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91-465: Parnelli secured the services of ex- Team Lotus designer Maurice Philippe and driver Mario Andretti for USAC racing in the early 1970s, and in 1974 decided to move into Formula One racing, with financial support from tire manufacturer Firestone . After a brief foray into Formula One at the end of the 1974 season, Vel's Parnelli Jones mounted a full campaign in 1975 . Their Parnelli VPJ4 car owed much to Philippe's Lotus 72 design. It appeared for

182-453: A 1.0 L engine size, but permitting pure-bred racing engines. Formula Two was largely the domain of Formula One stars on their days off. Engines were mostly by Cosworth (based on Ford blocks) and Honda , though some other units appeared, including various Fiat based units and dedicated racing engines from BMC and BRM . For 1967, the FIA increased the maximum engine capacity to 1600cc. With

273-577: A 1.8L turbocharged Audi engine developed by Mountune Racing , with 425 brake horsepower (317 kW; 431 PS). The cars fell between Formula One and Formula Three in performance, and cost each driver £195,000 for a season. The 2009 championship comprised eight events in Europe between the months of May and November. There were two races per weekend – each 110 km long (around 40 minutes). Two 30-minute practice sessions and two 30-minute qualifying sessions preceded both races. The inaugural championship

364-572: A 3-Litre successor. They started the season fielding the hastily prepared and uncompetitive two-litre Coventry-Climax FWMV V8 engine, only switching to the BRM P75 H16 engine in time for the Italian Grand Prix, with the new engine proving to be overweight and unreliable. A switch to the new Ford Cosworth DFV, designed by former Lotus employee Keith Duckworth , in 1967 returned the team to winning form. Although they failed to win

455-407: A Formula One World Champion was A graded for five. This system permitted less experienced drivers to work towards the championship and forward their careers, while allowing senior drivers to keep their hand in during the long breaks between Grands Prix of the time. In the early years of the 1600cc formula, Brabham and Lotus were the most numerous constructors, although Ferrari intermittently entered

546-700: A Formula Two car, while still racing front-engined Grand Prix cars. The dominant engine of this formula was the Coventry Climax FPF four-cylinder, with the rare Borgward sixteen-valve unit enjoying some success. A slightly enlarged version of the F2 Cooper won the first two Formula One Grands Prix in 1958, marking the beginning of the rear-engined era in Formula One. The 1.5 L formula was short-lived, with Formula Junior effectively replacing first Formula Three and then Formula Two until 1963—but

637-544: A budget-limited championship in 2010, Litespeed acquired the right to submit an entry under the historic name. Lotus Cars , the sister company of the original Team Lotus, distanced itself from the new entry and announced its willingness to take action to protect its name and reputation if necessary. When the 2010 entry list was released on 12 June 2009, the Litespeed Team Lotus entry was not one of those selected. In September 2009, reports emerged of plans for

728-541: A feeder series for Formula One, the competing GP2 and Formula Renault 3.5 series had significantly more powerful cars, and no Formula Two driver had managed to progress to a Formula One team until Jolyon Palmer in 2016 with Renault Sport F1 Team . In 2015, the FIA announced plans to overhaul the Super Licence system, streamlining the qualification criteria and weighting the various feeder series to allow drivers

819-462: A green stripe with the Lotus logo. Pacific left Formula One after the 1995 Australian Grand Prix . The last race for Lotus was the 1994 Australian Grand Prix . Following the 1994 collapse – but before the end of that season – the rights to the name Team Lotus were purchased by David Hunt , brother of former F1 champion James Hunt . In 2009, when the FIA announced an intention to invite entries for

910-592: A lap; it was the first mid-engined car to win the Indianapolis 500 . Many of Chapman's successes came from innovation. The Lotus 25 was the first monocoque chassis in F1, the 49 was the first car of note to use the engine as a stressed member, the Lotus 56 Indycar was powered by a gas turbine engine and was fitted with four-wheel drive , the Lotus 63 was the first mid-engined F1 car to race with four-wheel drive, and

