Lotus

There is the prospect of another fairly boring season in Formula One with hardly a single overtaking manoeuvre in the first race at Bahrain a fortnight ago. But F1 is about so much more than who wins the races. It is about the beauty of the cars - their shapes and liveries; the variety of the helmets; the personalities of the drivers; the politics of the ‘sport’; and, this year, about the arrival of new teams in the pits. One team that is resurrecting an old name is the Lotus team – returning after a gap of 16 years. In addition to having had some of the best drivers of all time Team Lotus have also have some of the best liveries.

1950s Lotus sports car

1960 Monaco – Stirling Moss
In 1960 Stirling Moss recorded the first victory for a Lotus car at Monaco in his Lotus 18 entered by the independent Rob Walker Racing Team.   The first Formula One victory for Team Lotus came when Innes Ireland won the 1961 United States Grand Prix.

The 1967 Jim Clark Lotus – one of the finest GP cars ever seen?

Graham Hill in the Gold Leaf Lotus
In 1968 sponsorship arrived in Formula One and Lotus were the first to adopt sponsor’s colours .

Emerson Fittipaldi won nine races for Lotus

From 1974 to the mid ‘80s Lotus ran in the John Player Special livery – one of the most famous liveries in Formula One.

The most famous livery in Formula One and the most famous helmet – Ayrton Senna in a JPS Lotus

The Lotus had 79 race wins over its 38 seasons. Of these Ayrton Senna had 6; Elio de Angelis 2; Mario Andretti 11; Ronnie Peterson 9; Gunnar Nilsson 1; Emerson Fittipaldi 9; Jochen Rindt 6; Graham Hill 4; Jo Siffert 1; Innes Ireland 1; Stirling Moss 4; and Jim Clark 25.

The livery from the Johnny Herbert days of the early 1990s.
Among the other drivers who drove a Lotus over the years were Phil Hill, John Surtees, Jack Brabham, Nigel Mansell, Jacky Ickx, Phil Hill, Johnny Herbert, Mika Hakkinen, Mike Hailwood, Piers Courage, Martin Donnelly, Dan Gurney, John Watson, Jackie Oliver, Nelson Piquet, Derek Warwick, and Alessandro Zanardi.

The new 2010 Lotus - back to the green and yellow of the Jim Clark days.

John Player Specials

 


At college I used to smoke John Player Special cigarettes. It is one of the few cases where I openly admit to having been sold by the advertising. The adverts in this case were on the JPS Lotus car – one of the best ever Formula 1 cars. The car went through various chassis as it evolved throughout the 1970s and some were more attractive than others.


Drivers included Ronnie Peterson, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, Gunnar Nilsson, Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna and Elio de Angelis.


John Player Specials have long since ceased to be in the shops but when GB and I were in Stockbridge Village in Edinburgh we went in a delicatessen that had a selection of the old cigarettes you no longer see around. A shame that the packet is now ruined by an anti-smoking advert. (Am I in breach of some law or other just by posting a picture of a cigarette packet, I wonder!)