Colin Chapman

For other persons named Colin Chapman, seeColin Chapman (disambiguation).

Colin Chapman CBE
Chapman in 1965
Born	(1928-05-19)19 May 1928
Died	16 December 1982(1982-12-16)(aged 54) Norwich,Norfolk,England
Formula OneWorld Championship career
Active years	1956
Teams	Vanwall
Entries	1 (0 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1956 French Grand Prix
Last entry	1956 French Grand Prix

Anthony Colin Bruce ChapmanCBE(19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of thesports carcompanyLotus Cars.

Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and initially ran Lotus in his spare time, assisted by a group of enthusiasts. His knowledge of the latestaeronautical engineeringtechniques would prove vital towards achieving the major automotive technical advances for which he is remembered. Chapman's design philosophy focused on cars with light weight and finehandlinginstead of bulking up onhorsepowerandspring rates,which he famously summarised as "Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."

Team Lotuswon seven Formula OneConstructors' titles,sixDrivers' Championships,and theIndianapolis 500in the United States, between 1962 and 1978 under his direction. The production side of Lotus Cars has built tens of thousands of relatively affordable, cutting edge sports cars. Lotus is one of but a handful of English performance car builders still in business after theindustrial declineof the 1970s.

Chapman suffered a fatal heart attack in 1982, aged 54.

Early life

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman was born on 19 May 1928, and brought up at 44 Beech Drive, on the border ofMuswell HillinLondonN2. His father ran The Railway Hotel onTottenham Lanenext toHornsey Railway Station.Chapman attended theStationers' Company's Schoolin Mayfield Road.

Education

Chapman studiedstructural engineeringatUniversity College London,joining theUniversity of London Air Squadronand learning to fly. He left UCL without a degree in 1948, resitting his final Mathematics paper in 1949and obtaining his degree a year late.

Chapman briefly joined theRoyal Air Forcein 1948, being offered a permanent commission but turning this down in favour of a swift return to civilian life. After a couple of false starts Chapman joined theBritish Aluminiumcompany, using his civil engineering skills to attempt to sellaluminiumas a viable structural material for buildings.

Career

In 1948, Chapman designed theMk1,a modifiedAustin 7,which he entered privately into localracingevents. He named the car "Lotus"; he never confirmed the reason, but one of several theories is that it was after his then-girlfriend (later wife) Hazel, whom he nicknamed "Lotus blossom".With the prize money, he developed theLotus Mk2.Around this time, Chapman began to show his ability to think of ways to become more competitive while remaining within the rules. One early car had a 6 port head with 4 exhaust and two inlet ports. Chapman realised that better flow characteristics (and therefore more power) could be achieved with an 8 port head, but lacking the resources to have one made, he reversed the port functions and de-siamesed the old inlet ports. With appropriatemanifoldsand a newcamshaft,his engine outclassed the opposition until the rules were changed to outlaw the specific changes he had made. With continuing success on through theLotus 6,he began to sellkitsof these cars. Over 100 were sold through 1956. It was with theLotus 7in 1957 that things really took off, and indeedCaterham Carsstill manufacture a version of that car today – theCaterham 7;there have been over 90 different Lotus 7 clones, replicas and derivatives offered to the public by a variety of makers.

Chapman at the wheel of one of his ownLotus Elevensports cars, during practice for the1956 British Grand PrixFormula Tworace atSilverstone.Lotus Development DirectorMike Costinon left holding notes. Chief MechanicJohn Crosthwaiteon right leaning on car.

In the 1950s, Chapman progressed through the motor racing formulae, designing and building a series of racing cars, sometimes to the point of maintaining limited production as they were so successful and highly sought after, until he arrived inFormula One.Besides his engineering work, he also piloted aVanwallF1-car in 1956 but crashed into his teammateMike Hawthornduring practice for theFrench Grand PrixatReims,ending his career as a race driver and focusing him on the technical side. Along withJohn Cooper,he revolutionised the premiermotor sport.Their small, lightweight mid-engined vehicles gave away much in terms of power, but superiorhandlingmeant their competing cars often beat the all-conquering front enginedFerrarisandMaseratis.Eventually, with driverJim Clarkat the wheel of his race cars,Team Lotusappeared as though they could win whenever they pleased. With Clark driving theLotus 25,Team Lotus won its firstF1 World Championship in 1963.It was Clark, driving a Lotus 38 at theIndianapolis 500in 1965, who drove the first-evermid-engined carto victory at the "Brickyard". Clark and Chapman became particularly close and Clark's death in 1968 devastated Chapman, who publicly stated that he had lost his best friend.Among a number of automotive figures who have been Lotus employees over the years wereCosworthfoundersMike CostinandKeith Duckworth,andGraham Hillwho worked at Lotus as a mechanic as a means of earning drives. In 1966, it was Chapman who persuaded theFord Motor Companyto sponsor Cosworth's development of what would become theDFV race engine.

