Colin Chapman, the toast of British Racing in 1957, is renowned for the success of his minimalist and lightweight Lotus Cars that paved the way to his fame.
After half a century of European dominance, motor sport recognised a new breed of British drivers; one of these bright new talents was Colin Chapman. He debuted in 1948 with his light-weight Austin Seven-based trials car, which he had christened Lotus MK.VI
Construction on the first Lotus Seven, a development from his beloved original design, began 20th July in ’57. It followed a series of success; Chapman’s engineering prowess had resulted in his team’s debut victory in the British Grand Prix, influencing the desire to produce a newer model.
Heavily influenced by the designs and characteristics of the Lotus MK.VI, Chapman described the Lotus Seven as ‘the type of car he could dash off in, in a weekend’.
Within six weeks the Lotus Seven debuted in a competition at the Brighton Speed Trials. Equipped with a Coventry-Climax engine, disc brakes all round and advanced De-Dion rear suspension, the new car began to dominate the competition.
With the view to keeping the car accessible to all, the production that followed saw to it that the exotic racing kit was replaced in favour of more humble appliances. Chapman also, by finding a loop-hole in certain instructions, saw to it that customers were able to side-step British Purchase Tax requirements, implementing his desire to keep the car as affordable as possible.
Caterham acquired the rights to build the Seven from Colin Chapman himself, back in 1973, and has since been the custodian of the original concept of the light-weight, minimalist design. As well as enforcing this concept, over the years Caterham has improved and refined the design of the Seven.
Since Caterham’s involvement with motor-sport, their academy has taken more than 800 racers since its establishment in ’95, and has created more racing drivers than any other series in the UK.
The new owner-ship of Caterham (Team Lotus Enterprise and, owner of the Team Lotus F1 team, Tony Fernandes) will result in Caterham expanding its product family and becoming a truly global company.
After half a century of European dominance, motor sport recognised a new breed of British drivers; one of these bright new talents was Colin Chapman. He debuted in 1948 with his light-weight Austin Seven-based trials car, which he had christened Lotus MK.VI
Construction on the first Lotus Seven, a development from his beloved original design, began 20th July in ’57. It followed a series of success; Chapman’s engineering prowess had resulted in his team’s debut victory in the British Grand Prix, influencing the desire to produce a newer model.
Heavily influenced by the designs and characteristics of the Lotus MK.VI, Chapman described the Lotus Seven as ‘the type of car he could dash off in, in a weekend’.
Within six weeks the Lotus Seven debuted in a competition at the Brighton Speed Trials. Equipped with a Coventry-Climax engine, disc brakes all round and advanced De-Dion rear suspension, the new car began to dominate the competition.
With the view to keeping the car accessible to all, the production that followed saw to it that the exotic racing kit was replaced in favour of more humble appliances. Chapman also, by finding a loop-hole in certain instructions, saw to it that customers were able to side-step British Purchase Tax requirements, implementing his desire to keep the car as affordable as possible.
Caterham acquired the rights to build the Seven from Colin Chapman himself, back in 1973, and has since been the custodian of the original concept of the light-weight, minimalist design. As well as enforcing this concept, over the years Caterham has improved and refined the design of the Seven.
Since Caterham’s involvement with motor-sport, their academy has taken more than 800 racers since its establishment in ’95, and has created more racing drivers than any other series in the UK.
The new owner-ship of Caterham (Team Lotus Enterprise and, owner of the Team Lotus F1 team, Tony Fernandes) will result in Caterham expanding its product family and becoming a truly global company.
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