Lotus 80px Full name Team Lotus Base Hethel, Norfolk, United Kingdom Founder(s) Colin Chapman Noted staff Maurice Philippe Peter Wright Peter Warr Gérard Ducarouge Frank Dernie Chris Murphy Andrew Ferguson Sam Michael Noted drivers Jim Clark Graham Hill Stirling Moss Emerson Fittipaldi Jochen Rindt Mario Andretti Nigel Mansell Elio de Angelis Ayrton Senna Nelson Piquet Mika Häkkinen Ronnie Peterson Johnny Herbert Alessandro Zanardi Carlos Reutemann Formula One World Championship career Debut 1958 Monaco Grand Prix Races competed 491 (489 starts) Constructors' Championships 7 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1978) Drivers' Championships 6 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1978) Race victories 73 Pole positions 102 Fastest laps 65 Final race 1994 Australian Grand Prix

Lotus as a Formula One constructor Formula One World Championship career Entrants Team Lotus, Rob Walker Racing Team, numerous minor teams and privateers Debut 1958 Monaco Grand Prix Final race 1994 Australian Grand Prix Races competed 493 Race victories 79 Constructors' Championships 7 (1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1978) Pole positions 107 Fastest laps 70 Formula One portal

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series, including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing. More than ten years after its last race, Team Lotus remained one of the most successful racing teams of all time, winning seven Formula One Constructors' titles, six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States, between 1962 and 1978. Under the direction of founder and chief designer Colin Chapman, Lotus was responsible for many innovative and experimental developments in critical motorsport, in both technical and commercial arenas.

The Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2010, as the name of Tony Fernandes's Lotus Racing team. In 2011, Team Lotus's iconic black-and-gold livery returned to F1 as the livery of the Lotus Renault GP team, sponsored by Lotus Cars, and in 2012 the team was rebranded completely, as Lotus F1 Team.

1950s - Lotus' origins[link]

Colin Chapman established Lotus Engineering Ltd in 1952 at Hornsey, UK. Lotus achieved rapid success with the 1953 Mk 6 and the 1954 Mk 8 sports cars. Team Lotus was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954.^[1] A new Formula Two regulation was announced for 1957, and in Britain, several organizers ran races for the new regulations during the course of 1956. Most of the cars entered that year were sports cars, and they included a large number of Lotus 11s, the definitive Coventry Climax-powered sports racer, led by the Team Lotus entries for Chapman, driven by Cliff Allison and Reg Bicknell.

A 1955 Lotus MkIX.

Lotus Eleven cars for Le Mans 24 hours, 1956

The following year, the Lotus 12 appeared. Driving one in 1958, Allison won the F2 class in the International Trophy at Silverstone, beating Stuart Lewis-Evans's Cooper. The remarkable Coventry Climax-powered Type 14, the Lotus Cars production version of which was the original Lotus Elite, won six class victories, plus the "Index of Performance" several times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

As the Coventry Climax engines were enlarged in 1952 to 2.2-litres, Chapman decided to enter Grand Prix racing, running a pair of Lotus 12s at Monaco in 1958 for Graham Hill and Cliff Allison. These were replaced later that year by Lotus 16s.

In 1959 – by which time the Coventry Climax engines had been stretched to 2.5-litres – Chapman continued with front-engined F1 cars, but achieved little, so in 1960 Chapman switched to the milestone mid-engined Lotus 18. By then, the company's success had caused it to expand to such an extent that it had to move to new premises at Cheshunt.

Domination in 1960s and 1970s[link]

The first Formula One victory for Team Lotus came when Innes Ireland won the 1961 United States Grand Prix. A year earlier, Stirling Moss had recorded the first victory for a Lotus car at Monaco in his Lotus 18 entered by the independent Rob Walker Racing Team.

There were successes in Formula Two and Formula Junior. The road car business was doing well with the Lotus Seven and the Lotus Elite and this was followed by the Lotus Elan in 1962. More racing success followed with the 26R, the racing version of the Elan, and in 1963 with the Lotus Cortina, which Jack Sears drove to the British Touring Car Championship title, a feat repeated by Jim Clark in 1964.

Lotus 49

Lotus 77

In 1963 Clark drove the Lotus 25 to a remarkable seven wins in a season and won the World Championship. The 1964 title was still for the taking by the time of the last race in Mexico but problems with Clark's Lotus and Hill's BRM gave it to Surtees in his Ferrari. However, in 1965, Clark dominated again, six wins in his Lotus 33 gave him the championship.

While very innovative, Chapman also came under criticism for the structural fragility of his designs. The number of top drivers seriously injured or killed in Lotus machinery was considerable – notably Stirling Moss, Alan Stacey, Mike Taylor, Jim Clark, Mike Spence, Bobby Marshman, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Ronnie Peterson. In Dave Friedman's book "Indianapolis Memories 1961–1969", Dan Gurney is quoted as saying, "Did I think the Lotus way of doing things was good? No. We had several structural failures in those cars [Indianapolis Lotus 34 and 38]. But at the time, I felt it was the price you paid for getting something significantly better."