Innovations and legacy

Many of Chapman's ideas can still be seen in Formula One and other top-level motor sport, such asIndyCars,into the 21st century. He pioneered the use ofstrutsas a rearsuspensiondevice. Struts used in the rear of a vehicle are known asChapman struts,while virtually identical suspension struts for the front are known asMacPherson strutsthat were invented ten years earlier in 1949.

Chapman withGraham Hillat the1967 Dutch Grand Prix

Chapman withJochen Rindtat the1970 Dutch Grand Prix

Chapman's next major innovation was popularisingmonocoquechassisconstruction within automobile racing, with the revolutionary 1962Lotus 25Formula One car. The technique resulted in a body that was both lighter and stronger, and also provided better driver protection in the event of a crash. Although a previously little-used concept in the world of motorsport, the first vehicle to feature such a chassis was the road-going 1922Lancia Lambda.Lotus had been an early adopter of this technology with the 1958Lotus Elite.The modified monocoque body of the car was made offibreglass,making it also one of the first production cars made ofcomposite materials.

When American Formula One driverDan Gurneyfirst saw the Lotus 25 at the Dutch Grand Prix atZandvoort,he was so struck by the advanced design that he invited Chapman to the 1962 Indianapolis 500, where Gurney made his Indy début at the wheel of a space-frame rear engined car designed byJohn Crosthwaite(who had previously worked for Chapman) and built by American hot-rodder Mickey Thompson.Following the race, Chapman prepared a proposal to Ford Motor Company for analuminium alloymonocoque Indianapolis car using a 4.2-litre aluminium V-8 Ford passenger car engine. Ford accepted the proposal. The Lotus 29 debuted at Indianapolis in 1963, with Jim Clark finishing second. This design concept fairly quickly replaced what had been for many decades the standard design formula in racing-cars, the tube-frame chassis. Although the material has changed from sheet aluminium tocarbon fibre,this remains today the standard technique for building top-level racing cars.

Inspired byJim Hall,Chapman was among those who helped introduceaerodynamicsinto Formula One car design. Lotus used the concept of positive aerodynamic downforce, through the addition of wings, at aTasman Formularace in early 1968, althoughFerrariandBrabhamwere the first to use them in a Formula One race at the1968 Belgian Grand Prix.Early versions, in 1968 and 1969, were mounted 3 feet (0.91 m) or so above the car, to operate in 'clean air' (air that would not otherwise be disturbed by the passage of the car). The underdesigned wings and struts failed regularly, however, compelling theFIAto require the wing mounting hardware to be attached directly to the sprung chassis. Chapman also originated the movement of radiators away from the front of the car to the sides, to decrease frontal area (lowering aerodynamic drag) and centralising weight distribution. These concepts remain features of virtually all high performance racing cars today.

Chapman, working with Tony Rudd and Peter Wright, pioneered the first Formula One use of "ground effect",where a low pressure was created under the car by use of theVenturi effect,generating suction (downforce) which held it securely to the road whilst cornering. Early designs utilized sliding "skirts" which made contact with the ground to keep the area of low pressure isolated.

Chapman and his lead driver,Mario Andretti,pictured during their double World Championship-winning 1978 season with the ground effectLotus 79

Chapman next planned a car that generated all of its downforce through ground effect, eliminating the need for wings and the resulting drag that reduces a car's speed. The culmination of his efforts, theLotus 79,dominated the1978championship. However, skirts were eventually banned because they were susceptible to damage, for example from driving over a kerb, whereafter downforce would be lost and the car could then become unstable. The FIA made moves to eliminate ground effect in Formula One by raising the minimum ride height of the cars from1981and requiring flat bottom cars from1983.Car designers have managed to claw back much of that downforce through other means, aided by extensivewind tunneltesting.

