Why Did Lotus Fail to Become the British Ferrari?

[@giomilahy]

Lotus in my opinion is like his legend, Jim Clark. Fast, smoth, and legendary. But shame we cant have it for too long.

[@skippywinters]

@SaVior R Fangio was the greatest grand prix driver ever - ask any f1 racing driver

[@Loony007]

Well said

[@clubpenguin13531]

@@skippywinters or ask Fangio himself, who said Clark was the greatest

[@cv507]

had a lotus 7 matchbox..?

[@aprilkurtz1589]

@@skippywinters Both Fangio and Senna said Clark was the greatest driver ever. So there.

[@KayJblue]

Maybe they weren’t the most renowned but they had so much impact on the racing world today.

[@T0NYMANUEL]

Of course they did

[@eriksantoso1741]

Revolutionary the formula 1 and motorsports for modern era until now

[@T0NYMANUEL]

@@kennethhawley1063 exactly

[@kennethhawley1063]

They were the most renowned team in their day and they set the standard for modern F1. It took Ferrari about 15 years to get to grips with 3 litre engine regulations.

[@mydogsmylifecircusdogtrainer]

They were the most renowned in their day

[@paulallen8109]

You forgot to mention how Lotus won the Indianapolis 500. That was a pivotal moment in motorsport history. Prior to this many believed the world's most foremost form of motor racing with the finest drivers and finest cars was the American USAC series (what we call Indycars today). Lotus's and Jim Clark's win ushered in the mid-engine revolution in American USAC racing and pretty much made British chassis manufacturers such as Lotus, Lola, March, McLaren and Reynard as the measure stick the following decades. Even Penske had their chassis designed in Britain in the 80's and 90's. It also proved that the world's most technically advanced cars were found in Formula 1, not in USAC. From that point onward this has never really swung back or in another direction - except for maybe the Can-Am cars of Group 7 racing which pretty much was top dog in 1966-1973. Colin Chapman famously said that:"The Indy roadsters are designed using racing technology from the 1930's and nothing much had happened there since then." How prophetic that turned out to be. Lotus's Indy 500 win also made Ford finance the famous Cosworth DFV V8 for Lotus to use from 1967 - the most successful engine in F1 history. The DFV is also the only engine ever to win the Indy 500 (in its turbocharged DFX iteration) and the 24 Hours of LeMans (in detuned form) in 1975 and 1980.

[@ImBarryScottCSS]

Fantastic insights thank you

[@jennifersman7990]

Another point with Lotus at Indy is that Chapman had the Wood Brothers pit crew from NASCAR and used their knowledge of how to do pit stops faster than F1 crews. I have to wonder why Lotus left Indy, was there any animosity between Chapman and STP chief Andy Granatelli? If Chapman thought Indy cars hadn’t evolved since the 30’s he could’ve easily dominated Indy with his ideas, Andretti would’ve easily won 3 more 500’s with Chapman running things

[@cdjhyoung]

@MrLewisbate Americans thought they had the Greatest Drivers and Cars. It took Chapman and Clarke beating them in their own "Greatest Race Track" to open American racer's eyes to different ways of building a top race car.

[@cdjhyoung]

@@jennifersman7990 Racing takes money. Perhaps Chapman wasn't as well financed in the Indy series as he was in Formula One. It may have also been a case of once Lotus had come to dominance in the series, the adventure was over for Chapman and he turned his focus elsewhere.

[@JahBronee]

@MrLewisbate your opinion is noted.

[@Foxx_33]

Quite honestly, Lotus just wasn't set up to be a major company. If you look at Ferrari and factors like major investment/investors (a la FIAT) along with a very major road car business and an organisation that essentially ran the company since the 70s: they were always going to survive even without their founder. Lotus had none of that and relied solely on Colin Chapman and the sporting success actively keeping the cash flow coming. Lotus demise is very much steeped in the failure of Colin not building an organisation and company structure that could stand on its own: Lotus was Chapman and Chapman was Lotus. Williams is an odd duck, for a while (90-05) they had the chance to do something similar to Ferrari but instead kept relying on Patrick Head (and Newey somewhat) and along with a poor company structure and losing vital partners they went the Lotus way of just crumbling down for a decade until they finally gave up. Mclaren in my opinion was close to starting a similar decline, I commend them for avoiding tipping over after the multiple failed championship bids and the disastrous recent Honda era. Shame it's too late for Lotus and Williams to learn from them...