When the Formula One engine size increased to three litres in 1966, Lotus was inexplicably caught unprepared. They started the season fielding the uncompetitive two-litre Coventry-Climax engine, only switching to the BRM H16 in time for the Italian Grand Prix, with the new engine proving to be overweight and unreliable. A switch to the new Ford Cosworth DFV, designed by former Lotus employee Keith Duckworth, in 1967 returned the team to winning ways.

Although they failed to win the title in 1967, by the end of the season, the Lotus 49 and the DFV engine were mature enough to make the Lotus team dominant again. However for 1968 Lotus had lost its exclusive right to use the DFV. The season-opening 1968 South African Grand Prix confirmed Lotus' superiority, with Jim Clark and Graham Hill finishing 1–2. It would be Clark's last win. On 7 April 1968, Clark, one of the most successful and popular drivers of all time, was killed driving a Lotus 48 at Hockenheim in a non-championship Formula Two event. The season saw the introduction of wings as seen previously on various cars, including the Chaparral sports car. Colin Chapman introduced modest front wings and a spoiler on Hill's Lotus 49B at Monaco. Graham Hill won the F1 World Championship in 1968 driving the Lotus 49.

Around the same time, Chapman moved Lotus to new premises at Hethel in Norfolk. A new factory was built on the site, the former RAF Hethel bomber base, and the old runways were converted into a testing facility. The offices and design studios were based at nearby Ketteringham Hall, which became the headquarters of both Team Lotus and Lotus Cars. Additional car testing was carried out at Snetterton, a few miles from Hethel.

In 1969, the team spent a lot of time experimenting with a gas turbine powered car, and, after four wet races in 1968, with four wheel drive. Both were unsuccessful, especially as every race was dry. They penned a revolutionary new car for 1970 – the wedge-shaped Lotus 72.

The new Lotus 72 was a very innovative car, featuring torsion bar suspension, hip-mounted radiators, inboard front brakes and an overhanging rear wing. The 72 originally had suspension problems, and Jochen Rindt took a lucky victory in Monaco in the old 49 when Jack Brabham crashed on the last lap while leading. But when antidive and antisquat were designed out of the suspension, the car quickly showed its superiority, and Rindt dominated the championship until he was killed at Monza when a brake shaft broke. Rindt had only recently begun to wear a shoulder harness, but refused to wear crotch straps because he felt they slowed his exit from the car in the event of fire. When the car hit the barrier head-on, Rindt submarined forward and the lap belt inflicted fatal head and neck injuries.

The rest of the 1970 season was nailbiting, as Ferrari closed in on Rindt's undefended lead. A brilliant victory in the US GP by rookie driver Emerson Fittipaldi, who had made his debut in the British GP in a 49, sealed the championship for Rindt, who became the only man in history to win the world championship posthumously.

Lotus' 1971 experiments did not bring any serious advance in technology, but allowed Chapman to test several drivers. For 1972, the team focused again on the type 72 chassis, with Imperial Tobacco continuing its sponsorship of the team under its new John Player Special brand. The cars, now often referred to as 'JPS', were fielded in a new black and gold livery – considered beautiful by many, but coffins by others. Lotus took the championship by surprise in 1972 with 25-year-old Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi, who became (at the time) the youngest world champion, a distinction he held until 2005, when 24-year-old Fernando Alonso took the accolade. Team Lotus also won the F1 World Championship for Manufacturers for a sixth time in 1973. Then, the 72 became outdated, while successor models, such as the Lotus 76 were disappointing.

The first-ever Formula Ford car was built around a Formula 3 Lotus, the Type 51.

Chapman was also successful at Indianapolis with the Lotus 29, almost winning the 500 at its first attempt in 1963 with Clark at the wheel. The race marked the beginning of the end for the old front-engined Indianapolis roadsters. Clark was leading when he retired from the 1964 event with suspension failure, but in 1965, he won the biggest prize in US racing driving his Lotus 38 and winning by a lap; it was the first mid-engined car to win the Indianapolis 500.

Many of Chapman's successes came from innovation. The Lotus 25 was the first monocoque chassis in F1, the 49 was the first car of note to use the engine as a stressed member, the Lotus 56 Indycar was powered by a gas turbine engine and was fitted with four-wheel drive, the Lotus 63 was the first mid-engined F1 car to race with four-wheel drive, and the 72 broke new ground in aerodynamics. Chapman was also an innovator as a team boss. For 1968, the FIA decided to permit sponsorship after the withdrawal of support from automobile-related firms, such as BP, Shell and Firestone. In April, Team Lotus was the first major team to take advantage of this, with Clark's Type 48 F2 appearing at Hockenheim in the red, gold and white colors of Imperial Tobacco's Gold Leaf brand. The F1 followed at Jarama.