1001-506: A match for these (and the pre-War German and Italian cars were no longer available), the old 1.5 L voiturette formula replaced 3.0 L supercharged cars in an attempt to equalise performance. This left no category below Formula A/Formula One, so Formula Two (originally known as Formula B) was first formally codified by the FIA as a smaller and cheaper complement to the Grand Prix cars of the era to be effective from 1 January 1948 . Among

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1092-566: A more linear progress system. Included with this were plans for a revival of the Formula Two category, which was given priority over all other categories of competition. Further details were published by the World Motorsport Council, revealing plans to model the new Formula Two championship along the same lines as the revived European Formula 3 Championship and the newly introduced Formula 4 category. The series will be

1183-687: A part of the FIA Global Pathway . Rather than reviving the series by creating a new one where none had previously existed, the FIA chose to rebrand the GP2 Series as the FIA Formula 2 Championship in early 2017. Since then, drivers to have graduated to F1 include Charles Leclerc , George Russell and Oscar Piastri . All eleven teams run the Dallara F2 2024 chassis, powered by a Mecachrome engine. The Central Automotoclub of

1274-490: A works team, as did BMW (with Lola and Dornier -built chassis). A number of smaller constructors such as Matra and Tecno were successful. Chevron also provided cars. The French firm Matra won the three first editions of the European championship, with Tecno winning the fourth. In 1972, the formula was changed to increase power by permitting 2.0 L production-based engines—Cosworth BDs and BMW four-cylinder engines dominated

1365-552: Is quoted as saying, "Did I think the Lotus way of doing things was good? No. We had several structural failures in those cars [Indianapolis Lotus 34 and 38]. But at the time, I felt it was the price you paid for getting something significantly better." When the Formula One engine size increased to three litres in 1966, Lotus was caught unprepared partly because of the surprising failure of the Coventry Climax 1.5-Litre FWMW Flat-16 project, which prevented Climax from developing

1456-671: The 1961 United States Grand Prix . A year earlier, Stirling Moss had recorded the first victory for a Lotus car at Monaco in his Lotus 18 car entered by the privateer team Rob Walker Racing Team . There were successes in Formula Two and Formula Junior . The road car business was doing well with the Lotus Seven and the Lotus Elite and this was followed by the Lotus Elan in 1962. More racing success followed with

1547-534: The 1968 Monaco Grand Prix . Graham Hill won the F1 World Championship in 1968 driving the Lotus 49. Around the same time, Chapman moved Lotus to new premises at Hethel in Norfolk . A new factory was built on the site, the former RAF Hethel bomber base, and the old runways were converted into a testing facility. The offices and design studios were based at nearby Ketteringham Hall, which became

1638-519: The 1968 South African Grand Prix ) to paint their cars in the livery of their sponsors , with Clark's Lotus 48 Formula Two car appearing at Hockenheim in the red, gold and white colors of the Imperial Tobacco 's Gold Leaf brand. The first Formula One car in this livery was Graham Hill 's Lotus 49 B car entered at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix in Jarama . Team Lotus as a constructor

1729-489: The 1992 South African Grand Prix and 1992 French Grand Prix . The team finished 5th in the Constructors' Championship. Häkkinen, who finished 8th in the 1992 Drivers' Championship, moved to McLaren as a test driver in 1993. He was replaced by Alessandro Zanardi , who was himself replaced by Pedro Lamy after crashing heavily at the 1993 Belgian Grand Prix , where Herbert scored the last two points for Team Lotus. Over

1820-644: The 1994 Belgian Grand Prix , but by the time of the Italian Grand Prix Zanardi was back in the car. Herbert qualified fourth in the 109, but at the first corner he was punted off by the Jordan of Eddie Irvine . Herbert later commented that he felt he could have won the race. The following day the team applied for an Administration Order to protect itself from creditors. Tom Walkinshaw pounced and bought Johnny Herbert's contract, moving him into Ligier and then Benetton. An Administration Order

1911-514: The FIA from 2009 – 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship . The name returned again in 2017 when the former GP2 Series became known as the FIA Formula 2 Championship . While Formula One has generally been regarded as the pinnacle of open-wheeled auto racing, the high-performance nature of the cars and the expense involved in the series has always meant a need for a path to reach this peak. For much of