[@spacemanapeinc7202]

Mclaren can bounce back hard and they are going forward with how they’re doing things now. In fact they are pretty much building that image.

[@coconutsnacks1811]

@@spacemanapeinc7202 Lotus and Williams can bounce back with different collaborations.

[@largol33t1]

In fairness to Lotus, the FIA were becoming pretty ridiculous. Even back then, innovation was quashed. Chapman's twin chassis design was banned. He never got over it and I think that made it much harder for him to keep the team competitive. His death certainly was the final nail in the coffin. The FIA have again and again astounded me with their shitty decisions and rules...

[@nichtgefunden404]

It didn’t help matters that Lotus has changed hands so many times. I think Aston Martin was lucky as well as Jaguar in that they managed to get out from under Ford management.

[@tjroelsma]

@@largol33t1 The other side of Chapman also played a role in the crazy development cycle within Lotus: his genius also proved to be his handicap. Chapman was always working on "the next idea", giving things he'd just introduced no time to be developed or proven. The bizar season when Lotus tried multiple wing configurations for only 1 or 2 races at the time is confirmation of that.

[@norbertkocsis5945]

You have explained the reason why there were 2 different Lotus teams competing at the same time very well!

[@Limegreenedragon]

And neither had NO releation to the original

[@frankhoward7645]

@@Limegreenedragon And neither had ANY relation to the original.

[@subarnosinha8042]

Aldas: Making a fantastic video on Lotus Also Aldas: Casually forgetting to mention Mario Andretti

[@animalmother5902]

He’s a big hero to me as an American (even tho he’s basically Italian lol)

[@Aldas001]

Yeah a few people have mentioned that, I didn't want to go into every Lotus driver because I wanted to focus more on Chapman and the team. But obviously Andretti was a huge part of Lotus and kinda in a way introduced a huge amount of America to F1

[@nibbaskittle5994]

And ronnie

[@glen1555]

@@nibbaskittle5994 my post code ends 4RP when I spell it out instead of Romeo Papa its Ronnie Peterson

[@ulfulf7563]

And Jochen Rindt

[@Lyingleyen]

2:38 So many champions you sadly missed out Mario Andretti - World Champion in a Lotus in 1978. And Jochen Rindt THE ONLY DRIVER TO BE posthumously awarded the Formula One World Drivers' Championship.

[@capybara5522]

And Ronnie Peterson

[@leonsavojost7378]

ronnie peterson is the real 1978 champion

[@danthemangurney]

Sad and incredible that Colin Chapman died at only 52. Incredible eye for driving talent and recruitment. Andretti, Peterson, Hill , Clark, Fittipaldi,Rindt, Mansell, Senna, De Angelis

[@DL-ls5sy]

not so incredible...he don't sleep very much during his life....so heart attack is logical

[@stanislavkostarnov2157]

this was originally said of a certain singer, but I think, it suits Colin Chapman best: "He did not go before his time, but compressed two or three lives into [52] short moments; as if a racehorse or a fire breathing dragon, he burned himself out to the last drop in the searing flames of his passion, lived, until not a crescent moon of his being remained... and then he died"

[@sotony7483]

He was actually 54 when he died (b. May 1928, d. Dec 1982) but I take your point.

[@john1703]

When you sup with the ... (DeLorean). It's a fine line between genius and madness.

[@danthemangurney]

@Thomo5150 Either way Formula 1 denied his genius for last 40 years

[@T0NYMANUEL]

It is sad that many people don't even know about Lotus

[@hugofernandez3845]

What is that?

[@T0NYMANUEL]

@@hugofernandez3845 see.....Its a flower these kids don't even know what a lotus is. It is the name of a Flower ok.

[@hugofernandez3845]

@@T0NYMANUEL ok, but its a terrible name for a flower.

[@T0NYMANUEL]

@@hugofernandez3845 I understand

[@Illusionmaker_MTG]

all Magic The Gathering Players do know the Lotus :D

[@ilmaio]

Lotus "is" the British Ferrari; they won F1 10 times. Made some of the finest racecars ever made. Advanced the technology. Had the best philosophy. It would have been enough not to sell the company to Asia, and supply investments instead, to have the british Ferrari for good.