Team Lotus was first to achieve 50 Grand Prix victories. (Ferrari was the second team to do so, having won their first Formula One race in 1951, seven years before the first Lotus F1 car.)

In the mid-to-late 1970s, Lotus experienced a resurgence with Mario Andretti joining the team. This came about the morning after the 1976 U.S. Grand Prix at Long Beach. Andretti's VPJ-Parnelli had proven uncompetitive, and in the same event Chapman suffered, for the first time in Lotus's storied Formula 1 history, the ignominy of failing even to qualify a car for the race (with Bob Evans driving; Gunnar Nilsson, in the other Lotus 77, qualified just 20th and fell out with suspension failure before completing a lap). Chapman and Andretti ran into each other in a hotel coffee shop the morning after the race, and decided to join forces. Andretti's development expertise helped give new life to the then-moribund Lotus 77. Engineers began to investigate aerodynamic ground effects. The Lotus 78, and then the Lotus 79 of 1978 were extraordinarily successful, with Mario Andretti winning the F1 World Championship. Lotus attempted to take ground effects further with the Lotus 80 and Lotus 88. The team developed an all carbon fibre car, the Lotus 88, in 1981. The 88 was banned from racing for its 'twin chassis' technology where the driver had separate suspension from the aerodynamic parts of the car. McLaren's MP4/1 beat it as the first all carbon fibre car to race. Chapman was beginning work on an active suspension development programme when he died of a heart attack in December 1982 at the age of 54.

1980s - The downfall[link]

Nigel Mansell set his first pole position in the Renault-powered Lotus 95T at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix.

After Chapman's death the racing team was taken over by Peter Warr^[2] but a series of F1 designs proved unsuccessful. Midway through 1983 Lotus hired French designer Gérard Ducarouge and, in five weeks, he built the Renault turbo powered 94T. A switch to Goodyear tyres in 1984 enabled Elio de Angelis to finish third in the World Championship, despite the fact that the Italian did not win a race. The Team also finished in 3rd place in the Constructors' Championship. When Nigel Mansell departed at the end of the year the team hired Ayrton Senna. The Lotus 97T was another solid achiever with de Angelis winning at Imola and Senna in Portugal and Belgium. The Team, although it had now won three races instead of nil, lost 3rd in the Constructors' Championship to Williams (who beat them on countback with 4 wins). Senna scored eight pole positions, with two wins (Spain and Detroit) in 1986 driving the evolutionary Lotus 98T. Lotus regained 3rd in the Constructors' Championship, passing Ferrari. At the end of the year the team lost its long time John Player & Sons Ltd backing (John Player Special) and found new sponsorship with Camel. Senna's skills attracted the attention of the Honda Motor Company and when Lotus agreed to run Satoru Nakajima as its second driver a deal for engines was agreed. The Ducarouge-designed 99T featured active suspension, but Senna was able to win just twice: at Monaco and Detroit, with the Team again finishing 3rd in the Constructors' Championship, like the previous year behind British rivals Williams and McLaren, but ahead of Ferrari. The Brazilian moved to McLaren in 1988 and Lotus signed Senna's countryman and current (1987) World Champion Nelson Piquet from Williams. Both Piquet and Nakajima failed to make any impressions in terms of fighting for victories. However the team still managed to finish 4th in the Constructors' Championship.

1990s – The end[link]

The Lotus-Honda 100T was not a success and Ducarouge decided in mid 1989 that he was going to return to France. Lotus hired Frank Dernie to replace him. With the new normally aspirated engine regulations in 1989 Lotus lost its Honda turbo engines and moved to Judd V8 engines. In the middle of the year Warr departed and was replaced as team manager by Rupert Manwaring, while long time Lotus senior executive Tony Rudd was brought in as chairman. At the end of the season Piquet went to Benetton and Nakajima to Tyrrell. A deal was organized for Lamborghini V12 engines and Derek Warwick and Martin Donnelly were hired to drive for 1990. The Dernie design was not a success with Warwick scoring all the three points for a 6th in the 1990 Canadian Grand Prix and a 5th in the 1990 Hungarian Grand Prix and Donnelly was nearly killed in a violent accident at Jerez. At the end of the year Camel withdrew their sponsorship.

The Lotus Type 102B as used in the 1991 F1 season.

