The impact of Lotus in racing’s highest tier is worthy of a feature on its own, but to ignore it completely would be to do its innovation in construction a disservice. Split from Lotus Engineering in 1954, Team Lotus – the company’s motorsport division – entered its first Grand Prix in 1958. During this period, the Eleven and Elite enjoyed considerable success at Le Mans.
Between 1962 and ’78, Team Lotus won seven Formula One Constructors’ titles, six Drivers’ Championships and the Indianapolis 500, making icons of the monocoque-chassis 25, engine-as-a-stressed-member 49, four-wheel drive 63, and the aerodynamically innovative 72, 77 and ‘ground effect’ 79 via top drivers Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Ronnie Peterson and Mario Andretti.
During the turbo era of the 1980s, the 80 and 88…