Chris Harris vs the Lotus 79 | Top Gear: Series 27

Chris slides into the Lotus 79, and then slides the Lotus 79 around the track - including one lap with the legendary aero 'skirts' down. Subscribe to Top Gear for more videos: bit.ly/Subscrib...
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[@MravacKid]

The biggest problem with Top Gear today (and car shows in general) is that there's only one Chris Harris.

[@alifted8271]

I think Henry Catchpole is great as well.

[@epistte]

You need to be somebody for Lotus to hand you the keys of their most famous cars and tell you to go have fun. This car is the ancestral grandmother of the rest of F1 because of Chapman's ground effects. Porsche also let him loose on Weissach in their LeMans winning 956.

[@jariviitanen9485]

MravacKid I couldnt take extra ”what a machine” comments which appears to happen quite often 😅✌️

[@Xyzabc998]

which is better than the old farts because unlike them, he can actually drive but has not got the ego of a supertanker like CLarky.

[@64nine]

@@alifted8271 baited lol...

[@davidbhasker5669]

This dude really living all our dreams

[@vedranpevec4483]

For me the most beautiful car and most iconic John Player Special livery.

[@gebezeira]

Sorry mate, but NO. The Lotus 98T from 1986 of Ayrton Senna was one of the most beautiful in history.

[@paulallen8109]

@@gebezeira Unfortunately it wasn't anywhere near as competitive as the Lotus 79 was. Also, had Senna never driven the 98T it wouldn't have been noticed at all. That aside, the 79 was just incredibly sleek and looked aerodynamically right.

[@grandeconsagrado2865]

Lotus 79 the most beautiful and dominant lotus in formula one

[@MoRoarSport-VintageRacing1]

Indeed! It has everything. Design, engineering, livery, success. www.teepublic.com/fr/t-shirt/12260682-lotus-79-colin-chapmans-masterpiece?store_id=165554 www.teepublic.com/fr/t-shirt/12260807-lotus-79-1978-f1-world-champion-colin-chapmans-mas?store_id=165554

[@kingchefmurray557]

@@gebezeira both of you are wrong, in terms of John player Livery it goes: Lotus 87 as the most beautiful, then the 79, then the 98t. The 79 is an extremely close second but it’s just not as perfect as the 87.

[@lduk941]

The utter joy and exhilaration in Chris Harris’ voice as he went round that corner with the skirts down brought a tear to my eye

[@coboisarapatanas]

The only occasion you want “skirts down”

[@peanuts2105]

Actually, its the second occasion. Any self respecting man should know what I'm on about. Carry on.

[@thethirdman225]

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

[@prabhugautham]

The sound is just mesmerising and really musical too.

[@LogiForce86]

Yeah, compared to this current F1 doesn't appeal at all. Too much buttons to fiddle about with and setup the car for each corner, with looks that don't differentiate enough optically between brands due to overregulation and sound that is just a bore to the ears and mind as it doesn't excite at all. Give me that analog nature of these monsters that look like go-karts on steroids and with a mighty rawr. Due to minimum controls and no aids (powersteering, abs, etc) and manual shifting it really spoke to the imagination about how in the world these drivers could tame these beasts, when most drivers at the time had trouble parking their cars without powersteering. So seeing people like Senna driving Monaco one handed for example... they knew how crazy that was.

[@prabhugautham]

@@LogiForce86previous era cars were all raw and driver driven today's cars are all electronics no true racing spirits.

[@MrKbuland]

The sound of the gear change is climactic.

[@rundattmedia2106]

Cosworth DFV flat plane V8. GLORIOUS.

[@Showmetheevidence-]

Ground effect was so simple, yet so revolutionary... its legendary in itself!

[@thethirdman225]

Ground effect wasn’t really that simple. The concept was but the execution was a different matter.

[@NYRangers928]

One of the most beautiful F1 cars of all time.

[@Clayvicle]

I love these sorts of historical pieces

[@paulsueb]

When you really love cars it has a profound effect on you..your senses. I literally cried hearing the joy and the thrill in Chris Harris' voice. It's not just a car. It's a passion!