Former Team Lotus employees Peter Collins and Peter Wright organized a deal to take over the team from the Chapman family and in December the new Team Lotus was launched with Mika Häkkinen and Julian Bailey being signed for the 1991 season to drive updated Lotus 102Bs with Judd engines. At the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix, the team scored its first double points finish since the 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix, with Häkkinen in fifth and Bailey in sixth. Despite this, Bailey was soon replaced by Johnny Herbert for the balance of the season. For the following year, the team signed a deal to use Ford's HB V8 in their new Lotus 107s, designed by Chris Murphy. The team was now short on money and this affected performance, but it did well nonetheless. Häkkinen scored 11 points, including two fourth places at the 1992 French Grand Prix (where he had failed to qualify the previous year) and the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix while Herbert scored two points for 6th Places at the 1992 South African Grand Prix and 1992 French Grand Prix. The team finished 5th in the Constructors' championship. Häkkinen, who finished 8th in the 1992 Drivers Championship, moved to McLaren as a test driver in 1993. He was replaced by Alex Zanardi, who was himself replaced by Pedro Lamy after crashing heavily at the 1993 Belgian Grand Prix, where Herbert scored the last two points for Team Lotus. Over the year, the team scored 12 points despite the tight budget and finished 6th in the 1993 Constructors' Championship. Herbert finished 9th in the Drivers' Championship with three 4th Places: the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, where he lost 3rd to Benetton's Michael Schumacher shortly before the end of the race; the 1993 European Grand Prix, where he made only one pit stop for tyres; and the 1993 British Grand Prix, where he was not far behind Riccardo Patrese's 3rd placed Benetton at the end, having benefited from the retirements of Ayrton Senna, Martin Brundle and Damon Hill. Zanardi scored one 6th place at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race with both Lotus cars in the points.

Debts were mounting and the team was unable to develop the Lotus 107. For the 1994 season, the team gambled on success with Mugen Honda engines. Herbert and Lamy struggled with the old car. The Portuguese driver was seriously injured in an accident in testing at Silverstone and Zanardi returned. The hope was that the new Lotus 109 would save the day. In an effort to survive the team took on pay-driver Philippe Adams at the Belgian GP. At Monza Zanardi was back in the car, and the new 109 was ready. Herbert qualified fourth in the new car but at the first corner he was punted off by the Jordan of Eddie Irvine. Herbert later commented that he felt he could have won the race.^[3] The following day the team applied for an Administration Order to protect itself from creditors. Tom Walkinshaw pounced and bought Johnny Herbert's contract, moving him into Ligier and then Benetton.

An Administration Order was made in respect of the Company on 12 September 1994, and it was compulsorily wound up by the Court on 13 February 1995. A sworn statement of affairs showed that the company had an estimated deficiency of #12,050,000. Disqualification Orders were made against Peter Collins, and Peter Wright on 15 October 1998 for nine years, and seven years respectively. The team was sold to David Hunt, brother of 1976 World Champion James, and Mika Salo was hired to replace Herbert for the last two races of the season. In December, however, work on the design of a new car (the Lotus 112) was halted and the staff laid off. In February 1995 Hunt announced an alliance with Pacific Grand Prix and Team Lotus came to an end. Pacific were initially referred to as Pacific Team Lotus and their car featured a green stripe with the Lotus logo.

Pacific left Formula One after the 1995 Australian Grand Prix. The last race for Lotus was the 1994 Australian Grand Prix.

2010 – Lotus name returns to Formula One[link]

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2012)

Following the 1994 collapse – but before the end of that season – the rights to the name Team Lotus were purchased by David Hunt, brother of former F1 champion James Hunt.^[4] In 2009, when the FIA announced an intention to invite entries for a budget-limited championship in 2010, Litespeed acquired the right to submit an entry under the historic name.^[4] Lotus Cars, the sister company of the original Team Lotus, distanced itself from the new entry and announced its willingness to take action to protect its name and reputation if necessary.^[5] When the 2010 entry list was released on 12 June 2009, the Litespeed Team Lotus entry was not one of those selected.^[6] In September 2009, reports emerged of plans for the Malaysian Government to back a Lotus named entry for the 2010 championship to promote the Malaysian car manufacturer Proton, which owns Lotus Cars.^[7] On 15 September 2009 the FIA announced that the Malaysian backed team Lotus Racing had been granted admission into the 2010 season.^[8] Group Lotus later terminated the licence for future seasons as a result of what it called "flagrant and persistent breaches of the licence by the team". A little over 1 year later, on September 24, 2010, it was announced that Tony Fernandes (Lotus Racing) had acquired the name rights of Team Lotus from David Hunt, marking the official re-birth of Team Lotus in Formula One.^[9] Then on December 8, 2010, Genii Capital and Group Lotus plc announced the creation of "Lotus Renault GP", the successor to the Renault F1 Team that would contest the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship. The announcement came as part of a 'strategic alliance' between the two companies and at the time meant there would be two teams running as Lotus that season. Although neither had any physical links to the pre 1994 Team Lotus Formula 1 team, only Fernandes' 'Team Lotus' had the name. Lotus-Renault was backed by Group Lotus plc.