[@theant9821]

Lotus never had the likes of fiat willing to lose money for the prestige. Ferrari became a church like presence in the paddock as British teams began to monopolise grand prix motorsport. Fiat threw money away to make sure there was still one holdout in Italy.

[@markauckland666]

Modern f1 would not be what it is without the genius that was Colin Chapman

[@JahBronee]

My F1 memory goes back to 1970 when my old man took me to Watkins Glen for the USGP. Lotus was most definitely a top-tier team of that era. Always loved the Black and Gold JPS Livery. One of the best in motorsports. Great video.

[@amadif1793]

The series that made this channel has returned...

[@af976]

I was a Club Team Lotus member since 1983 and I still have my membership card with Ayrton Senna autograph ...Great times!!! Many thanks for the video!

[@ulfulf7563]

Contrary to popular opinion, Lotus was NOT the first team to introduce title/naming sponsors in F1 GP racing. It was actually Team Gunston, at the South African GP on Jan 1 1968, when TL still ran in green and gold. Lotus changed its livery and title sponsorship for the Tasman Series in 1968, which Jim Clark won. He then went on to race in that livery only twice more, namely in F2 races in Barcelona and Hockenheim. Of course, Lotus went for title sponsorship at Indy much earlier, 1966 if I am not mistaken. Rare 1968 footage can be seen occasionally of Clark testing the STP Lotus at Indy, but he sadly never got to race there that year.

[@SiVlog1989]

Without doubt, Colin Chapman was a pioneer in F1, being the first to introduce the sport to the monocoque chassis (Lotus 25), using the egine as a stressed member [using the engine to form part of the overall strength of the car] (Lotus 43) and introduced the sport to Ground Effect (Lotus 78). Although, for every innovation that worked, there were others that didn't, the Lotus 56 (1971), for example, that was powered by a gas turbine egine, the Lotus 63 (1969) that had the engine mounted back to front with the gearbox in the middle of the car and the fuel tank where the gearbox would normally be, at the back to accommodate 4 wheel drive, the Lotus 80 (1979) tried move Ground Effect aerodynamics to the next level, by not needing wings, but didn't work or the twin chassis car, the Lotus 88, that Chapman was convinced would enable the team to get round the Skirts being banned regulation of 1981, but was banned before it could race, much to the shagrin of Chapman and relief of Elio De Angelis

[@ulfulf7563]

Don't forget the "twin chassis" 88.

[@SiVlog1989]

@@ulfulf7563 I didn't, that's what I mentioned with regards to getting round the skirts ban, which is where the twin chassis came in

[@ulfulf7563]

@@SiVlog1989 Sorry, missed that. Getting old, lol. Thanks for your good contribution.

[@psk5746]

Lancia D50 used the engine as a stressed chassis member, but yes Lotus made it the way to do it

[@DL-ls5sy]

the first car using the engine as a stressed member was the Lancia D50. then the Ferrari 1512 (1964), the Lotus 43 and the BRM H16 (1966). The Lotus 49 : 1967

[@agonzo626]

Damn when you describe the downfall from innovators to bottom of the grid reminded me of Williams going through the same thing

[@patrickracer43]

You could say that Lotus and Ferrari were in the same boat after the deaths of Colin and old man Enzo, except old man Enzo had the foresight to setup someone to run the team and company... although to be fair, Colin didn't have that luxury given that he died of a heart attack

[@Lyingleyen]

A heart attack brought on by the realisation he hadn't setup someone to run the team and company after his death.

[@briankearn6991]

Enzo passed from old age at 87. Chapman had a heart at 52.

[@mydogsmylifecircusdogtrainer]

Thanks, looking back historically together with Jim Clark and Colin Chapman they were and remain my favourite F1 team. I owned a Lotus Seven in the late sixties

[@chrv2956]

There were so many great drivers in Lotus making it impossible to mention them all, or just half of them. My favorite was the late Ronnie Peterson. He passed away in 1978 at Monza

[@petervalovic5504]

He didn't mention Mario Andreti or Ronnie Peterson! How can you leave them out.??? Lotus F1 was most beautiful racing machine in 1975 1976 . But I guess you where in stars at that time and you know everything 😮

[@stevesolo16]

Now, I understand the 2010-11 seasons with two seperate Lotus teams. I could never quite figure that out, until now. Great Video!!