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2002-501: The FIA Formula Two Championship was a one make series, with the competitors all using the same chassis and engine. Jonathan Palmer 's MotorSport Vision company managed the championship and also operated and maintained the cars on behalf of the drivers. There were no teams in the championship – unlike other professional motorsport series each driver instead worked with engineers supplied by MotorSport Vision. The cars were designed by Williams Grand Prix Engineering , and were powered by

2093-807: The Ferrari engine returned briefly with minimal success. The Hart 420R (ultimately derived from the Cosworth BDA) was briefly successful in Marches and Team Surtees won the European F2 Championship in 1972 with Hart engines, driver Mike Hailwood, but most notably in the works Toleman team's cars. Dominant chassis of this era were generally from March and Ralt , with Chevron, the French Elf and Martinis and German Maurers being briefly successful. Honda returned to Formula Two in

2184-580: The Lotus Cars production version of which was the original Lotus Elite , won six class victories, plus the "Index of Performance" several times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. As the Coventry Climax engines were enlarged in 1952 to 2.2-litres, Chapman decided to enter Grand Prix racing, running a pair of Lotus 12s at Monaco in 1958 for Graham Hill and Cliff Allison. These were replaced later that year by Lotus 16s . In 1959 – by which time

2275-512: The "return to power" of Formula One the gap between Formula One and Formula Two was felt to be too wide, and the introduction of new 1600cc production-based engine regulations for Formula Two restored the category to its intended role as a feeder series for Formula One. The FIA also introduced the European Formula Two Championship in 1967. Ickx, driving a Matra MS5, won the inaugural championship by 11 points from

2366-622: The 1961 1.5 L Formula One was effectively a continuation of this Formula Two. For 1960, in preparation for the new Formula One, two international championships were held, the Formula Two Constructors' Championship and the Formula Two Drivers' Championship . The Drivers' Championship was won by Jack Brabham , while the Manufacturers' Championship ended in a tie between Porsche and Cooper. Formula Junior

2457-525: The 2.0 litre engine era, HWM , Connaught and Cooper were among the constructors who built cars for the class, usually powered by Bristol . When F2 was brought back in 1.5 litre form in 1956, Cooper and Lotus were the first to build cars to the new specification, taking advantage of the availability of Coventry Climax engines. Championships were held from 1956 to 1960, 1964 to 1967 and again in 1972. Stirling Moss , Jack Brabham , Jim Clark and Niki Lauda won titles. The British Formula 3000 series

2548-404: The 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship. The announcement came as part of a 'strategic alliance' between the two companies and at the time meant there would be two teams running as Lotus that season. Although neither had any physical links to the pre-1994 Team Lotus Formula 1 team, only Fernandes's "Team Lotus" had the name, while Lotus-Renault was backed by Group Lotus plc. On 23 December 2010,

2639-674: The 26R, the racing version of the Elan, and in 1963 with the Lotus Cortina , which Jack Sears drove to the British Saloon Car Championship title, a feat repeated by Jim Clark in 1964 and Alan Mann in the 1965 European Touring car Championship. In 1963, Clark drove the Lotus 25 to a remarkable seven wins in the season and won the World Championship. The 1964 title was still for the taking by

2730-469: The 72 broke new ground in aerodynamics. Chapman was also an innovator as a team boss. For the 1968 season, the FIA decided to permit sponsorship after the withdrawal of support from automotive-related firms, such as BP, Shell and Firestone. In April, Team Lotus, initially using the British racing green , became the first works team (second only to Team Gunston entering a private Brabham car at

2821-550: The Australian, Frank Gardner . The most popular 1600cc engine was the Cosworth FVA, the sixteen-valve head on a four-cylinder Cortina block that was effectively the "proof of concept" for the legendary DFV. The 1967 FVA gave 220 bhp (160 kW; 220 PS) at 9000 rpm. Other units also appeared, including a four-cylinder BMW and a V6 Dino Ferrari . Nevertheless, many Formula One drivers continued to drive