On 23 December 2010, the Chapman family released a statement in which they unequivocably backed Group Lotus in the dispute over the use of the Lotus name in Formula One, and made it clear that they would prefer that the Team Lotus name did not return to F1.^[10]

On 27 May 2011, Mr Justice Peter Smith finally made his verdict public in High Court, giving permission to Tony Fernandes to naming his F1 team Team Lotus after purchasing the rights to the name from previous owner David Hunt. Added to that, Group Lotus are entitled to race in F1 using the historic black and gold livery and have the right to use the Lotus marque on cars for road use. In summary, the 2011 Formula One season had two teams running the Lotus name with Group Lotus entitled to use the name "Lotus" on its own while Fernandes' team used "Team Lotus".^[11]

In 2012, Lotus-Renault GP were given the rights to the Lotus name, and were renamed Lotus F1 whereas Fernandes' team were renamed as Caterham F1, following his purchase of Caterham Cars.^[12]

Formula One results[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Team Lotus

• Classic Team Lotus
• www.jpslotus.org
• Lotus Cortina Team Lotus cars
• F1 Rejects article on Team Lotus' final F1 season
• Statistics of Lotus in Formula 1

v t e Team Lotus Founder: Colin Chapman Noted personnel: Frank Dernie · Gérard Ducarouge · Maurice Philippe · Peter Warr · Peter Wright World Champions:  Mario Andretti ·  Jim Clark ·  Emerson Fittipaldi ·  Graham Hill ·  Jochen Rindt Other notable drivers: Elio de Angelis ·  Mika Häkkinen ·  Johnny Herbert ·  Nigel Mansell ·  Gunnar Nilsson ·  Ronnie Peterson ·  Nelson Piquet ·  Carlos Reutemann ·  Ayrton Senna ·  Alex Zanardi Formula One cars: 16 · 18 · 21 · 24 · 25 · 33 · 43 · 49 · 56B · 63 · 72 · 76 · 77 · 78 · 79 · 80 · 81 · 86 · 87 · 88 · 91 · 92 · 93T · 94T · 95T · 97T · 98T · 99T · 100T · 101 · 102 · 107 · 109 · 112 Formula Two cars: 12 · 16 · 18 · 32 · 35 · 41 · 44 · 48 · 59 · 69 Formula Three cars: 22 · 31 · 35 · 41 · 55 · 59 · 69 Formula Junior cars: 18 · 20 · 22 · 27 Formula Ford cars: 51 · 59 · 61 · 69 Formula 5000 cars: 68 · 70 Tasman Series cars: 32 · 39 · 67 Indianapolis 500 cars: 29 · 34 · 38 · 42 · 56 · 64 · 96T Sports racing cars: 15 · 17 · 19 · 23 · 30 · 40 · 47 · 53

Colin Chapman

Born	(1928-05-19)19 May 1928 Richmond, Surrey, England
Died	16 December 1982(1982-12-16) (aged 54)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1956
Teams	Vanwall
Races	1 (0 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1956 French Grand Prix
Last race	1956 French Grand Prix

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE (19 May 1928^[1] – 16 December 1982) was an influential English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars.

He studied structural engineering at University College London, joined the University Air Squadron and learned to fly. Chapman left UCL without a degree in 1948, resitting his final Mathematics paper in 1949^[2] and obtaining his degree a year late. He briefly joined the Royal Air Force in 1948, being offered a permanent commission but turning this down in favour of a swift return to civilian life. After a couple of false starts Chapman joined the British Aluminium company, using his civil engineering skills to attempt to sell aluminium as a viable structural material for buildings.

In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman initially ran Lotus in his spare time, assisted by a group of enthusiasts. His knowledge of the latest aeronautical engineering techniques would prove vital towards achieving the major automotive technical advances he is remembered for. He was famous for saying "Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere", as his design philosophy focused on cars with light weight and fine handling instead of bulking up on horsepower and spring rates.^[3]

Under his direction, Team Lotus won seven Formula One Constructors' titles,^[4] six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States, between 1962 and 1978. The production side of Lotus Cars has built tens of thousands of relatively affordable, cutting edge sports cars. Lotus is one of but a handful of English performance car builders still in business after the industrial decline of the 1970s.

Chapman suffered a fatal heart attack in 1982, aged 54.

Career[link]

In 1948 Chapman started with the Mk1, a modified Austin 7, which he entered privately into local racing events. He named the car "Lotus"; he never confirmed the reason but one (of several) theories is that it was after his then girlfriend (later wife) Hazel, whom he nicknamed "Lotus blossom". With prize money he developed the Lotus Mk2. With continuing success on through the Lotus 6, he began to sell kits of these cars. Over 100 were sold through 1956. It was with the Lotus 7 in 1957 that things really took off, and indeed Caterham Cars still manufacture a version of that car today – the Caterham 7; there have been over 90 different Lotus 7 clones, replicas and derivatives offered to the public by a variety of makers.