[@_Ben4810]

With both Tony Fernandes & Danny Bahar desperate to get their hands on what they believed to be the jewel that was Group Lotus... Fernandes thought with Malaysian investment fund money & some backers looking to usurp the existing Proton board of directors, he could get Group Lotus via a similar named racing team & a back door takeover...Bahar as Lotus CEO just burnt thru' the huge development cash sum Lotus was given, driving the company into near-ruin so (it was rumoured) he could 'rescue' the company via an MBO & acquire Lotus for himself & his backers at a knockdown price....allegedly. 🤔

[@Arsenic71]

Lotus are, and will always remain, a legend in my book. Colin Chapman was so far ahead of his time, a true visionary. And I loved the last Lotus team (which turned into the Renault works team), Kimi racing in that car was just... EPIC!

[@jackdyson5670]

Fantastic video Aldas! Team Lotus brings back so many memories and so much passion for Britain's innovative spirit in F1 and aeronautics in general. Will always be proud of them and I hope and pray to see them back in F1 again one day. You are so right that they were Britain's answer to the great Ferrari team. Such a pity Colin passed away far too soon and no one could help save the squad. Really smiling you made this for us 😂

[@andrewmunro3873]

Fantastic video. Explained the Lotus history very well. I always have wondered what Lotus would have become in the 80's had Chapman lived when Ayrton Senna arrived. I'm sure it might have been another era of Lotus domination.

[@truebrit3578]

Maybe but Colin often had spiky relationships with his drivers. My guess is that his relationship with Senna would have been rather like his with Rindt. Two strong personalities often at odds with each other. Rindt did win the championship with Lotus (sadly posthumously) but Jochen was often unhappy at Lotus at defied Chapman, for example ignoring the Lotus 63 4WD car

[@JamesBray-qm8gr-q3w]

Wow, just shows what a good leader can achieve and what can happen when he is gone and no one close to replace him!

[@mrw1783]

I've really enjoyed watching this and the trip back in history. Thanks Aldas.

[@rickymcc9072]

Thanks for a brilliant insight into Lotus and the engineering genius of Colin Chapman. Arguably CC lived fast, died too young, like so many of his drivers. We can always wonder what 'might have been' with the likes of Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna and so too of Colin Chapman. Perhaps you might usefully have referenced Johan Rindt - uniquely famous for being the only posthumous winner of the WDC. Nonetheless an outstanding and informative video which deserves wider viewing. Possibly even the basis for a 'nerds' documentary that could even interest the BBC. Maybe one day Colin Chapman may be as celebrated a 'British engineer as has become the case with IKB - Izambard Kingdom Brunel ( different eras and engineering genres)? Discuss? Also the vital importance of having a 'worthy' successor to carry forward the founders pioneering excellence, as happened with Enzo and his talented (in management) successor, Luca di Montezemolo. In terms of Ferrari F1 team managers, also worth noting two of longer serving - Jean Todd and Stefano Domenicalli who, with Ferrari on their CVs, went on to become 'power players' in world motor racing today as President of FIA and CEO of Formula 1 respectively.

[@T16MGJ]

Isambard Kingdom Brunel is my also all time engineering top man. Chapman and Soichiro Honda are a joint but distant second. Fifty years ago, a Japanese friend told me of his experiences when visiting the Honda Factory. Including seeing engineering equipment with words like Made in Birmingham England. He was built like a Sumo Wrestler and when I picked him up in my MG at the Railway Station. my car really had its suspension tested. Move back a few decades before then sees ten year old me standing on the very long platform at Gloucester Eastgate Railway Station. Up from Swindon a passenger train with a magnificent Castle Class Locomotive #5069 looking like it had just been built. It had been refurbished at the former Great Western Railway's Swindon Railway Works and was on "running in" ( breaking in ) shake down duty to Gloucester. Little boy me was puzzled it did not have a Castle name in its magnificently large Brass nameplate over the wheel splasher. As it the case with most of the 100+ Castle Class locos.. That fabulous looking locomotive did have a very long name on its nameplate though :~ ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL. Cue me thinking then. What's that all about... most unusual name. Now I know. Not long after that experience, I was standing on a footbridge over Brunel's main railway line from London to England's West Country. A Castle was approaching fast westbound with an express ... really fast .. I had no idea a steam train could travel as fast as that! It's four cylinders with eight power and exhaust pulses for every revolution of those large driving wheels merge into one glorious sound as it passed underneath me. That locomotive's exhaust sound as good as any Formula 1 car and I've seen and heard most of them since the late 1950s. Unforgettable memory still vivid in my mind's eye. Good memories for this Transport in all its forms enthusiast.

