This might he a good place to add a few words about Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus Cars. Chapman was born in London in 1928, and later went on to study aircraft engineering at Univeristy College of London. Not long after, Chapman became interested in racing cars and before long had founded his own automoblie company. Always an angineer first, Chapman's role in Lotus Cars was very hands on, and his mechanical brilliance was evidenced by a series of tremendously innovative cars. Standard bios point out that Chapman, having realized from the beginning that a good power-to-weight ratio was more important in propelling a sports car quickly than sheer engine size, expended a great deal of effort in assuring that his vehicles were as light as possible -- light cars with small engines, that nonetheless ran like heck. It is a philosophy that is reflected in Chapman's famous dictum, and formula for success: "Add lightness." The Lotus 7, an archetypical boy-racer that is still produced 40 years later under license, is a good example of these principles.

The Lotus 7.
(Uninformed opinion holds that the Lotus 7 is just a Lotus 6 with one more design flaw.)

Lotus' racing history is perhaps as notable as Colin Chapman's long list of engineering firsts and innovations. While Ferrari does, in fact, boast a larger number of Formula 1 championships, if one restricts one's survey to only those three decades in which Lotus fielded F1 teams, Lotus outpaces its illustrious rivals from Modena. Most notable among Lotus' drivers were Jim Clark, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti. Andretti won the World Championship in 1978, aided in no small part, by Colin Chapman's introduction of ground effect aerodynamics (the car bottom was shaped to exploit the "venturi effect" of fluid dynamics, thus literally sucking the vehicle to the ground). These cars cornered so well that no other team could keep up. The Lotus Type 79 was dominant that season.

The Lotus Type 79.

Lotus celebrated with the JPS edition of the Esprit, a Series 2 car in the instantly recognizable gold and black John Player Special colors. Ground effect cars were eventually regulated out of the sport in 1982 (not the first time an innovation of Chapman's sent FIA officials scrambling to rewrite the rulebook!). Today, alas, Lotus no longer races in F1 competition. Chapman, himself, died in 1982.