Chapman at the wheel of one of his own Lotus Eleven sports cars, during practice for the 1956 British Grand Prix Formula Two race at Silverstone Lotus Development Director Mike Costin on left holding notes. Chief Mechanic John Crosthwaite on right leaning on car.

In the 1950s, Chapman progressed through the motor racing formulae, designing and building a series of racing cars, sometimes to the point of maintaining limited production as they were so successful and highly sought after, until he arrived in Formula One. Besides his engineering work, he also piloted a Vanwall F1-car in 1956 but crashed into his teammate Mike Hawthorn during practice for the French Grand Prix at Reims, ending his career as a race driver and focusing him on the technical side. Along with John Cooper, he revolutionised the premier motor sport. Their small, lightweight mid-engined vehicles gave away much in terms of power, but superior handling meant their competing cars often beat the all-conquering front engined Ferraris and Maseratis. Eventually, with legendary driver Jim Clark at the wheel of his race cars, Team Lotus appeared as though they could win whenever they pleased. With Clark driving the legendary Lotus 25, Team Lotus won its first F1 World Championship in 1963. It was Clark, driving a Lotus 38 at the Indianapolis 500 in 1965, who drove the first ever mid-engined car to victory at the fabled "Brickyard." Certainly, Jim Clark would have won many more races were it not for his death in 1968 while racing a Formula 2 car at Hockenheimring. The accident was most likely caused by a rear tyre failure, though the exact cause has never been confirmed. Clark and Chapman had become particularly close and Clark's death devastated Chapman, who publicly stated that he had lost his best friend.

Among a number of legendary automotive figures who have been Lotus employees over the years were Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, founders of Cosworth. Graham Hill worked at Lotus as a mechanic as a means of earning drives.

Chapman, whose father was a successful publican, was also a businessman who introduced major advertising sponsorship into auto racing; beginning the process which transformed Formula One from a pastime of rich gentlemen to a multi-million pound high technology enterprise. It was Chapman who in 1966 persuaded the Ford Motor Company to sponsor Cosworth's development of what would become the legendary DFV race engine.

Innovations and legacy[link]

A statue to Colin Chapman, in characteristic race-winning pose, at the Mallory Park circuit

Many of Chapman's ideas can still be seen in Formula One and other top-level motor sport (such as IndyCars) today.

He pioneered the use of struts as a rear suspension device. Even today, struts used in the rear of a vehicle are known as Chapman struts, while virtually identical suspension struts for the front are known as MacPherson struts.

His next major innovation was the introduction of monocoque chassis construction to automobile racing, with the revolutionary 1962 Lotus 25 Formula One car. The technique resulted in a body that was both lighter and stronger, and also provided better driver protection in the event of a crash. Although a new concept in the world of motorsport, the first vehicle to feature such a chassis was the road-going 1922 Lancia Lambda. Lotus had been an early adopter of this technology with the 1958 Lotus Elite. The modified monocoque body of the car was made out of fibreglass, making it also one of the first production cars made out of composite materials.

When American Formula One driver Dan Gurney first saw the Lotus 25 at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, he was so struck by the advanced design that he invited Chapman to the 1962 Indianapolis 500, where Gurney made his Indy début at the wheel of a space-frame rear engined car designed by John Crosthwaite (who had previously worked for Chapman) and built by American hot-rodder Mickey Thompson.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} Following the race, Chapman prepared a proposal to Ford Motor Company for an aluminium monocoque Indianapolis car using a 4.2-litre aluminium V-8 Ford passenger car engine. Ford accepted the proposal. The Lotus 29 debuted at Indianapolis in 1963, with Jim Clark finishing second. This design concept fairly quickly replaced what had been for many decades the standard design formula in racing-cars, the tube-frame chassis. Although the material has changed from sheet aluminium to carbon fibre, this remains today the standard technique for building top-level racing cars.

Inspired by Jim Hall, Chapman was among those who helped introduce aerodynamics into Formula One car design. Lotus used the concept of positive aerodynamic downforce, through the addition of wings, at a Tasman Formula race in early 1968, although Ferrari and Brabham were the first to use them in a Formula One race at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. Early versions, in 1968 and 1969, were mounted 3 feet (0.91 m) or so above the car, in order to operate in 'clean air' (air that would not otherwise be disturbed by the passage of the car). The underdesigned wings and struts failed regularly, however, compelling the FIA to require the wing mounting hardware to be attached directly to the sprung chassis. Chapman also originated the movement of radiators away from the front of the car to the sides, to decrease frontal area (lowering aerodynamic drag) and centralising weight distribution. These concepts remain features of virtually all high performance racing cars today.

Chapman was also an innovator in the business end of racing. He was among the first entrants in Formula One to turn their cars into rolling billboards for non-automotive products, initially with the cigarette brands Gold Leaf and, most famously, John Player Special.