One of his last major technical innovations was a dual-chassis Formula One car, theLotus 88in1981.For ground effect of that era to function most efficiently, the aerodynamic surfaces needed to be precisely located and this led to the chassis being very stiffly sprung. However, this was very punishing to the driver, resulting in driver fatigue. To get around this, Chapman introduced a car with two chassis. One chassis (where the driver would sit) was softly sprung. The other chassis (where the skirts and such were located) was stiffly sprung. Although the car passed scrutineering at a couple of races, other teams protested, and it was never allowed to race. The car was never developed further.

Chapman, whose father was a successfulpublican,was also a businessman and innovator in the business end of racing. He introduced major advertisingsponsorshipinto auto racing; beginning the process which transformed Formula One from a pastime of rich gentlemen to a multi-millionpoundhigh technology enterprise. He was among the first entrants in Formula One to turn their cars into rolling billboards for non-automotive products, initially with the cigarette brands Gold Leaf and, most famously,John Player Special.

DeLorean scandal

From 1978 until his death, Chapman was involved with the American tycoonJohn DeLorean,in his development of astainless steelsports car to be built in a factory inNorthern Ireland,which was majority-funded by the UK government. The original concept design was for a mid-engine sports car; however, difficulty in securing the originalWankel enginerights and design complications led to the rear-engine mount design.This project would eventually evolve into theDMC DeLorean.

On 19 October 1982, John DeLorean was charged with traffickingcocaineby the US Government, following a videotapedsting operationat a hotel inLos Angeles,in which he was recorded by undercoverFBIagents agreeing to bankroll a 100 kilograms (220 lb) cocaine smuggling operation.DeLorean Motor Carssubsequently collapsed, during which administrators discovered that £10,000,000 of British taxpayers' money (approximately equivalent to £30 million in 2019)had gone missing.

Lotus Group's 1981 accounts were overdue before Chapman's death, but, when released after his death, disclosed that Lotus had been paid for engineering work by DeLorean via aSwitzerland-basedPanamaniancompany run by a DeLorean distributor, despite Chapman's previous protestations that neither he nor the company had been paid via Panama. Chapman died before the full deceit unravelled, but, at the subsequent trial of Lotus Group accountant Fred Bushell, who had funnelled £5 million to himself in the fraud,the trial judge opined that, had Chapman himself been in the dock, he would have received a sentence "of at least 10 years".The car's engineering concept was later sold by the UK Government appointedadministrators toToyota,who used it to develop theAW11 MR2.The liquidators also recovered around £20 million from Swiss bank accounts controlled by Chapman and John DeLorean.

Death

The night before he died, Chapman watched a performance by his long-time friend and Lotus customerChris Barber,the notedjazztrombonist,and his band. On 16 December 1982, Team Lotus tested the first Formula One car withactive suspension,which eventually made its début with theLotus 99Tin1987.Chapman suffered a fatalheart attackon the same day at his home inNorwich,and died at the age of 54.

Personal life

Chapman was married to Hazel Chapman (1927–2021).He had two daughters and one son.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	WDC	Points
1956	Vandervell Products Ltd.	Vanwall	Vanwall2.5lStraight-4	ARG	MON	500	BEL	FRA DNS	GBR	GER	ITA	NC	0
Source:

Awards

• He was awarded "Mike's Mug" by theRoyal Aero Clubin 1961.
• He was votedThe Guardian'Young Businessman of the Year' in 1970.
• He was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empirein the1970 New Year Honoursfor services to Exports.
• He was inducted in theInternational Motorsports Hall of Famein 1994.
• He was inducted in theMotorsports Hall of Fame of Americain 1997.

Further reading

• Gérard ('Jabby') Crombac,Colin Chapman: The Man and His Cars(Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough, 1986)ISBN1-85960-844-2
• Hugh Haskell,Colin Chapman Lotus Engineering(Osprey Publishing, 1993)ISBN1-85532-872-0
• Mike Lawrence,Colin Chapman Wayward Genius(Breedon Books Publishing, 2003)ISBN1-85983-278-4
• Karl Ludvigsen,Colin Chapman: Inside the Innovator(Haynes Publishing, 2010)ISBN978-1-84425-413-2

External links

• Colin Chapman biography by Dennis DavidArchived10 October 2012 at theWayback Machine
• Picture of Colin Chapman, Long Beach F-1
• The Colin Chapman Museum and Education Centre