Colin
Chapman

Colin Chapman was born in England in 1928. He studied structural engineering at University College London and learned to fly with the University of London Air Squadron. In 1948 he spent a short time in the Royal Air Force. That same year he designed the Mk1, a modified Austin 7, and entered it privately in local races. He founded Lotus in 1952 and built a series of racing cars through the 1950s until he reached Formula One.

In 1956 he was entered by Vanwall. During practice for the French Grand Prix at Reims he collided with his team-mate Mike Hawthorn. The crash ended his career as a racing driver, and he never started a World Championship race. From then on he concentrated on the technical side.

Alongside John Cooper, he backed small, lightweight mid-engined cars. They were short of power, but their handling often allowed them to beat the front-engined Ferraris and Maseratis. With the Lotus 25 of 1962 he helped popularise the monocoque chassis in motor racing. In 1963 Team Lotus won its first World Championship with Jim Clark at the wheel. In 1965 Clark won the Indianapolis 500 in a Lotus 38, the first mid-engined car to win there. Between 1962 and 1978, under Chapman's direction, Team Lotus took seven Constructors' titles and six Drivers' titles, as well as victory at Indianapolis. He was also among those who brought aerodynamics into Formula One, and he took part in the first use of ground effect there. That work culminated in the Lotus 79 of 1978.

Chapman died on 16 December 1982 at the age of 54, after suffering a heart attack at his home in Norwich.

Source: Wikipedia, “Colin Chapman”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.