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2912-581: The Chapman family released a statement in which they unequivocally backed Group Lotus in the dispute over the use of the Lotus name in Formula One, and made it clear that they would prefer that the Team Lotus name did not return to F1. On 27 May 2011, Justice Peter Smith finally made his verdict public in High Court, giving permission to Tony Fernandes to naming his F1 team Team Lotus after purchasing

3003-426: The Constructors' Championship to Williams (who beat them on countback with 4 wins). Senna scored eight pole positions, with two wins (Spain and Detroit) in 1986 driving the evolutionary Lotus 98T . Lotus regained 3rd in the Constructors' Championship, passing Ferrari. At the end of the year the team lost its long-time backing from John Player & Sons and found new sponsorship with Camel . Senna's skills attracted

3094-439: The Coventry Climax engines had been stretched to 2.5-litres inline with Formula rules – Chapman continued with front-engined F1 cars, but achieved little, so in 1960 Chapman switched to the milestone mid-engined Lotus 18 . By then, the company's success had caused it to expand to such an extent that it had to move to new premises at Cheshunt . The first Formula One victory for the Lotus works team came when Innes Ireland won

3185-399: The F1 World Championship. Lotus attempted to take ground effects further with the Lotus 80 and Lotus 88 . The team developed an all- carbon-fibre car, the Lotus 88, in 1981. The 88 was banned from racing for its 'twin chassis' technology where the driver had separate suspension from the aerodynamic parts of the car. McLaren's MP4/1 beat it as the first all-carbon-fibre car to race. Chapman

3276-693: The F2 category made its debut in Soviet autosport championships. Two years later, updated F2 regulations were introduced. It wasn't until 1971 that F2 cars started to regularly appear on Soviet tracks, and F2 series were included in Soviet motorsport championships until 1977. Prior to the Formula Nippon, during the 1.6 L 1967–1971 era, a Formula 2 series championship existed in Japan. Japanese teams were building their own cars and engines. As for races ran in Europe,

3367-472: The F5000-based revival of Can-Am . Australia has had its own Australian Formula 2 category since 1964. From 1978 the formula has specified that cars be powered by a production-based single-cam engine with a capacity between 1100 cc and 1600 cc. Induction must be by means of carburettor/s, the engine must be naturally aspirated and an 8500 rpm rev limit is applied. An Australian Formula 2 Championship

3458-559: The Malaysian Government to back a Lotus named entry for the 2010 championship to promote the Malaysian car manufacturer Proton , which at that time owned Lotus Cars. On 15 September 2009 the FIA announced that the Malaysian backed team Lotus Racing had been granted admission into the 2010 season. Group Lotus later terminated the licence for future seasons as a result of what it called "flagrant and persistent breaches of

3549-515: The North American races at the end of the 1974 season and was gradually developed through 1975. However, Firestone's decision to quit racing at the end of 1974 meant that a major partner was lost. Jones was unable to find a replacement title sponsor and despite improvements made to the car the team folded only three races into the 1976 season. Andretti only learned of the Formula One team's future from journalist Chris Economaki , as he sat in

3640-609: The Parnelli engine evolved into the equally legendary Cosworth DFX , an engine which would go on to win every Indianapolis 500 race and USAC/ CART Championship between 1978 and 1987. ( key ) ( key ) Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars . The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One , Formula Two , Formula Ford , Formula Junior , IndyCar , and sports car racing . More than ten years after its last race, Team Lotus remained one of

3731-512: The Type 51. Chapman was also successful at Indianapolis with the Lotus 29, almost winning the 500 at its first attempt in 1963 with Clark at the wheel. The race marked the beginning of the end for the old front-engined Indianapolis roadsters. Clark was leading when he retired from the 1964 event with suspension failure, but in 1965, he won the biggest prize in US racing driving his Lotus 38 and winning by

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3822-553: The US GP by rookie driver Emerson Fittipaldi , who had made his debut in the British GP in a 49, sealed the championship for Rindt, who became the only man in history to win the world championship posthumously. Lotus's 1971 experiments did not bring any serious advance in technology, but allowed Chapman to test several drivers. For 1972, the team focused again on the type 72 chassis, with Imperial Tobacco continuing its sponsorship of