[@Troubleshooter125]

Watching Chris have fun with the Lotus 79 was great, but seeing Mario hold forth on it ... *PRICELESS.*

[@romanizaboss6641]

Had the model as a kid! Didn’t even know the importance! Lol

[@poppopartist3870]

Had the AFX G PLUS fast

[@catecoleman9852]

When all you can hear is the engine roaring, the caption service thinks it's [applause] :)

[@stephanmeyer8821]

00:28 cant get any better

[@Nicko6180]

We definitely need more people like Chris Harris. He is funny, entertaining, and tells it just like it is. Very much like Jeremy Clarkson in all those respects.

[@CalebJNelson]

Cheers, good for you. And good on Lotus for realizing the importance of allowing such things and realizing the impact that their past can and should have on the way people think about them and their cars now.

[@alessandroantognoli6211]

Lotus per sempre! Thank you Colin.

[@enzocasella3153]

Grazie Mario Andretti

[@alessandroantognoli6211]

@@enzocasella3153 No Colin Chapman

[@Viper-rf7qu]

This man is literally keeping top gear alive

[@nicolasleblond279]

singlehandedly

[@samdoesthefunstuff7122]

The just name “John Player Special” is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen on a car

[@rubencriviDT]

Slick tyres and wet conditions to run with that beast? 😄

[@joshtiel2980]

jon doe Check how the brits spell tyres. I get it. It throws me off too as a Canuck but neither of you are wrong within your own shores.

[@rubencriviDT]

@@joshtiel2980 that's right! I'm not native speaker but I checked the dictionary. Thanks!

[@ScottMikles]

I got serious goosebumps watching this.

[@TimsEnthusiastGarage]

Absolute legend. Chris Harris. Lotus 79. It gets no better.

[@andrewhenley2161]

Production quality on this is through the roof!

[@edwardrichardson8254]

F1 ten years behind American Jim Hall, who invented the skirts and the first fan car for Can-Am racing in 1970. But glad you Brits finally got around it! Jim Hall pioneered wings, movable aerodynamic devices, side-mounted radiators, semi-automatic transmissions and composite monocoque chassis structures. He's still alive in Texas if Gordon Murray wants to drive one his new fan cars over and say howdy.

[@pawi123]

I'd like him try the brabham bt46b also known as the fan car

[@Shadowboost]

2G standing start acceleration, looool

[@thethirdman225]

@@Shadowboost No different from any other F1 car of the era. The braking and cornering speeds of this thing, on the other hand, were off the charts.

[@SMITESHSURESH]

His Goosebumps had Goosebumps that day, for sure.

[@El_Nano2005]

Chris Harris was the only reason I even stuck around with this show during the post trio years, he's a worthy successor

[@paulp7692]

Wow! Love you Chris Harris!

[@NikosGianniris]

This video is an ode to joy. The best piece of automotive content I have ever -ever- watched.

[@nl3712]

Beautiful cinematography.

[@WarriorsPhoto]

Chris Harris, was very happy driving that car. Congratulations to him. This was enjoyable to watch.

[@word67]

Almost unbearably wonderful! Never get enough of this car. Mario, the livery, the performance. Thanks Chris lucky you man!

[@TheGrandTourBMW]

WHO DIDN'T SMILE WHILST WATCHING THIS.

[@ghoztie6713]

I miss Ronnie Peterson RIP

[@SilverfoxThe]

I know I'm a bit of an old codger these days, but when I think of F1 racing cars then cars like the Lotus 79 are what I think of. Pure lines and simple aerodynamics.

[@dudley7540]

Another great day to be Chris Harris!

[@californiaholtz]

TG team needs to upload the entire full length film, I remember it was super interesting!

[@アマ-p2l]

TG team needs to go bankrupt and give their job to someone who actually cares about cars instead of money.

[@grooveitman929]

What a beautiful design...iconic

[@jkalash762]

There's not many things that give me goose bumps from a video but every time I see and hear this thing it makes the hairs on my arms stand up.

[@CLVASHJBHWFS]

Those developed DFV's were around 485 to 500 hp and the Lotus 79 is still the greatest F1 car ever made!