Chapman, working with Tony Rudd and Peter Wright, pioneered the first Formula One use of "ground effect", where a partial vacuum was created under the car by use of venturis, generating suction (downforce) which held it securely to the road whilst cornering. Early designs utilized sliding "skirts" which made contact with the ground to keep the area of low pressure isolated.

Chapman's next planned a car that generated all of its downforce through ground effect, eliminating the need for wings and the resulting drag that reduces a car's speed. The culmination of his efforts, the Lotus 79, dominated the 1978 championship. However, skirts were eventually banned, because the skirt could be damaged, for example, from driving over a kerb, and downforce would be lost and the car could then become unstable. The FIA made moves to eliminate ground effect in Formula One, by requiring flat bottom cars from 1983 and raising the minimum ride height of the cars from 1981. Car designers have managed to get back much of that downforce through other means, aided by extensive wind tunnel testing.

One of his last major technical innovations was a dual-chassis Formula One car, the Lotus 88 in 1981. For ground effect of that era to function most efficiently, the aerodynamic surfaces needed to be precisely located and this led to the chassis being very stiffly sprung. However, this was very punishing to the driver, resulting in driver fatigue. To get around this, Chapman introduced a car with two chassis. One chassis (where the driver would sit) was softly sprung. The other chassis (where the skirts and such were located) was stiffly sprung. Although the car passed scrutineering at a couple of races, other teams protested, and it was never allowed to race. The car was never developed further.

The affair dampened Chapman's interest in Formula One, but eventually he moved on. The day he died, Team Lotus was testing the first Formula One car with active suspension, which eventually made its début with the Lotus 99T in 1987.^[10]

DeLorean scandal[link]

From 1978 until his death, Chapman was involved with the American tycoon, John DeLorean, in his development of a stainless steel sports car, to be built in a factory funded by the British government. Approximately £10 million of British taxpayers money, equivalent to £40 million in 2010, went missing.

Chapman died before the full deceit unravelled but, at the subsequent trial of Fred Bushell, the Lotus accountant, the judge insisted that, had Chapman himself been in the dock, he would have received a sentence "of at least 10 years".^[11]

Personal life[link]

Chapman was married to Hazel. He has one son, Clive Chapman, who currently runs the Classic Team Lotus Company and maintains the old Team Lotus cars, and two daughters.

Chapman died of a heart attack in December 1982.

Complete Formula One World Championship results[link]

(key)

Awards[link]

• He was awarded "Mike's Mug" by the Royal Aero Club in 1961.
• He was voted The Guardian 'Young Businessman of the Year' in 1970.
• He was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970.
• He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994.
• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1997.

Further reading[link]

• Gérard ('Jabby') Crombac, Colin Chapman: The Man and His Cars (Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough, 1986) ISBN 1-85960-844-2
• Hugh Haskell, Colin Chapman Lotus Engineering (Osprey Publishing, 1993) ISBN 1-85532-872-0
• Mike Lawrence, Colin Chapman Wayward Genius (Breedon Books Publishing, 2003) ISBN 1-85983-278-4
• Karl Ludvigsen, Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator (Haynes Publishing, 2010) ISBN 978-1-84425-413-2

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Colin Chapman

• Colin Chapman biography by Dennis David
• Picture of Colin Chapman, Long Beach F-1
• The Colin Chapman Museum and Education Centre

v t e Team Lotus Founder: Colin Chapman Noted personnel: Frank Dernie · Gérard Ducarouge · Maurice Philippe · Peter Warr · Peter Wright World Champions:  Mario Andretti ·  Jim Clark ·  Emerson Fittipaldi ·  Graham Hill ·  Jochen Rindt Other notable drivers: Elio de Angelis ·  Mika Häkkinen ·  Johnny Herbert ·  Nigel Mansell ·  Gunnar Nilsson ·  Ronnie Peterson ·  Nelson Piquet ·  Carlos Reutemann ·  Ayrton Senna ·  Alex Zanardi Formula One cars: 16 · 18 · 21 · 24 · 25 · 33 · 43 · 49 · 56B · 63 · 72 · 76 · 77 · 78 · 79 · 80 · 81 · 86 · 87 · 88 · 91 · 92 · 93T · 94T · 95T · 97T · 98T · 99T · 100T · 101 · 102 · 107 · 109 · 112 Formula Two cars: 12 · 16 · 18 · 32 · 35 · 41 · 44 · 48 · 59 · 69 Formula Three cars: 22 · 31 · 35 · 41 · 55 · 59 · 69 Formula Junior cars: 18 · 20 · 22 · 27 Formula Ford cars: 51 · 59 · 61 · 69 Formula 5000 cars: 68 · 70 Tasman Series cars: 32 · 39 · 67 Indianapolis 500 cars: 29 · 34 · 38 · 42 · 56 · 64 · 96T Sports racing cars: 15 · 17 · 19 · 23 · 30 · 40 · 47 · 53