3913-701: The USSR (CAMK) joined the FIA in October 1956, aiming to develop Soviet motorsport after seeing international races like the British F1 GP. In 1959, CAMK introduced a new classification system for racing cars in the USSR. However, F2 cars were not part of the 1960 Soviet motorsport championship because there were no suitable stock engines available, and the Soviet Union did not produce specialized racing engines at that time. Consequently, it wasn't until 1962 that

4004-515: The World Championship, despite the fact that the Italian did not win a race. The team also finished in 3rd place in the Constructors' Championship. When Nigel Mansell departed at the end of the year the team hired Ayrton Senna . The Lotus 97T scored victories with de Angelis at Imola and Senna in Portugal and Belgium. The team, although it had now won three races instead of none, lost 3rd in

4095-529: The accolade. Team Lotus also won the F1 World Championship for Manufacturers for a sixth time in 1973. The 72 raced in Formula 1 for five years, proving to be more successful than its supposed replacement, the Lotus 76 . It was finally retired at the end of the 1975 season, as the Lotus 77 was prepared for the 1976 season. The first-ever Formula Ford car was built around a Formula 3 Lotus,

4186-722: The attention of the Honda Motor Company and when Lotus agreed to run Satoru Nakajima as its second driver a deal for engines was agreed. The Ducarouge-designed 99T featured active suspension , but Senna was able to win just twice: at Monaco and Detroit, with the team again finishing 3rd in the Constructors' Championship, like the previous year behind British rivals Williams and McLaren, but ahead of Ferrari. The Brazilian moved to McLaren in 1988, and Lotus signed Senna's countryman and then World Champion Nelson Piquet from Williams. Both Piquet and Nakajima failed to make any impressions in terms of fighting for victories. However

4277-521: The car on the grid for the Long Beach Grand Prix . This led to some bad feeling between Andretti and Jones, and Andretti returned to Lotus for the remainder of the season. In total, Vel's Parnelli Jones participated in 16 Grands Prix and scored 6 championship points. Concurrent with the Formula One venture, VPJ was developing a turbocharged version of Cosworth 's legendary DFV V8 Formula One engine, building on their experience from

4368-473: The championship until he was killed at Monza when a brake shaft broke. Rindt had only recently begun to wear a shoulder harness, but refused to wear crotch straps because he felt they slowed his exit from the car in the event of fire. When the car hit the barrier head-on, Rindt submarined forward and the lap belt inflicted fatal head and neck injuries. The rest of the 1970 season was nailbiting, as Ferrari closed in on Rindt's undefended lead. A brilliant victory in

4459-464: The early 1980s with a powerful V6, but this was very much a works engine and the cost of competing with the works Ralt-Honda team became prohibitive. As a result, grids diminished in size and declining interest in the series threatened it with extinction. After the 1984 season, the FIA replaced Formula Two with the newly created Formula 3000 category, which was designed to cut the cost of competition. The initial regulations joined F2-style chassis with

4550-404: The early years, with BMW-powered Marches gradually establishing dominance. For 1976, engines developed purely for racing were permitted to compete, with Renault developing a particularly potent V6; allied to a sponsorship scheme from oil company Elf the formula was briefly dominated by French teams and drivers; BMW started to back a works March team and raised the stakes in the late-Seventies. Even

4641-425: The following year, the team signed a deal to use Ford's HB V8 in their new Lotus 107s , designed by Chris Murphy. The team was now short on money and this affected performance, but the car allowed Häkkinen to score 11 points, including two fourth places at the 1992 French Grand Prix (where he had failed to qualify the previous year) and the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix , while Herbert scored two points for 6th Places at

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4732-431: The headquarters of both Team Lotus and Lotus Cars. Additional car testing was carried out at Snetterton , a few miles from Hethel. In 1969, the team spent a lot of time experimenting with a gas turbine powered car, and, after four wet races in 1968, with four wheel drive. Both were unsuccessful, especially as every race was dry. They penned a revolutionary new car for 1970 – the wedge-shaped Lotus 72 . The new Lotus 72

4823-476: The history of Formula One, Formula Two has represented the penultimate step on the motorsport ladder. Prior to the Second World War, there usually existed a division of racing for cars smaller and less powerful than Grand Prix racers. This category was usually called voiturette ("small car") racing and provided a means for amateur or less experienced drivers and smaller marques to prove themselves. By