[@ulfulf7563]

A great video on Lotus. But the question above was not tackled at all, let alone answered. For that it would have required a fundamental comparative assessment of both Chapman's and Enzo Ferrari's philosophies, team management, etc.

[@paulsutphin6703]

An excellent video overall but, as so many others have pointed out, this merits a revision to include Andretti, the Indy 500, and Rindt-gaps too big to ignore

[@F1ll1nTh3Blanks]

McLaren, Williams, Brabham and Lotus. These guys were legendary in their day. It would be good to see them back on top.

[@anhondacivic6541]

Mclaren is at least close to the top with finishing third in the constructors last season

[@redskindan78]

(Having become a fan of F1 in 1963, I think of Bruce McLaren, Jack Brabham, and Jim Clark when you name the teams)

[@muhammadfarhan581]

Tell me you are british without saying you ar british lol. You list legendary team yet forgot ferrari, only listing those overrated british team

[@AZBCDEE]

@@muhammadfarhan581 shitrarri is even more overrated. They’re a cheating organisation still bottling it since 08

[@olivierriviere7527]

Excellent video. As i mentionned in a previous comment, i felt in love with Lotus at the Monaco grand prix in 66, 67 & 68, especially because of the Gold Leaf look and the first wings used during the practice in 68 but banned for the race. This being said, i don't believe that Lotus and Ferrari are comparable. In my view, the Ferrari brand has a broader and deeper reach for a combination of reasons: time and age (it is a much older brand than Lotus), breadth of car racing (Endurance in addition to F1, with legendart cars and fights with other brands) as well as the much more important production of street cars than Lotus. This in no way diminishes the aura of Lotus and of the genius of Colin Chapman.

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

People rightly talk about the black and gold John Player Specials but I'm with you: that Gold Leaf livery is absolutely gorgeous.

[@calbackk]

Strange to make a video about Lotus without even mentioning Ronnie Peterson.

[@ulfulf7563]

Unforgotten. In the 72 in 1973 and 1974, and later in the 78 and 79.

[@rogerhudson2814]

No mention of Lotus at Le Mans with the type14.

[@kanaan_tv6406]

@@ulfulf7563 79 cant be

[@ulfulf7563]

@@kanaan_tv6406 Peterson drove the Lotus 78 and Lotus 79 in the year 1978. He was designated to drive the type 79 at Monza, but mechanical issues (from memory) necessitated use of the older 78 on race day. That car had less leg protection upfront, ultimately causing the severe leg injuries resulting in his passing later in hospital. Had he been in the type 79, he might well have survived.

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

And Mario Andretti

[@nachferrari9153]

I hope this video gets to the 1 million + views , the way you explained the history of the team and the 2 lotus team disaster is simply amazing.

[@zoltankiss1533]

I totally enjoyed every second of this video. Thank you for making it. Made me nostalgic even tho I wasn't even born.

[@KMD270]

Absolutely fantastic work on this. Thank you for providing such rich F1 content! 👍

[@robbiereilly]

Excellent video on Colin Chapman. Well done. Enjoying seeing many of these actual cars being featured at Goodwood.

[@monetd3]

Amazing how many legends drove under that banner.

[@juancena2149]

Your content is always so high quality as well as super interesting

[@thepumpboy]

Jack Brabham also built but also drove his own cars to world championships

[@mpfour4203]

Lotus also won the Indy 500 , huge achievement.

[@alexwilhelm4152]

This feels like foreshadowing of Williams. Without Frank they haven’t been the same and it makes one wonder if they will fold.

[@jimiverson3085]

The last 2 pictures at the 5:50 point aren't from the same season. The single high wing car is from 1968, and there was a 2-wing (front and rear) version in 1969. Accidents from wing failures on both Lotus cars in the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix led to an immediate ban of high, suspension-mounted wings. The low wing car was a 1969 car from after the ban.

