It was revealed in September that Norfolk based car manufacturer's Lotus would be returning to the glamour of the Formula 1 scene. They will be one of four new teams looking to rival the likes of Brawn GP, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. For the first time since 1994, with the backing of Malaysian entrepreneurs and the Malaysian government, Lotus will once again line up on the F1 start line. With a past record of seven world championships, 79 race wins and 107 pole positions, Lotus remains one of the sport’s most successful constructors, having achieved glory with racing legends such as Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna.
Lotus Engineering company started life in 1952 by an Englishman named Colin Chapman. They started out by building light-weight sports cars to order and by 1957, they built their first car for entry in Formula Two. The car won its first Trophy at Silverstone before Champman moved Lotus to Formula One.
Lotus made their Formula One debut at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix with Graham Hill and Cliff Allison as their drivers. Lotus finished the season with three world championship points before launching a new car for the 1959 season. This car, although being much more powerful, was weak and only gained five points during the course of that year.
Lotus had to wait until 1961 with an Innes Ireland victory at the United States Grand Prix of 1961 to celebrate their first victory. This incidentally came after the great Stirling Moss had won with the same car in 1960 for an independent team. Once they had got that victory, Lotus became a serious name and top Scottish driver, Jim Clark became the man to give them world successes.
Clark drove a new model in 1963 and won seven out of ten races clinching the world title in a dominating style. He missed out in 1964 but won the championship again in 1965 with a superb six race wins. Clark was unfortunately killed in 1968 during a Formula Two race in Germany and after this loss, Clarks' team mate Graham Hill went on to win the title in the same year. A true dedication to Jim Clark.
Austrian Jochen Rindt replaced Clark in 1970 and he was again a real success winning a third world championship for the team, but again rather shortly after this, Rindt was killed during a practice session at Monza in Italy.
Rindt was replaced by Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi who clinched the drivers' title two years later in 1972 becoming the youngest-ever champion at the ripe age of only 25. This was under the car's new famed look in the colours of sponsors John Player tobacco. The gold and black colours were celebrated and became a true icon of motor racing. The team again won the constructors championship in 1973 and were the first Formula One team to reach the milestone of 50 victories. Shortly after this success, the wins became fewer and the Lotus 72 car was on the way out.
The team re-styled itself in 1977 with a new car known as 'wing car.' It was the first car to use the benefits of 'ground-effect aerodynamics.' It was very fast, winning five Grands Prix but it was not reliable and often had to retire from races. The team knew they had a good car and continued to develop further as they truly believed they were about to hit big. The Lotus 79 car which had been born from the 78 was one of the most pioneering concepts of Formula 1 cars to date. American Indy Car legend Mario Andretti took it to victory at the Spa Circuit in Belgium and it then went on to take the constructors and drivers world championship. Again the curse of success for Lotus struck with the death of second driver, Ronnie Peterson again at the Monza circuit.
Due to the successes of the new look car, the other teams copied the innovation in the following season. Williams improved on Lotus' car and took their first title. Lotus were keen to compete and developed cars such as the Lotus 80, however the model was no good and Mario Andretti only managed a rather paltry one race finish!
Lotus' founder, Colin Chapman died in 1982 aged only 54 from a heart attack and the team never really fully recovered from the lost and they were taken over by Wolf and Warr. Lotus continued to struggle during eighties and many poor new concepts saw the team struggle even further. Elio de Angelis with a Renault powered engine finished third in 1984 without winning a single race.
The next stage of development saw Brazilian supremo Ayrton Senna winning in Portugal and Belgium and de Angelis winning at Monza. They finished third in 1986 and new sponsorship from Camel tobacco was not so highly regarded as predecessors John Player after their deal had come to an end. There were new Honda powered engines which saw Senna take two victories and finished third in the championship before moving to McLaren.
It was 1990 when Peter Collins and Peter Wright took over the team. The two Lotus employees chose Finn, Mika Hakkinen as their main driver and things were on the up before the Hakkinen left for McLaren in 1993. British driver Johnny Herbert took over and he finished fourth on three occasions whilst the debt was racking up.
The day after the Grand Prix of Monza in 1994 they were into administration and the team was sold to David Hunt. The team folded after that and it would be until the 2010 season before Lotus would be seen on the track again at Albert Park in Melbourne. It will be interesting to see if they can emulate their glory days. Lotus however are still the fourth most successful team in Formula One to date, despite not racing for the last 15 years.
It is yet to be seen who will be driving for the Norfolk company and with the backing of the Malaysians and new technical director Mike Gascoyne, it is time for a new chapter in the Lotus history books.