4914-421: The less powerful naturally-aspirated V8 cars during the season, and rarely challenged either McLaren or Ferrari. The Lotus-Honda 100T was not a success and Ducarouge returned to France in mid-1989. Lotus hired Frank Dernie to replace him. With the new engine regulations in 1989, Lotus lost its turbocharged Honda engines and used the normally-aspirated Judd V8 instead. In the middle of the year Warr departed and

5005-481: The licence by the team". A little over one year later, on 24 September 2010, it was announced that Tony Fernandes (Lotus Racing) had acquired the name rights of Team Lotus from David Hunt, marking the official rebirth of Team Lotus in Formula One. Then on 8 December 2010, Genii Capital and Group Lotus plc announced the creation of "Lotus Renault GP", the successor to the Renault F1 Team that would contest

5096-582: The livery of the Lotus Renault GP team, sponsored by Lotus Cars, and in 2012 the team was re-branded completely as Lotus F1 Team . Colin Chapman established Lotus Engineering Ltd in 1952 at Hornsey , UK . Lotus achieved rapid success with the 1953 Mk 6 and the 1954 Mk 8 sports cars. Team Lotus was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954. A new Formula Two regulation was announced for 1957, and in Britain, several organizers ran races for

5187-430: The mid-1970s. The Japanese Formula 2 championship ran between 1978 and 1986, before Japan too adopted a set of regulations very similar to F3000 rules, with the series being known as Japanese Formula 3000 from 1987. The series is now known as Super Formula , after using the name Formula Nippon from 1996 to 2012. Japan also ran a series for full-bodied versions of F2 cars called Fuji Grand Champion Series —somewhat akin to

5278-468: The most successful and popular drivers of all time, was killed driving a Lotus 48 car at Hockenheimring in a non-championship Formula Two event. The season saw the introduction of wings as seen previously on various cars, including the Chaparral sports car, and a Lotus car became the first Formula One car with wings. Colin Chapman introduced modest front wings and a spoiler on Hill's Lotus 49 B at

5369-627: The most successful racing teams of all time, winning seven Formula One Constructors' titles , six Drivers' Championships , and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States between 1962 and 1978. Under the direction of founder and chief designer Colin Chapman , Lotus was responsible for many innovative and experimental developments in critical motorsport, in both technical and commercial arenas. The Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2010 as Tony Fernandes 's Lotus Racing team. In 2011, Team Lotus's iconic black-and-gold livery returned to F1 as

5460-416: The naturally aspirated 3000 cc Cosworth DFV V8 engines, that were by then obsolete in the all- turbocharged Formula One. The premier series was the FIA Formula 3000 International Championship , though a number of other championships were also run to Formula 3000 regulations. Following an absence of 25 years, a Formula Two championship was re-established by the FIA in 2009. Unlike the previous incarnation,

5551-415: The new Team Lotus was launched with Mika Häkkinen and Julian Bailey being signed for the 1991 season to drive updated Lotus 102Bs with Judd engines. At the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix , the team scored its first double points finish since the 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix , with Häkkinen in fifth and Bailey in sixth. Despite this, Bailey was soon replaced by Johnny Herbert for the balance of the season. For

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5642-588: The new regulations during the course of 1956. Most of the cars entered that year were sports cars, and they included a large number of Lotus 11s , the definitive Coventry Climax -powered sports racer, led by the Team Lotus entries for Chapman, driven by Cliff Allison and Reg Bicknell. The following year, the Lotus 12 appeared. Driving one in 1958, Allison won the F2 class in the International Trophy at Silverstone , beating Stuart Lewis-Evans 's Cooper. The remarkable Coventry Climax-powered Type 14,

5733-475: The old car for the first few races. The Portuguese driver was seriously injured in an accident in testing at Silverstone and Zanardi returned. The team's new car, the Lotus 109 , was introduced at the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix , five races into the season, but only one car was available until the French Grand Prix two races later. In an effort to survive the team took on pay-driver Philippe Adams at

