Team Lotus

British motor racing team

Colin Chapman's Team Lotus

From 1958 to 1994 the racing arm of Lotus Cars turned bold engineering into seven constructors' championships and six drivers' titles.

Colin Chapman founded Lotus Engineering in 1952 and split off its racing side as Team Lotus in 1954. The team first entered a World Championship race at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, with Graham Hill and Cliff Allison driving Lotus 12s. Chapman soon moved to rear engined cars, and Stirling Moss gave a Lotus its first championship win at Monaco in 1960, although his car was entered by Rob Walker's private team. The works team's own first win came with Innes Ireland at the 1961 United States Grand Prix.

Jim Clark made the 1960s his own. He won 25 races in Lotus cars and the titles of 1963 and 1965, and the team took the constructors' championship in both years. Clark was killed in a Formula Two race at Hockenheim in April 1968, and Graham Hill carried Lotus to both titles that season. Around this time Chapman moved the operation to Hethel in Norfolk, with offices at nearby Ketteringham Hall, and Lotus became one of the first teams to race in a sponsor's colors.

The Lotus 72 brought Jochen Rindt the 1970 championship, awarded after he was killed at Monza, and Emerson Fittipaldi won in 1972, with constructors' titles in 1970, 1972 and 1973. Mario Andretti, who won 11 races for Lotus, took the 1978 title as the team claimed its seventh and last constructors' crown. Ayrton Senna won six races for Lotus, the last at the 1987 Detroit Grand Prix.

Chapman's family later sold the team to former staff, and debts mounted in the early 1990s. Team Lotus was placed in administration in September 1994 and raced for the last time at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix. Counting every Lotus chassis, private entries included, our records show 79 championship wins.

Drivers

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