[@michaelfierman3256]

Great content as always Aldas!

[@loj74fun]

I went to my first F1 race in 1973 ( Zandvoort). Lotus was the number one team in those days. Not only was it the best car that year, in my opinion the black JPS lotus was the most beautiful F1 car ever. Colin Chapman was a genius.

[@Trebuchet48]

How in blue blazes were you able to make this video without mentioning Jochen Rindt?

[@gandalf_thegrey]

9:00 May be only a soft spot of my own my I would throw in the McLaren Mercedes West livery from 97 to 04-ish. Just love it.

[@VictorLuygg]

This video is definitively on the TOP 3 Aldas' Videos.

[@marksimpson2689]

Superb video, love the JPS Team cars and the way Lotus changed F1

[@crusherbmx]

Since Caterham is known for continuing to produce old Lotus road car designs, it was perfect that the F1 team switched it's name from Lotus to Caterham.

[@derin111]

Sadly, really radical innovation in F1 today is stifled by over regulation. All the cars now look so similar because so much of the design is done by computer within strict parameters and dimensions.

[@KasadysXI]

Great video. Don't forget Jochen Rindt only f1 champion to be posthumously awarded the drivers championship, and one of the main voices for Improving f1 safety back in the late 60s. Aiden millward done a video on him recently really worth a watch.

[@gustavomartincaceres4812]

Lotus failed at keeping 2 drivers: Carlos Alberto Reutemann AND Ayrton. The first was a heck of a in-race tester/developer. The last was THE ULTIMATE DRIVER.

[@joereality1664]

This history lesson was good, Aldas. I'd welcome more.

[@mikenowland2739]

Great doco 👍 Elio was a very underrated driver that went through the normally aspirated era to the turbos

[@john1703]

Jim Hall put a wing on the Chaparral 2E, two years before Lotus.

[@max.bintener]

Interesting video, but there were some errors. Especially Lotus Cars didn‘t purchased the Renault team, but Genii Capital, among Gerard Lopez did. They had a licence agreement from Lotus cars.

[@NOWOKEXYZ]

Still my Favorite F1 Team of All Time as is driver Jim Clark!

[@PratikParija]

Anyone who knows cars & or motorsports knows the name Lotus & Colin Chapman to some degree. They are legendary!

[@ronindraco4194]

Kimi was so good in the Lotus, he made them go almost bankrupt

[@williamstephens9945]

That "Lotus" was a different team. It was basically the Renault team using the name under licence.

[@BlatentlyFakeName]

Lotus had Grosjean and Maldonado, that is what bankrupted them lol. The 2 crashiest people F1.

[@321-Gone]

Lotus innovations off the top of my head; - monocoque (DFV Cosworth) - Wings - Sponsorship Livery - Ground Effect - Active Suspension (Williams gets most credit thought the McLaren may have been most advanced before outlawed) - Carbon-fiber chassis (McLaren gets most of credit) - Tire Blankets - Jet turbine 4wd - Senna? What did I miss?

[@monarols4806]

Jack Brabham. CEO, chief designer and lead driver..

[@schumi4everx752]

Would love to see a video about Jochen Rindt🙏❤️

[@mafiousbj]

Just to answer the video title, there are a couple of reasons: 1. Loosing their creator and major force behind the team before his time so there were no plans for succesion in place. 2. Even if being the most succesfull of the bunch, it never managed to become THE national team among a sea of British teams (BRM, Tyrrell, Cooper, Mclaren and later Williams in the 80's) like Ferrari could for Italy, even if it shared the early spotlight with Lancia and Alfa Romeo. 3. Not diversifying outside open wheeled categories into sports cars like Ferrari did with Le Mans, which added another layer of success and pedigree and served as a middle ground between consumer car technology and F1. 4. In that vein, their most successful period came during an era where drivers were still heroes and considered more important than the cars (even if that wasn't true), so you could always point to Clark or Hill for Lotus success in F1. By never diversifying they couldn't show their engineering prowess like Mclaren did in Can-Am or Ferrari and Jaguar at Le Mans for example. 5. Never selling out and having the support of a major car manufacturer like Ferrari had with Fiat, which allowed Ferrari to live through the lack of success in F1 during the 80's. Lotus just couldn't afford not to be succesful, same fate of recently sold Williams after trying too long to stay independent while costs raised exponentially. 6.The collapse of the British car industry during the late 70's and 80's under British Leyland basically meant the death of almost all English car brands, and those which still had value were poached by overseas car makers. Basically Ferrari had better business sense (ironic, considering Chapman had brillant ideas like bringing sponsors into F1, but those could easily be adopted by others), and didn't fear selling out the car manufacturig arm if that allowed him to keep the F1 team alive. Lotus always felt like Collin's team and pet project, and whoever was left afterwards either lacked the vision or know how to keep the name alive.

