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Out and about at the end of our 50th year
As usual our last competition weekend was Estoril on the 9th/10th October. Dan Collins completed his full season with an exciting race into 5th place. The meeting received significant exposure on ITV’s Speed Sunday programme. Dan is King of the on-board camera and the producer was delighted to have access to what proved to be exciting and extensively used footage.
Instead of quietening down with racing out of the way we then became even busier with various showcar appearances and demonstration runs. The feature display at the Classic Car Show honoured the 50th year of Team Lotus by consisting of six of the best from the Works Collection. The setting did the cars proud and generated a lot of enthusiastic response.
At the Classic Car Show Charon and John Parramint kindly attended the CTL stand that was adjacent to
the six car display of the types 32B, 49B, 56B, 72D, 86 and 99T
Next up was Zaragoza in Northern Spain. Nick Yallop and Kevin Smith transported the types 49, 72, 78 and 99T to an exciting new motorshow initiated by the Spaniard who gave the World the Macarena. We forgive him this indiscretion as clearly he is a big fan of Team Lotus. Furthermore the show was a great success with 75,000 visitors over three days.
Then came the big one.....Motegi! Junro Nishida took the extraordinary step of putting on a Celebration to commemorate 50 Years of Team Lotus in Japan. Clive Chapman, Chris Dinnage, Nick Yallop and Eddie Dennis flew out (complete with upgrades, courtesy of Virgin) to run the types 49 and 79 that had flown out the weekend before and to help with the types 72 (Mr Fukuda), 78 (Junro), 91 (Mr Harada) and 100T (Honda Collection). Dan Collins took it upon himself to attend to demo the type 79. The event was a great success.
Motegi hosted a demonstration of Team Lotus history the like of which had never been witnessed before in Japan. So far from home it was great to see the types 49, 72, 78, 79, 91 and 100T put on such an impressive show in front of so many wildly enthusiastic spectators.
The popular support for Team Lotus was astonishing, evidenced by 6,000 spectators and 400 Lotus cars. Happily, the F1 demonstration run went like clockwork and the whole weekend was thoroughly enjoyable. Junro should be applauded for his generosity that created a landmark event on behalf of the Lotus marque in Japan. The disco nights in Tokyo were something of landmark events for the Classic Team Lotus contingent….
Motegi is owned by Honda and it is the home of the Honda Collection Hall. Subsequent to the event Honda bestowed a great honour on the Team Lotus marque by displaying the CTL types 49 and 79 plus Mr Fukuda’s type 72 alongside the Honda powered types 99T and 100T in its Collection. Soichiro Honda and Colin Chapman shared a lot in common as automotive engineers. The exhibition title ‘Same Dream, Same Passion’ is particularly appropriate.
The type 79 in pride of place within the Honda Collection, being watched over by Colin Chapman and Soichiro Honda.
Back in Blighty, on the Motegi weekend, the Team Lotus flag was flown proudly by the type 72 that enjoyed a starring role in the hugely popular MPH ’04 show at Earl’s Court. Kevin Smith attended the car as it was driven (gently!) around the arena by a considerate Tiff Needell in an extravagant show staged 10 times over three days. Alongside its transporter Classic Team Lotus was pleased to accommodate a Bell & Colvill Elise to emphasise the Lotus association with what we believe was the star of the show.
On the subject of Lotus dealers we have continued to send cars from the Works Collection to various Lotus dealers for special events and promotions. Recently this has proved to be particularly popular and we have enjoyed getting to know dealers all around the UK.
The Festive season is the time for annual dinners and prize givings. Chris Dinnage attended the Grand Prix Masters lunch hosted by Ron Maydon, the driving force behind this increasingly popular category for 1966 to 1977 F1 cars. Chris was impressed by the ambitious plans for next season.
Clive Chapman attended the TGP prize giving at the RAC club in Pall Mall. An excellent turnout enjoyed the company of Max Mosley and Jody Scheckter, both of whom gave brief but entertaining speeches. Scheckter amused everyone by blaming his late arrival on terrible understeer and the wrong ratios.