5824-483: The other Lotus 77 , qualified 8th only to fall out with suspension failure before completing a lap. Chapman and Andretti ran into each other in a hotel coffee shop the morning after the race, and decided to join forces. Andretti's development expertise helped give new life to the then-moribund Lotus 77 . Engineers began to investigate aerodynamic ground effects . The Lotus 78 , and then the Lotus 79 of 1978 were extraordinarily successful, with Mario Andretti winning

5915-417: The outbreak of war, the rules for voiturette racing permitted 1.5 L supercharged engines; Grand Prix cars were permitted 3.0 L supercharged or 4.5 L naturally aspirated . In 1946, the 3.0 L supercharged rules were abandoned and Formulae A and B (later 1 and 2) introduced, effective from 1 January 1947. Formula A permitted the old 4.5 L naturally aspirated cars, but as the 3.0 L supercharged cars were more than

6006-589: The previous two years. It was developed at their facility in Torrance, California , under the direction of engine builder Larry Slutter and dyno engineer Takeo "Chickie" Hirashima. The car debuted at the Speedway in 1975 in a modified Indy version of the Formula One Parnelli chassis, although it was not run regularly until late in 1976. This private project was quickly adopted by Cosworth itself, and

6097-785: The races held in this first year of Formula Two was the 1948 Stockholm Grand Prix . In 1948 Scuderia Ferrari built the Ferrari 166 F2 , which made its racing debut at the Florence Grand Prix on September 26, 1948. The rules limited engines to two-litre naturally aspirated or 500 cc supercharged (an option very rarely used). As a result, the cars were smaller, lighter, and cheaper than those used in Formula One. This encouraged new marques such as Cooper to move up to Formula Two, before competing against large manufacturers like Alfa Romeo and Maserati . In fact, Formula One in its early years attracted so few entrants that in 1952 and 1953 all World Championship Grand Prix races, except

6188-426: The rights to the name from previous owner David Hunt. Added to that, Group Lotus are entitled to race in F1 using the historic black and gold livery and have the right to use the Lotus marque on cars for road use. In summary, the 2011 Formula One season had two teams running the Lotus name with Group Lotus entitled to use the name "Lotus" on its own while Fernandes's team used "Team Lotus". In 2012, Lotus-Renault GP

6279-492: The series was simply called Formula 2. Amongst the makes, the best known was the Mitsubishi Colt. Cars raced with parallel FIA rules, using 1600 cc displacement engines, from 1967 to 1970. Japan ran a series known as "Japanese Formula 2000 championship" to rules similar to two-litre F2 between 1973 and 1977. Production-based single-cam engines were permitted to run at 2.4 L, but they soon came into line with FIA rules in

6370-670: The slower Formula One cars. Ickx quickly forced his way back into a points position, only to be forced to retire with broken suspension. Jim Clark , regarded as one of the greatest race drivers of all time, was killed in a Formula Two race early in 1968, at the Hockenheimring . A year later Gerhard Mitter was killed at the Nürburgring while practising for the 1969 German Grand Prix in a Formula Two car. The "invasion" of Formula One drivers in Formula Two ranks (a situation similar to that of buschwhacking in modern-day NASCAR )

6461-536: The smaller and lighter cars on non-championship weekends, and some Grand Prix grids (notably in Germany, where the long circuit at the Nürburgring could cope with large entries) would be a mix of Formula One and Formula Two cars. Jacky Ickx made his Grand Prix debut at the Nürburgring in a Formula Two car in 1966. The following year Ickx qualified with the third fastest time overall but was forced to start behind

6552-561: The team still managed to finish 4th in the Constructors' Championship. Lotus showed in 1988 that it took more than a Honda engine to win races. 1988 was the year in which McLaren (with Senna and Alain Prost ) won 15 of the season's 16 races with the same specification Honda engines as Lotus were using. The best results for the team were three 3rd places for Piquet in Brazil , San Marino and Australia . Lotus at times were hard-pressed fighting off

6643-448: The team under its new John Player Special brand. The cars, now often referred to as 'JPS', were fielded in a new black and gold livery – a new brand developed to make the most of the promotional power of motorsport. Lotus took the championship by surprise in 1972 with 25-year-old Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi , who became at the time the youngest world champion, a distinction he held until 2005, when 24-year-old Fernando Alonso took

