Lotus - The Sports Racing Cars: Design, Development, Racing Histories

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 racing. This book traces in detail the design, development and racing histories of all the Lotus sports-racing cars, from the earliest Mark6 of 1952 onwards, through the first aerodynamic cars, the Marks 8 and 9 and the Eleven, to the sophisticated, mid-engined cars of the 1960's. There are early accounts of Chapman's early racing exploits on the Continent and also covered are the largely unsuccessful Ford-powered 30 and 40 models of the mid 1960's. This in-depth and informative account is supplemented by reproductions of track tests and many period photographs.