My first memory of Lotus of any kind has to be the 1986 JPS team. I’d certainly watched races previously, my Dad is a fan of Lotus so I couldn’t avoid it, thankfully. This is where, as for most kids, a fanatical interest in any sport or team comes from.
I remember the season specifically because Johnny Dumfries was driving for them. He only drove for them for a year, the year in which he partnered a certain Ayrton Senna. Senna was a driver who I spent years supporting, even after he’d left Lotus, over and above the British driver Nigel Mansell (who’d left the team earlier). This didn’t go down well at school and it was hard enough liking Fomula One rather than football.
I supported Team Lotus fanatically until 1994, when they left the F1 grid. I camped in the rain at several GPs with my Dad, visited Brands Hatch to watch Johnny Herbert race around in a single Formula One car. I visited the Lotus factory and the old Team Lotus garage which still contained many of the parts of old F1 cars. I spoke to David Hunt briefly about his efforts to bring Team Lotus back to the grid and I bought a Lotus (M100) Elan and couldn’t bare to sell it.I still feel an affinity to the road cars and anything that Group Lotus does. I think that the work that Classic Team Lotus does is excellent and Clive Chapman is a credit to his dad, Colin Chapman.
I’m not old enough to have watched the great racing Team Lotus triumphs as they occurred, unfortunately. The closest I came was watching Ayrton Senna win, which I believe was more of a credit to his driving ability than that of the quality of Team Lotus cars at the time. I have however seen days of video footage and purchased plenty of books. I feel like I watched Jim Clarke, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi et al , the Lotus 25, 72 and may others numbers below 100 that were amazing for many different reasons.
It was with great anticipation / trepidation then, that I read about Lotus’ return to F1 in 2010, initially as a Lightspeed re-brand. At least two members of the old team would be part of it, I thought. I think (and its not been mentioned much) that there was some kind of time limit on ownership of the rights to the Team Lotus name that could be legally challenged this year and I suspect that this has something to do with this happening.
So when the initial bid failed and the new Malaysian effort raised its head I had mixed emotions. It was covered in confusion I felt : ‘a Malaysian team needing a name to boost publicity’ maybe.
I’ve had a few weeks to reflect and I’ve seen the things that have gone on since Lotus F1 racing were allowed the 13th (yes thirteenth) spot on the grid. I’ve seen Group Lotus put their name behind the team, even if that is only by not distancing themselves too heavily. Then I heard the Group announce interest in many other forms of racing; potential sports car racing, rallying and Indy car. They’ve appointed Danny Bahar as their CEO, a former Ferrari Racing Director I believe.
I realise that I supported a team that wasn’t run by Colin Chapman, for eight years. I supported them simply because of what Colin Chapman had achieved previously and how that was introduced to me.
Drivers who drove for Lotus drove for them to be part of something that was once great and would hopefully be great again. Their mechanics must have felt the same and I remember, even in the years when Lotus struggled to qualify for grand prixs, more Lotus fans than any other constructor, Ferrari aside, supporting their team.
So I’ve been considering how I feel and haven’t been able to reason why I should throw my support behind what is essentially a new team, like I used to. That was until, Toyota left F1 this week, Renault considered leaving and Ferrari started throwing their toys out of the pram.
When other manufacturers are leaving F1, Lotus are returning and without having to invest any money, by the look of things. They are also doing so with tenuous connections between the (Lotus) Group and the F1 team, if it all goes wrong it should be easy to distance themselves and the F1 team rebrand like many before. This could be a genius move and I suspect that Danny Bahar is well aware of this, as is Tony Fernandes.
This is a new Lotus racing team. Not Team Lotus, that team hasn’t really raced in F1 since the eighties, maybe even since 1982.
This is a team which has allegedly ‘pinched a design’ from Force India. A team that has not been shy of mentioning its intent to move to a purpose built factory in Sepang in two years and has most of its funding coming from Malaysia.
Surely then this is nothing like the Lotus of old? Nothing, like the team that moved from North London to a purpose built factory in Cheshunt before moving to a better facility in Hethel, Norfolk. Nothing like the team that introduced sponsorship to F1 in a big way and got investment for racing from it, from all corners of the earth. Certainly not like the team that was driven by winning and even ‘borrowing ideas’ and whose cars caused more controversy than most in F1 (Lotus 88 anyone?)
Colin Chapman had a huge, maybe unique ability. I don’t think that there has been anything close since, aside from maybe Gordan Murray. I don’t think we’ll see anything like him again.
This doesn’t mean that there can’t be another team like Team Lotus. Chapman’s ideals and passion still hold as much weight as they ever did. If this team has the same principles, ideals and commitment they could potentially be more of a Lotus F1 racing team than has been seen for 28 years. I hope Tony Fernandes and Mike Gasgoyne and anyone involved remember this, as I and hopefully many others support Lotus, with pride, again this coming Formula One season.
Good luck guys and thank you.
As I remember it, ‘if you’re not winning, you’re not trying’.
