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Main article: Team Lotus
The company encouraged its customers to race its cars, and itself entered Formula One as a team in 1958. A Lotus Formula One car driven by Stirling Moss won the first Grand Prix for the marque in 1960. Major success came in 1963 with the Lotus 25, which - with Jim Clark driving - won Lotus its first F1 World Championship. Clark's untimely death - he crashed driving a Formula Two Lotus 48 in March 1968 after his rear tyre failed in a turn - was a severe blow to the team and to Formula One. He was the dominant driver in the dominant car, and remains an inseparable part of Lotus's early years. That year's championship was won by Clark's Lotus team-mate, Graham Hill.
Lotus is credited with establishing the mid-engine configuration as the best design for formula 1 and Indy cars, with developing the first monocoque Formula 1 chassis, and the integration of the engine and transaxle as chassis components. Lotus also was first with adding wings to Formula 1 cars to add downforce, as well as moving radiators to the sides in F1 cars to aid in aerodynamic performance, and inventing active suspension.
Even after Chapman's death, until the late 1980s, Lotus continued a major player in Formula One. Ayrton Senna drove for the Lotus team from 1985 to 1987, winning twice in each year, whilst achieving 17 pole positions. However, by the company's last Formula One race in 1994 the cars were no longer very competitive. During the Formula 1 years Lotus won a total of 79 Grand Prix races. During his lifetime Chapman saw Lotus beat Ferrari as the first team to achieve 50 Grand Prix victories, despite Ferrari having won their first Formula 1 race nine years before Lotus won their own first GP victory.
Formula One driver's world championships:
- 1963: Jim Clark
- 1965: Jim Clark
- 1968: Graham Hill
- 1970: Jochen Rindt - the only posthumous world champion
- 1972: Emerson Fittipaldi
- 1973: Formula One World Championship for Manufacturer's Only (Drivers Championship to Team Tyrell)
- 1978: Mario Andretti
Other related archives1952, 1958, 1960, 1960s, 1963, 1968, 1977, 1980s, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1994,
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Formula One", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page |