Despite all these pleasant distractions it is a racing car that has held most of our attention this quarter. We are very excited to be part of a team gathered together by Harald Fuchs, the German owner of a 2001 Arrows F1 car complete with running Asiatech engine. In association with Langford Performance Engines plus experts in electronics, engine mapping and hydraulics we are coordinating the traditional workshop element of pulling everything together to get the car running. Happily we have been able to call on the advice and assistance of various ex Team Lotus personnel that were involved with the car in its day. In particular chief designer Mike Coughlan and gearbox expert Eric Crawley. Even so, it is a great challenge. The car is now on the brink of being shaken down on the Hethel test track. We got very close the other day, with Ben Devlin behind the wheel, before a last minute oil system problem scuppered the run. We will run the car in the new year. Its first public demo will be at a major new historic meeting at Hockenheim in April.
Our last venture outside of Norfolk was to Brands Hatch on 4th December for Race Car Live! a new venture initiated by Jonathan Palmer to provide a showcase for the many and varied motor racing championships. Clive Chapman attended with Bob Dance and they presented our type 72 (Grand Prix Masters), type 91 (Thoroughbred Grand Prix) and type 101 (Euroboss). The event was very well supported but it has not resulted in any new customers…yet. However we made a useful contact with Jonathan Palmer who we tried to persuade to do some demo laps. In the end we agreed it would be better to do something next year. Subsequent correspondence might lead to a Team Lotus demonstration during next year.
We are looking forward to next season. As ever the objective is to balance a full competition programme with a busy workshop. We are hoping to find a team mate for Dan Collins who intends to do all the TGP races. We expect to be running cars for a number of different drivers in the GPM series. We anticipate attending the Autosport International Racing Car Show with the intention of finalising the competition plans. How about it?!
50 Years of Team Lotus Celebration
At the beginning of July we were at the Lausitzring for the 6th round of the TGP Championship with Dan Collins in his 91/10. Dan qualified in 7th position and enjoyed a good race into 4th place before a spin into retirement. Nick Yallop and Chris Dinnage were impressed with the circuit which was a new one for Team Lotus.
The 50 Years of Team Lotus Celebration on the weekend of the 17th and 18th July required an enormous amount of preparation. We were fortunate that lots of people at the factory helped a great deal in many different ways and we owe them a big thank you. Happily we were able to avoid any all nighters.
In particular the Reunion Dinner for all ex Team Lotus personnel presented a big challenge. Jane Payton (nee Chapman) worked hard to create the best possible list of invitees. In the end we invited 300 of the approximately 350 that have worked for Team. We were delighted that 200 accepted. They were joined by our customers and the many generous people bringing cars along for the Sunday event. A short, sharp shower failed to dampen spirits at the Champagne reception before the 300 guests moved into the marquee that Jane had arranged and decorated. Clive Chapman welcomed the guests and introduced splendid speeches by Peter Warr and Peter Dyke along with video messages from Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell and Johnny Dumfries. Works F1 drivers in attendance were Cliff Allison, Richard Attwood, John Miles and Martin Donnelly. A fantastic evening concluded with a lot of well oiled reminiscing and enthusiastic test driving of the dodgems for Sunday.
For the big day we had managed to gather together 25 cars to be demonstrated on track, 21 of which were F1 cars. Added to this were another 11 static F1 cars to create the largest ever gathering of Team Lotus racing machines. Certainly it caught the public’s imagination with a great turnout of 10,500 spectators. We had planned for up to 15,000 but the dreadful weather combined with dreadful queues to get in proved to be a restriction. Classic Team Lotus is very sorry that there were a number of very disappointed people, especially those that had purchased tickets in advance and travelled from afar. Hopefully one day we will be able to make it up to them properly somehow.
Junro Nishida made the effort to attend and show off his ex Andretti type 77 with great enthusiasm much appreciated by the damp spectators)
The Classic Team Lotus mechanics did a great job to run the cars without a hitch despite the torrential rain and a fairly tight timetable. The drivers, many on slicks, coped admirably and did their best to put on a good show. Evidently the crowd really enjoyed witnessing the spectacle created by so many people determined to celebrate 50 years in style. We have received countless letters, e mails and calls expressing appreciation.
The display of static cars in the (warm and dry) factory proved to be very popular)
Clearing up and recovery in general was a challenge on its own. We were grateful for the lull in the competition timetable that enabled us to get back on an even keel with minimum disruption.