[@leart78]

best video explaining the ground effect of the 70-80s

[@93455Driver]

Awesome...... Lotus is still a shadow of its former self, but there is hope. Chapman was a genius, my favorite Chapmanism, adding power makes you faster in the straights, reducing weight makes you faster all around the track. He completely slammed the "no replacement for displacement" mindset.

[@paulallen8109]

To be fair the Lotus car brand is in better shape than ever before. Back in Chapman's days Lotus was a small operation which managed to attract big manufacturers into F1 - like Ford, and pioneered cigarette sponsorship deals to market a brand. I mean Chapman was even involved with the infamous DeLorean deal. Economically Lotus was never in a particularly great position during the Chapman days but it bagged a lot of money from winning constructors' championships. And let's not forget that it was Lotus, Chapman and Jim Clark which defeated the American USAC elite at Indianapolis in 1965, making Formula 1 the top racing series in the world (as far as technical prowess was concerned). If we're lucky Geely will consider a F1 entry with Lotus. Any brand which revives Lotus in F1 automatically earns all its heritage and former victories.

[@thethirdman225]

There was a lot more to it than that. By the time the 79 became a reality, Chapman was taking a backseat to his engineering team. The ground effect idea came from some research done by Peter Wright. Chapman got the credit but Wright was the true father of ground effect. Secondly, with that kind of aero package, the team were able to play lift/drag ratio games with the other teams. Because the 79 didn’t need such large, drag-inducing wings, the 79 was also faster on the straight than non-ground effect cars. So the 79 was a complete package. Ground effect didn’t just make it faster through corners. They could also brake much later because of better adhesion - right into the corners, in fact - and were faster in a straight line because of a better lift/drag ratio.

[@vaughanrowley9553]

Absolutely cracking driver and personality, has made the new Top Gear all what it is now !

[@generalpatton8468]

I love how these comments are 1 minute old

[@nevarran]

They don't even have to watch the video, they already have their comment prepared - "I miss the old Top Gear", "Clarkson, Hammond and May were better", "This is not Top Gear", and so on...

[@casgian3272]

At this point the BBC should just give Chris Harris his own show

[@msukrimabukari1619]

The most Beautiful Lotus F1..ever

[@Nik55471]

possibly the coolest Lotus ever made? Say that to the Lotus 98t

[@KrustyKlown]

Lotus 98T was maybe the most brutal, with unrestricted turbo charged Renault power ... but the 78 and 79 were a revolution ushering in ground effects, so far advanced that they won 7 and 6 races in their respective seasons, a best not repeated by Lotus, those were the glory years.

[@wheresaldocanoe]

When considering the idea of coolest Lotus ever made, my criteria is predicated upon how revolutionary/radical the car is, considering the genius that was Colin Chapman. Therefore, I'd have to go with any of the Lotus 56, 79 or 88. The Lotus 56, well, was powered by a gas turbine engine of all things, four wheel drive, nearly won the Indy 500 and its wedge-shaped nose would forever change how open wheel cars would be designed. I mention the Lotus 79 for the obvious reason, ground effect, and the Lotus 88 because, while it never raced and we'll never know how it would have performed against its contemporaries, the fact that Chapman had the idea to build a car featuring two seperate chassis to exploit a regulatory loophole is just awesome in my opinion. Shame the FIA didn't see things that way.

[@paulallen8109]

@@wheresaldocanoe Lotus 25 - the first monocoque in F1. Lotus 49 - the first with the engine as an integral part of the chassis Lotus 72 - the first car where the aerodynamics dictated how the car was designed as a whole. All three milestones in racing car design and which were templates for all subsequent F1 cars from other manufacturers.

[@the_track_enthusiast]

Just saw this beauty in person at the Legends of Speed exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum

[@JavierCR25]

Outstanding....

[@SLR-722]

Black and Gold JPS LOTUS. ❤️

[@adamclark6756]

This was the era i first got into F1 and the Lotus was the coolest car out there. I feel your joy!

[@Cyba_IT]

Paddy, Flintoff & Harris are doing a great job.

