This week marks 40 years since Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars died aged just 54. Last year in the same week, his widow Hazel Chapman also died. So this week, we remember both of them and all the innovation and forethought within the automobile sector that they brought.
Shortly after World War II, Chapman went to study Structural Engineering at University College London. On the chassis of an Austin 7, he built the Lotus Mark I sports car as a student, with modified rear suspension and a lightweight body made of aluminium sheet and plywood. While serving in the Royal Air Force, he built the Lotus Mark II, also based on the Austin 7 but now with a tubular chassis.
In 1952, he founded Lotus Cars, a company that made sports cars we are all very familiar with today. At first, he ran the company in his spare time. Two years later, he created the Lotus racing team. The first production example was the kit car Lotus Mark IV, a lightweight sports car with a spaceframe to make the car as light as possible.
His knowledge of aerospace engineering would lead to the pioneering innovations in motorsport. His design philosophy focused on making cars with low weight and handling, rather than concentrating on adding horsepower. He first created a stir as a manufacturer of racing cars with the Lotus Mark 8. After successes with the Mark 8, Lotus entered Formula 1 in 1958 with the Lotus 12.
Under Chapman's leadership, Team Lotus won seven world titles in constructors and six world titles in drivers between 1962 and 1978. Lotus also won the Indianapolis 500. Lotus Cars produced dozens of relatively affordable sports cars and is one of the few British sports car manufacturers still in existence today.
Hazel Chapman also played an important role in this story and remained important in the Lotus world even after Chapman's death. She played a huge role in the success of the Formula One team, which produced the world champion among drivers six times in the 1960s and 1970s and won seven constructors' titles. She was proud to have worked with almost every Grand Prix driver in Lotus' history. Among them were world champions Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti, as well as later champions Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna.
When Colin Chapman died in 1982, Hazel recognised that Lotus Cars needed new investment to secure its future and played a key role in selling the share capital to a group led by British Car Auctions. The F1 team remained in family hands until the end of the 1990 season. After its demise in 1994, Hazel became managing director of Classic Team Lotus, the family business that guards the cars and the legacy of the brand's racing successes to this day. Today, it is run by son Clive.
Hazel remained interested in all things Lotus and as recently as 2018 signed for the 100,000th car produced by the marque for public roads. Traditionally, she got to see each new car before it was unveiled to the public.