The next Outing was by Bob Dance and Lee Nicol with the type 32B (Malcolm Ricketts) and the type 58 (Don Hands) to participate in the Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb at which, thanks to Paul Matty, 50 Years of Team Lotus was celebrated once more. After the Hethel event it was a bit beyond us to attend in force but Paul did an excellent job of creating an outstanding show of Team Lotus cars.
The 32B was out again for the Gold Cup meeting at Oulton Park with Malcolm putting in a stirring performance to lead and nearly make the podium. There was a great picture in Autosport of Malcolm heading the pack.
The very next weekend was the Goodwood Revival meeting with the 32B out again , this time accompanied by Dan Collins with his LDS and Junro Nishida in his type 30. On paper it was a straightforward weekend yet proved to be anything but with various car related challenges throughout. Chris and Bob along with volunteers Paul Stevens and ‘Uncle’ Henry Potter did well to get the cars to the grid. Malcolm and Dan enjoyed good drives into 7th and 8th places in the Glover Trophy. Unfortunately Junro had an incident at the chicane that resulted in his bursting through it and into retirement.
Dr Murakami enjoyed another outing with the Works 18 , this time at Spa. He finished 2nd in the first race and then one better in the second to win his class. An excellent effort. Hopefully we will see Dr K step up to the F1 category next season in either TGP or the Grand Prix Masters.
The penultimate round of the TGP World Championship took us back to Brno with Dan Collins for his first taste of this excellent circuit. Fourth quickest on Friday and third quickest in the warm up did not count for much as, when it counted, Dan was disappointed with qualifying ninth. Anticipation of a hard charging race lasted no longer than the first lap when Dan lost drive, traced subsequently to a failed CV joint.
Looking forward to the 4th quarter we have the last TGP race at Estoril then another 50 Years Celebration, this time in Japan! Junro Nishida is taking his enthusiasm for the marque to the ultimate extreme by staging a special event at the twin ring Motegi circuit on the 21st November. Clive, Chris, Nick and Eddie Dennis will attend along with Junro’s type 77 and the Works types 49 and 79 that are being flown out. It should be a great experience.
Also Team Lotus is the special feature at the Classic Car Show at the NEC on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th October. We are sending six cars from the collection and Classic Team Lotus personnel will be in attendance throughout the weekend.
Yet another show attendance will be at the motor sport show in Zaragoza, Spain on the 5th. 6th and 7th November where we will be attending with the types 49, 72 and 97T.
Anyone who actually reads these quarterly reviews could prove it by making a point of saying hello at one of these public appearances. See you there!?
One Season in Three Months
Circumstances have conspired to make Q2 2004 the busiest three months ever for Classic Team Lotus. A compressed TGP calendar plus Monaco, the CSMA Festival, the Festival of Speed and showcar appearances in Portugal and at the Monaco GP have been attended by no less than 14 cars.
The great adventure of the TGP season opener at Bahrain was spoiled by a significant accident with the type 88B as a result of a brake problem. The composite chassis performed well to protect the driver, Patron Tony Hancock, from injury. Unfortunately the tub is damaged beyond effective repair. Fortunately, Martin Ogilvy, one of the originators of this, the first ever composite chassis to run in F1 (Yes! That’s right Mr Barnard), has tackled the challenge of making a replacement tub and things are looking good for the car to run again before the end of the year. We will repair the original tub so that it can be displayed within the Classic Collection. The team did its best to make the most of Bahrain where it ran Dan Collins (91/10) and Nick May (91/8) to complete a three car entry. Nick came a strong 6th in his first race for Classic Team Lotus. Dan fought his way up to 9th after grid troubles saw him starting from the back.
The team made every effort to join in with the Bahrain spirit
Jarama TGP gave us the opportunity to give Junro Nishida (49B/R10) and Sean Walker (72D/5) a warm up event prior to the Monaco GP Historique. Dan Collins led the way (91/10) with Junro and Sean enjoying racing such special cars. The team was delighted to welcome Alex Soler Roig into the garage, 34 years to the same weekend since he drove 49B/R10 at Jarama during the Spanish GP. Eddie Dennis was running the car and this made a special moment complete. Sadly Junro suffered an electrical problem in the race and Sean had an engine failure. Happily Dan made it through to finish 11th having enjoyed some particularly exciting dicing throughout.
