Lotus

When Colin Chapman launched a new Lotus it was invariably exciting and usually surprising. The low budget Seven was launched in 1957 and is still in production today, as the Caterham Seven. It has proved to be one of the longest selling sports cars ever. The same year saw the introduction of the hig..

Colin Chapman's contribution to the post war world of international motor racing was immeasurable. From his first steps as a car designer in 1947, when he acquired a secondhand Austin Seven Tourer around which his first Lotus 'special' was based, to his highly sophisticated road and racing cars of t..

Low to the ground and satisfyingly noisy, the Lotus Seven comes as close to fulfilling the sports car fantasy as any vehicle before or since. This kit-car phenomenon has been in continuous production for over 25 years, inspiring irrational fondness among even the most jaded enthusiasts. Just how the..

Without doubt the most impressive period in Lotus’ history. Jim Clark and Colin Chapman forged a partnership that produced a succession of Grand Prix Wins and two World Championships, plus Wins at the Indianapolis 500 and many small sports car victories including the Nurburgring 1000 kms again..

The cars Lotus built for the road have always been something of an enigma: they are brilliant machines (as befits the product of a manufacturer who has won the constructor's championship no less than six times), yet they have suffered from a reputation for unreliability. In this study of Lotus: The ..

Ian Smith tells the story of the first Lotus, a modified Austin 7, as Colin Chapman drove it up the muddy slopes of a trials hill through to the appearance of the production car at the Earls Court motor show, just nine years later. This is the story behind the first ten years of Lotus history told b..

Few designers contributed so much to the development of the sports racing car as the late Colin Chapman. Through his advanced thinking, ingenuity and enthusiasm the Lotus developed from a basic and primitive Austin 7 based special to one of the most successful and widely raced marques in motor racin..

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The Lotus 25 was the car in which Jim Clark rocketed to fame in the early Sixties. It was also the car which established Lotus as a major force in Grand Prix racing. More than that, it was the car that took Formula One technology out of the steam age and into the jet age. With the slim, elegant Type..

Born of an agreement between Ford, Cosworth and Team Lotus, the Lotus 49 embodied Colin Chapman's philosophies of simplicity and lightness in an elegant form. In a single leap the Lotus 49, the first car to be powered by the brilliant new Ford Cosworth DFV engine, moved Formula One technology severa..

The Lotus 78 was the car that started the ground effect revolution in Formula 1. By means of ducts and flexible skirts, the air that passed under the car was used, literally, to suck it to the ground. It created a sensation and revived the British team's fortunes. Its successor, the 79, was a true "..