[@T16MGJ]

Some good points well made there.

[@hugonubario]

great video! can you make one about tyrell or brabham? they were both innovative

[@kubhak]

I saw some documentary about tyrell here on youtube, search it.

[@rishavranjan6656]

But the black and gold livery is soooo.... Nostalgic ❤️❤️❤️

[@michaeldowling8459]

Your videos are fantastic. Thank you. The evolution of the class is an amazing story.

[@neddegalan735]

No mention of Mario Andretti in your list of drivers?

[@michaeldowling8459]

Amazing and well told story on Lotus. Thank you. I think you may fin Brabham did the work of Chapman and drove the car. Is that right? Brabham deserves one of your productions.

[@extremegrieferjesus8897]

Yo, I think you mean 1958-94, mate.

[@LorenzoCorrado19]

Yep. You're right!

[@Aldas001]

Yeah you're right😅good spot

[@mattzegarski3831]

@@Aldas001 Since you admitted your mistake, I kept watching this video.

[@billkunert7281]

One of the prettiest road cars Lotus ever built was the Elite from back in the early 1960"s.

[@captbumbler5356]

greatr video. thank you for bring back a lot of memories from my youth, watch these cars on the track

[@teukel1157]

Was a big fan of Lotus back in the 60s. Lotus Elan, the car Emma Peele of the Avengers drove, was above my Sunbeam, MG, and Triumph pay grade. I was watching The Saint series on KZbin recently, and in an episode the mate said, "Who do you think you are, Jim Clark"? It all started flooding back then, Team Lotus was a great player in the day.

[@EnglishLawyer]

Hi Aldas. I gave you a thumbs up. Well researched and presented. I have a question though. Are you Italian? It's just that you put an "a" at the every thing you say?

[@studioclassicbarbershop950]

Yes, it make me sad. I didn’t know all the history, but I did know some of the innovation. I forgot that in 2011 it was 2 “lotus teams”. Thank you 🙏 for the video!

[@olivierriviere7527]

Ha, the images of the Golf Leaf lotus at the virage de l'ancienne gare (way before it became the virage du Loews) in Monaco, in 67/68. I was there as a child. Wonderful souvenir, at a time where it was possible to walk all around the circuit with a (very cheap) circulaire ticket.

[@TOFKAS01]

In 1987: "Serious, after Ayrton Senna no one will ever win a race with a Lotus!" Kimi: Bwoah....

[@javiergarrido6088]

Lotus F1 is nothing to do with the original Team Lotus

[@TOFKAS01]

@@javiergarrido6088 Kimi: Leave me alone, I know what to do!

[@tanmaybhatnagar664]

What an absolutely stellar video by you Aldas!! Hats off!

[@davidjamesnoble3170]

The Senna driven JPS Lotus is one of the things in racing that is a fixed point in my head for when I first became aware of F1, not least because we had the Formula 1 Scalextrix set featuring that and Mansell's FW11...and I preferred the way the Williams looked. Part of the problem was that Colin Chapman would often overcomplicate things and send them down a development path which would end in a dead end, rather than continue to develop a previous good design. The late 70s and early 80s should have belonged to Lotus instead Chapman kinda got carried away and left teams like Williams to take the spoils with cars that were basically a development of his 79. He also got caught up in a political battle with Bernie Ecclestone and several of his radical ideas that Lotus spent a lot of money on, got banned simply because Bernie's Brabham team, with their own radical ideas, had the ear of the governing body. By 82 when Chapman died, he was actually having to ask Bernie to help him out financially because the previous few years had been a struggle.