Luiz Razia
Razia at Moscow City Racing 2011
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	(1989-04-04) April 4, 1989 (age 23) Barreiras (Brazil)
2012 GP2 Series
Debut season	2009
Current team	Arden International
Car no.	23
Former teams	Scuderia Coloni Rapax Team Team AirAsia
Starts	66
Wins	3
Poles	1
Fastest laps	5
Best finish	11th in 2010
Previous series
2005 2005–06 2006 2007–08 2007 2008–09–2011	Brazilian Formula Renault SudAm Formula Three F3000 Int. Masters Euroseries 3000 Formula Renault 3.5 Series GP2 Asia Series
Championship titles
2006	SudAm Formula Three

Luiz Tadeu Razia Filho (born April 4, 1989 in Barreiras) is a Brazilian racing driver.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Razia began his single seater career in 2005 in the South American Formula 3 championship. Driving for Dragão Motorsport, Razia finished sixth in the championship taking six podium finishes, including two race wins. During the season he also took part in the Brazilian Formula Renault 2.0 series, finishing the year tenth in the standings.

For 2006, Razia remained in South American Formula 3, taking eleven podium places and seven race wins to win the title ahead of Mario Moraes and Diego Nunes. He also contested three races in the Formula 3000 International Masters series for Charouz Racing, winning all three of them to finish eighth in the championship. He also became a rookie driver for A1 Team Brazil in the 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season.

The following year, Razia moved to Europe to race in the Euroseries 3000 championship. He began the season with Fisichella Motor Sport, but made a mid-season change to ELK Motorsport following the departure of Alx Danielsson. During the season, he took four podium places to finish third in the Euroseries standings and fourth in the Italian championship, which ran as part of the main series. Razia also contested four races in the World Series by Renault when he replaced Ricardo Risatti at GD Racing.^[1]

In 2008, he remained in Euroseries 3000 with ELK Motorsport, partnering Frenchman Nicolas Prost, the son of four-time Formula One World Champion Alain Prost.^[2] In the Italian Formula 3000 standings he once again finished the season in fourth place, taking three podiums including his first race win at Misano.

Razia driving for Fisichella Motor Sport at the Catalunya round of the 2009 GP2 Series season.

Towards the end of 2006, Razia tested a GP2 car at Jerez for the Racing Engineering team, and in September 2008 he tested again for the team at the Paul Ricard circuit in Southern France.^[3] It was confirmed on October 2, 2008 that Razia will race for Trust Team Arden in the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season.^[4] He scored his first championship points in Qatar, with an 8th in the feature race and a 6th in the sprint race. In the final race of the season in Bahrain, Luiz claimed his first win, having started from the pole – due to the series' reverse-grid system – as he had finished 8th in the feature race the day before.

He signed for Fisichella Motor Sport to compete in the main GP2 Series in 2009.^[5] After taking his first point at Autodromo Nazionale Monza during the feature race, Razia led from pole to take his first GP2 win, in a similar way to his win in Bahrain during GP2 Asia.

Razia joined Max Chilton in the Barwa Addax Team for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season,^[6] but both drivers were replaced before the second round of the championship, with Chilton moving to Ocean Racing Technology. Razia returned for the final round in Bahrain, replacing Daniel Zampieri at the Rapax Team.^[7]

He remained with Rapax for the 2010 GP2 Series season. He started strongly, finishing the first six races in the points (including two podiums), but then endured a barren run until the final round of the season, eventually finishing eleventh in the drivers' championship. His team-mate, Pastor Maldonado, became the series champion, whilst Razia helped Rapax to claim the teams' title.

As part of his Formula One testing deal with the Lotus team, Razia signed to drive for the new AirAsia team in 2011, alongside fellow Lotus tester Davide Valsecchi. He scored no points in the Asia series, but finished sixth in the first race of the main series season, to earn the team three points in its inaugural main series start. He later took his first series pole position at the Hungaroring, and finished 12th in the championship.

For the 2012 season, he moved to the Arden International team alongside Simon Trummer, and won the feature race in Malaysia to lead the championship after the first round of the championship, although Davide Valsecchi has since moved ahead.

Formula One[link]

Razia made his first appearance in a Formula One team when he joined Virgin Racing, one of the new teams for the 2010 season, as a test driver.^[8] Razia drove the car during the Young drivers test at the end of the season,^[9] but did not participate in any Formula One sessions. Team Lotus hired him as a reserve and test driver for 2011, in conjunction with competing in the GP2 series with the Fernandes-owned Caterham AirAsia team.^[10] Luiz drove in the first Free Practice session at the Chinese Grand Prix, in place of regular driver Jarno Trulli, setting the twenty-third time. Luiz also competed in the Young Driver test for Team Lotus.

Racing record[link]

Career summary[link]

* Season in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* Season in progress.

Complete GP2 Asia Series results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One participations[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Luiz Razia

• Luiz Razia official site
• Luiz Razia career details