Donington in May was a combination of Formula Junior, Pre 66 and TGP. We were pleased to welcome back Dr Keichii Murakami to reacquaint himself with 18FJ723 from the Classic Collection. He finished both races despite an annoying clutch problem. Malcolm Ricketts put in a great performance in the 32B to finish 5th in a well subscribed Pre ’66 race. Dan Collins made his debut in his recently acquired 1962 LDS F1 in preparation for the Monaco GP Historique that we are delighted to be looking after. Various teething problems culminated in retirement from the race. In the subsequent TGP event Dan qualified well and raced strongly into 5th place. The car looked great and it was good to see Dan going so well.
Then we faced up to running Frank Mountain (type 21), Dan Collins (LDS), Sean Walker (type 72) and Junro Nishida (type 49) at Monaco. Qualifying threw up various challenges on all the cars but the drivers did well to avoid any nasties on track. The Pre ’66 race was short lived for Frank when his engine let go in the tunnel and he did well to cope with a challenging situation. Dan enjoyed a great race in his LDS and finished 7th. The main event at the end of the day was the pre ’77 F1 race and Sean was looking good in third place on the grid. Tragically the circuit breaker popped out on the green flag lap. Being relatively unfamiliar with the car Sean did not know about checking the fuse in the absence of electrics and that was that. Very disappointing! Happily Junro drove really well from 11th on the grid to finish 10th . 49B/R10 looked so at home on the Monaco circuit. Time warp stuff that was special for everyone.
Junro and the Team quite rightly looking pleased with an excellent result for 49B/R10
Immediately we got home it was time to take five cars to Brands Hatch for a six car Team Lotus on track demonstration on behalf of the Civil Service Motoring Association at their big annual event. Damon Hill drove 49B/R10 for the first time and Martin Donnelly did the honours in the type 79. The 32B, 72D, 91 and 98T completed the line up that was much appreciated by a large crowd over two days.
Next up was Monza where Dan Collins and Nick May were looking forward to reliving the 1982 Italian GP in their Mansell and De Angelis type 91s, including a hint of inter driver rivalry. They ended up enjoying a good dice in the race with Nick finishing 11th after Dan spun out on the last lap.
A welcome weekend at home was followed by TGP at Zolder with Dan and Nick at it again, joined this time by Malcolm in the 32B for the Pre ’66 event. Malcolm was scheduled for two races but the engine began to lose quite a significant amount of water (subsequently traced to a cracked liner). Dan qualified an impressive fifth on the grid while Nick was a bit out of sorts in 9th. The race proved to be very exciting with Dan up to third and challenging for second. Nick made good progress and in a dramatic last lap Nick got past Dan who promptly spun. Nick Yallop was taken aback by 91/8 appearing in third over the line when he was ready to welcome Dan to his first podium. Of course the team was delighted that its drivers had put in such strong performances.
Amidst all the racing we were delighted to welcome back the EF4 engine out of our 97T/2. Once installed we undertook a strict running-in programme on the Lotus Test Track with Renault engineers Michel and Jacques, contemporaries of Chris and Nick, in attendance and Martin Donnelly driving. The engine ran perfectly and the car looked great. Immediately after Zolder Nick May did a further 40 laps on the test track to acquaint himself with the 800 bhp racer prior to taking it up the hill at Goodwood.
Once again the Festival of Speed was awesome in terms of facilities, cars, the show and the spectators. We were privileged to have Emerson drive 72D/5 once again, this year sharing with Frank Mountain who was good enough to give Emerson a go in his 2001 Ferrari F1 car. Dan enjoyed his first taste of the type 49. Unfortunately Nick spun the 97T on Saturday evening and dinged the nose so he could not run on Sunday.
Lotus, Sato and Monaco came together again, this time during the Monaco GP. We presented 72/9 in Lucky Strike colours for a promotional event. A static event this time so no risk of any incidents this time. For another long haul showcar appearance we sent 99T/4 all the way to Estoril as part of an Ayrton Senna memorial exhibition.
Takuma Sato with 72/9 in Lucky Strike colours for a promotional event the day after Monaco
The 50 Years event is now very close. Arrangements are in place for a really good event. Fingers crossed for the weather!
First Quarter 2004
Getting ready for our busiest ever season
Eight TGP races (including Bahrain), Monaco, the CSMA Festival, 50 Years Celebration, the Goodwoods; and that is just what we know for sure.