[@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab]

They DID become the 'British Ferrari'...And nobody with a sense of motorsport history has forgotten the greatest innovators in F1 history. The whole title and premise of this is absurd. Had Chapman not died so young, they would likely have continued to flourish into the '90's

[@Dave5281968]

That was an excellent bio of the Lotus racing team! Thank you very much.

[@brakecheck5354]

Great video, I learned a lot, especially about the Lotus street car brand.

[@zedlicious]

Lotus cars do not celebrate their history through marketing enough

[@chuck62891]

Thank you for this very well done and informative video.

[@shimshonbendan8730]

I am a Lotus fanatic and own an Exige S260, but Colin Chapman did not invent or first use many of the things he employed. That would go to Jim Hall of Chaparral instead. Jim was perhaps the first to use or to successfully use a composite monocoque, side mounted radiators, tall, articulated rear wing and active ground effects. Nevertheless, Colin was brilliant and ahead of the class of team owners and designers in F1. It also would have been great if Mario Andretti had been mentioned with other famous Lotus drivers.

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

That's true. Chapman gets credit for "inventing" things other people actually created. What Chapman was good at was taking the innovations of others and making them successful. That's absolutely not a knock on Chapman because recognizing and refining the ideas of others is an impressive feat in and of itself. Either way he was a brilliant car designer.

[@bloqk16]

Seems Lotus was afflicted with the same fate as Cooper and BRM: They had early successes in F1, but didn't have long-term planning to infuse new management blood and technical talents into the organizations. Hence, when the team principals aged or died, the teams sank.

[@kennethhawley1063]

Their ‘early successes’ lasted from 1962 to 1979, during which time they won more Grand Prix than any other F1 team, temporarily overtaking Ferrari as the most successful team.

[@Redslayer86]

Lmao, seeing the guy run onto the track. Those were more fun times to be alive.

[@jeremeymcdude]

Oh don't forget the Lotus Indycar team that started with a partnership with KV Racing until they tried to build an engine for them and didn't really pan out there either.

[@johnmcnally8566]

Hill's #1 car getting air at the Ring is actually a 1969 photo not as mistakenly claimed to be a 1968.

[@Maeve13-6]

It's amazing that no has made a movie about Colin Chapman.

[@toriasygramul7128]

Enzo Ferrari just had more time to prepare his legacy to go on without him. Chapman almost certainly did not expect to die as early as he did, thus he had not handpicked an equivalent to Ferraris di Montezemolo to take over Lotus F1 once Chapman had passed on.

[@freakinccdevilleiv380]

0:02 Woah!! Sick.

[@xion7531]

Lotus: my dad used to watch f1 in 60s and 70s and yeah it was a good time I love lotus

[@jamiesantos6935]

In terms of most influential people or brands in f1 and in Motorsport in general Lotus is high up there if not the top one. Even when they came back in 2011, I remember always having a soft spot for that team even though it wants t the og team not because I saw them I’m way to young to have seen them but because I always heard how amazing they were in racing and was such a big fan of the exige and elises growing up

[@oldscar6169]

Andretti who ? Ever notice that Brits & Euros never acknowledge Mario Andretti

[@gnubbolo]

a simple answer: there was a lot of competition, mclaren and williams and lotus pushed innovation to the extreme, beating the common enemy, Ferrari; but, in the long run, they also harm each other.

[@paulelverstone8677]

Chapman was a genius - never more so than in his accounting - but to me; a Lotus 72 in JPS livery is the most beautiful F1 car I've ever seen...

[@fonziebulldog5786]

From Sweden and here we always have JPS with Ronnie Peterson in our minds while talking Formel 1. 😊❤️👍

[@NicotineRosberg]

Keep these videos coming. New fans need to learn the history

[@rosmeartoo]

A good potted history of Lotus although failed to mention the links between Tony Fernandes and Group Lotus (Group Lotus being a Malaysian owned company via government owned Proton) and that the Caterham Car company bought the rights to continue to manufacture the Lotus 7 using their own racing name as the brand. The Lotus 7 having evolved from Champman's earlier racing cars that were initially based on Austin 7s where his innovative suspension system resulted in the 750cc Motor Racing rules to be changed as Chapman was winning everything.

[@Vagish24]

Great video 🤩

[@gregmcmillan3503]

Loved this video mate. Well done.