[@ypp736]

its so good that they need to ban it from F1. absolute monster!

[@The.Drunk-Koala]

after 4 years of it being in effect. Only because Gille Villeneuve died because they were "too fast"

[@wilkowilkins363]

They didn't ban the 79. It ran for 2 seasons and was caught and overtaken by many of its imitators such as the Williams FW07 that perfected the original Ground Effect. Ground effects as such were ultimately banned but not this car.

[@dadvader6197]

@@The.Drunk-Koala compare to today's standard some circuits were death traps, turbo engines with huge lag and no tc. Adding ground effect to the cocktail at the time meant in fast corners you'd be sliding only beeing kept down by the aero (and praying whatever your god is for the skirts to not brake down). So yes they were too fast.

[@TheHesK9]

It was actually the Type 88 that was banned. Basically it was a genius idea to get around regulations, which meant it would've walked the championship as it was going to be so much faster than any other car. So they banned it

[@thethirdman225]

First of all, ground effect did exist before the 79. The Lotus 78 was the first wing car but didn't have anywhere near the refinement or the total downforce of the 79. The 78 was the development car if you like and the 79 was the next evolutionary step. These two cars more or less defined how modern racing cars are built. In order to maximise the wing area under the car, the monocoque had to be made as narrow and as clean as possible. That meant moving the fuel tanks from their normal position - either side of the driver - to a cell between the engine and the driver. That remains to this day. But that created a problem: it effectively made the car longer. The only way to keep it within regulations was to put the driver further forward. In extreme cases, like the full ground effect cars of 1982, the driver's knees were approximately level with the front axle. That put the driver very close to the scene of a crash and remember, this was before the days of carbon fibre tubs. Compare this: img.favcars.com/renault_formula_1_1982_photos_1_1280x960.jpg with a modern car: d2d0b2rxqzh1q5.cloudfront.net/sv/2.183/dir/861/image/86159ca5c53ee26a20c47204f20f4276.jpg There were three major crashes in 1982 - two of them fatal - which could probably have been blamed on this point of evolution. The most obvious one was Gilles Villeneuve in Belgium. That was an aerodynamic instability problem, triggered by a collision with Jochen Mass. The second was Ricardo Palietti's fatal crash in Canada, which was partly a result of being so far forward in the car. The third was the crash involving Didier Pironi at Hockenheim, a near identical crash to Villeneuve which ended his career. The drivers were happy to keep skirts and even wing cars. What they wanted was the pedal box to be behind the front axle. The rule makers went the other way and mandated a flat bottom between the axles. At the same time they banned skirts. They never mandated stability and it's still a problem. Ironically, the first carbon fibre monocoque - the McLaren MP4 - was introduced about this time and would likely have save all three men had it been available to them. Timing is everything.

[@eikcam]

Wow. Just wow.

[@elite-psgaming_zone]

a legend never die, the mans who are behind this car they are the greatest

[@mhorlor]

There has to be more of this!!!

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

Lotus have 3 of the greatest if not the greatest 3 F1 liveries of all time.

[@RamosDominicano]

It's so cool this video was posted a day after The Smoking Tire podcast with Chris Harris, and the Donut Media Up To Speed on the Lotus brand.

[@olske1981]

Oke of the Most beautiful F1 Cars

[@terrylessmann2274]

There was a JPS Lotus 79 on display at the Indy Museum this summer commemorating Mario's 50th anniv of his Indy win. Such a cool car. 👍 Lotus sure has some big marbles letting CH drive their car on slicks on a wet track. Kudos to them. I wouldn't if it was mine.

[@jtthebrick3]

The internet doesn’t deserve this man. Wow.

[@marklittle8805]

The sound of the Cossie is just glorious

[@medilyesoudhini7411]

For those who don't know those skirts and ground effect were soon banned because they were deemed too dangerous because if one of them broke in a corner it will send the car off the track at tremendous speeds

[@medilyesoudhini7411]

@jon doe I think I do

[@Nightstalker321]

That is the iconic sound of F1. An engine so good it was used for 18 years in F1.