Exciting times for Classic Team Lotus with more races, more customers and more cars.
We kicked off 2004 by participating in the Thoroughbred Grand Prix stand at the Autosport International Racing Car Show. 91/8 looked terrific
and we took the opportunity to promote the 50 Years Celebration. We spoke with a number of drivers interested in TGP. This year’s calendar is
very strong and a number of newcomers are anticipated.
Various visits from the media have been received at the workshops. In particular Granada TV filmed the type 79 on the test track for a forthcoming
series titled ‘building the ultimate’. We wholeheartedly agreed with the selection of the type 79 as the ultimate racing car. The type 32B and 72/5
have been in photographic studios for feature articles to come. We were especially pleased to welcome Globo TV filming an Ayrton Senna retrospective
with the blessing of the Senna Foundation. Sky TV visited the workshops to interview Jim Endruweit and Bob Dance for a Jim Clark documentary.
Naturally we are delighted by all this attention on Team Lotus and we are pleased to lend our support.
Clive Chapman attended the Nurnberg Toy Fair to visit all the licensed manufacturers of Team Lotus scale models. Interest is continuing to increase.
Paul’s Model Art had the 97T on the front cover of its market leading catalogue. Furthermore we had provided for the actual car to be displayed on their stand.
At the show they announced a fabulous 1/12th scale full detail kit of the 97T in its Estoril specification. Clive talked with a number of other licensees
about exciting plans for more special models.
An important milestone for our industry was the inaugural International Historic Motor Sport Show that was held at Stoneleigh at the end of February.
We were pleased to support this initiative. The organisers did a great job and put on a most impressive show. We displayed our prototype type 12 chassis
(as a ‘before’ restoration exhibit) and our type 18 (as an ‘after’ restoration exhibit) and generated a lot of useful enquiries. We need to attract more
restoration projects for both Lotus and other marques so for us this was an ideal showcase.
Winter rebuilds on 91/10, 91/8 and 88B/1 proved straightforward so we managed to fit in shakedowns on the Hethel test track prior to the pre season test
at Donington in March. We are delighted to welcome Nick May as the Patron for 91/8 for the 2004 season. This will be the fourth season for Dan Collins
in his type 91. Tony Hancock continues as Patron for the 88B.
The Grand Prix De Monaco Historique takes place the weekend before the modern Grand Prix. Happily the organisers extended invitations for our type 49B,
to be driven by Junro Nishida, and our type 72D, to be driven by Sean Walker in the pre 1976 F1 race. Frank Mountain secured an entry for his wonderful
ex Ireland type 21 in the pre 66 F1 race and he will be joined by Dan Collins in his recently acquired and very rare LDS. Frank Mountain has asked us to
transport his Schumacher 2000 Ferrari. Perhaps a quick respray to British Racing Green might be in order…..
Junro enjoyed an emotional first experience of the type 49B at the Donington test. He loved the car and is looking forward to racing it at Monaco where
Graham Hill drove it to victory in 1968 and 1969. The type 72D will be attended by Eddie Dennis. Sean and Junro will race at the Jarama TGP meeting in
preparation for the big event.
Having the first round of the TGP World Championship as the support race for the Bahrain GP is very exciting for us and the drivers. Getting three cars
ready for a ‘fly away’ to start the season has been just like the old times, especially for Chris, Nick and Ralph. It is a new experience for Kevin and Lee.
We are pleased to be accompanied by John Parramint and Simon Finlay for additional support. Fingers crossed for a good result.
The rest of the Championship is now fixed. Silverstone has been replaced by Lausitzring on 4th July. Zolder on the 20th June has been added. Round seven
will now take place on September 26th at a venue to be announced (instead of the previously arranged race at Magny Cours).
In the midst of so much competition activity it will be nice to have the opportunity to demonstrate six cars (32B, 49B, 72D, 79, 88B and 97T) in the more
relaxed atmosphere of the CSMA Festival at Brands Hatch on the 22nd and 23rd May. The demonstration is to celebrate 50 Years of Team Lotus. The event as
a whole is extremely popular with crowds of up to 50,000. Advance ticket sales are at www.classicfestival.com
So, we look forward to 1st July and letting you know how we have got on. At the same time we will give you all the latest information about the Celebration Day.
We hope you will come along and will be pleased to meet you..
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