship necessary to provide funds required for a first class team.
Ayrton Senna was to score Lotus's final GP victory at Detroit in 1987 in the Lotus 98-T with active suspension. Senna then moved to form a very successful partnership with Ron Dennis and the McLaren F1 Team.
The ownership of Team Lotus changed but Lotus cars steadily slipped back down the grid and rather like an old soldier, the team 'just faded away'. Lotus languished at the back of the grid a mere shadow of the former glories. One of the final Lotus drivers who struggled with an uncompetitive car was Alex Zanardi, who later moved to CART racing in the United States and demonstrated his abilities by taking the 1997 CART Drivers Championship, in his second season of CART racing. Team Lotus's final grand Prix was Australia 1994 at which point the financial crisis finally closed the team.
1963 Jim Clark (GB)
1965 Jim Clark (GB)
1968 Graham Hill (GB)
1970 Jochen Rindt (Austria)
1972 Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil)
1978 Mario Andretti (USA)
Follow this link to find out more about the Lotus Car Club of America.