[@Captn_Slow]

After reading a little about Colin Chapman’s development history of Lotus, I almost think he was Howard Stark in the F1 history.

[@STAG162]

those ground effects were subtle next to the Brabham BT46B and the Chapparal 2J, which were deemed illegal after just 1 race.

[@thethirdman225]

Those were not ground effects.

[@culloutoltec9111]

p.s. this lotus is a whole lot better lookin' than today's lego-block cars with their household appliance engines

[@Inc_69]

the coolest lotus ever made must be the Lotus 49

[@paulcaswell2813]

25 - the start of the monocoque revolution...

[@Paul-pj5qu]

I think the John Player Special must be the most famous race car ever.

[@p0ck3tzzz]

the only episode I'll ever watch on top gear US

[@bodieofci5418]

Up there with the McLaren MP4/4 for me :)

[@atishaykankaria4461]

That dfv is amazing

[@philibertnicolas352]

Incredible 😎🏁🤙 lotus 79 the car of adventurers, and brave

[@DiViNiTY1337]

My favorite motoring journalist driving one of my favorite F1 cars? Why yes thank you.

[@lukearmitage1533]

Lotus should make a replica of this car for customers a track day special better then any atom.

[@rogerking7258]

I remember a comment (probably in Autosport) that "when they wrote the rules nobody envisaged that one day the cars would drag their bodywork along the ground".

[@aexy3277]

Who ever sees this you will have a great day/night.

[@generalpatton8468]

Thank you You too my man

[@aexy3277]

Douglas MacArthur Thanks bro

[@aexy3277]

Douglas MacArthur ima sub to you

[@sarraquanny6613]

@@aexy3277 Sub trade?

[@КатяСапожникова-ъ3е]

themoviewhd.link/IFmQ5wavJYz

[@Alex14458]

Great job !

[@malquezare]

Esse carro tem na minha modesta opinião o desenho mais belo que um carro de fórmula um já teve, isso p dizer o mínimo, além do que era revolucionário com o efeito asa

[@iliovecaRS]

Great film

[@lornehaycock]

Outstanding Chris.... winning at youtube

[@adrianalbano5716]

Sin dudas uno de los autos de Formula 1 mas hermosos de la historia,sino el mas hermoso.

[@Дмитрий-г4р2х]

Lotus ❤

[@moonchild666]

Slicks fitted to a legend on a wet track? There's some trust there...👍🏻

[@paulcaswell2813]

Slicks on a wet track? Something Nelson Piquet couldn't cope with ;-)

[@cibaca1]

I have said it before and I will say it again: Chriss, you're the luckiest man alive!

[@gplipp6489]

Thank you for living my dreams. !!

[@MysterDaftGame]

DFV ❤️❤️

[@MarcelPolman]

Sensational

[@andreafanti8481]

the black beauty it's simply the black beauty!

[@thebull3365]

Hey Chris Harris nice racing. 👋👋👍👍🔥🔥❤😆🙌👌

[@GTA40120]

What a machine, definitely better than today’s F1 cars

[@kairikkola]

This is living provement that old times were better.

[@PYRAMIDHEAD1051]

Lotus F1 1979 - A cut above !!

[@FAT8893]

The days when F1 is all about out-of-the-world innovation from various teams. Shame it didn't really happen today.

[@TheHesK9]

Lotus need to be back in F1

[@paulallen8109]

That will only happen if the parent company Geely decides to enter Formula 1 with the legendary Lotus brand. The closet we got in 2012-2015 was the "ex-Renault" team and Kimi Raikkonen's 2 wins with Lotus in 2012 and 2013.

[@TheHesK9]

@@paulallen8109 I think they will. Lotus are a way too big name in F1 to not be in it

[@MrMcKane]

I think I'm the only person who thinks the Lotus 79 looks best in the British Racing Green Martini & Rossi livery from 1979.

[@thethirdman225]

Probably

[@mykevenable8180]

79 !

[@Unpacked_Mind]

When the skirts go down we all get excited.

[@bigcheese1992]

If he had his own show on a real network prime time he would would be huge. Best car reviewer in the world

[@arifsufiyan]

Chills!!