6734-669: The time of the last race in Mexico but problems with Clark's Lotus and Hill's BRM gave it to Surtees in his Ferrari. However, in 1965, Clark dominated again, six wins in his Lotus 33 gave him the championship. While very innovative, Chapman also came under criticism for the structural fragility of his designs. The number of top drivers seriously injured or killed in Lotus machinery was considerable – notably Stirling Moss, Alan Stacey, Mike Taylor, Jim Clark, Mike Spence, Bobby Marshman, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Ronnie Peterson. In Dave Friedman's book "Indianapolis Memories 1961–1969", Dan Gurney

6825-512: The title in 1967 , by the end of the season, the Lotus 49 car and the DFV engine were mature enough to make the Lotus team dominant again. However, for the 1968 season Lotus had lost its exclusive right to use the DFV. The season-opening 1968 South African Grand Prix confirmed Lotus's superiority, with Jim Clark and Graham Hill finishing 1–2. It would be Clark's last win. On 7 April 1968, Clark, one of

6916-546: The unique Indianapolis 500 , were run in Formula Two (there were, however, non-championship Formula One events). F2 went into decline with the arrival of the 2.5 L F1 in 1954 (with small-capacity sports car racing becoming particularly popular), but a new Formula Two was introduced for 1957, for 1.5 L cars. This became dominated by rear-engined Coopers drawing on their Formula 3 and "Bobtail" sports car, with Porsches based on their RSK sports cars enjoying some success. Ferrari originally developed their "Sharknose" Dino 156 as

7007-488: The year, the team scored 12 points despite the tight budget and finished 6th in the 1993 Constructors' Championship. Herbert finished 9th in the Drivers' Championship with three 4th placements: the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix , where he lost 3rd to Benetton's Michael Schumacher shortly before the end of the race; the 1993 European Grand Prix , where he made only one pit stop for tyres; and the 1993 British Grand Prix , where he

7098-482: Was a very innovative car, featuring torsion bar suspension, hip-mounted radiators, inboard front brakes and an overhanging rear wing. The 72 originally had suspension problems, and Jochen Rindt took a lucky victory in Monaco in the old 49 when Jack Brabham crashed on the last lap while leading. But when antidive and antisquat were designed out of the suspension, the car quickly showed its superiority, and Rindt dominated

7189-618: Was beginning work on an active suspension development programme when he died of a heart attack in December 1982 at the age of 54. After Chapman's death, the racing team was continued by his widow, Hazel, and managed by Peter Warr , but a series of F1 designs proved unsuccessful since then. Midway through 1983 Lotus hired French designer Gérard Ducarouge and, in five weeks, he built the Renault turbo powered 94T. A switch to Goodyear tyres in 1984 enabled Elio de Angelis to finish third in

7280-612: Was briefly known as "Formula Two" in an attempt to make its status more apparent to casual spectators. However, the series was in terminal decline and the change of name did not help. At one point the use of 4.2 L TVR engines cars in F3000 chassis was discussed as a possible British F2, but this did not materialise. Prior to the formation of the European Championship, France held its own, very popular championship between 1964 and 1967. Despite only running for four seasons,

7371-462: Was first to achieve 50 Grand Prix victories. (Ferrari was the second to do so, having won their first Formula One race in 1951, seven years before the first Lotus F1 car.) In the mid-to-late 1970s, Lotus experienced a resurgence with Mario Andretti joining the team. This came about the morning after the 1976 U.S. Grand Prix West at Long Beach, when Andretti's VPJ-Parnelli had proven uncompetitive. Bob Evans did not qualify his Lotus and Gunnar Nilsson, in

7462-494: Was given the rights to the Lotus name and was renamed Lotus F1 , whereas Fernandes's team was renamed Caterham F1 following his purchase of Caterham Cars . The team was active for 4 seasons, then it returned to the French constructor Renault. Formula Two Formula Two ( F2 or Formula 2 ) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000 , but revived by

7553-511: Was hired to replace Herbert for the last two races of the season. In December, however, work on the design of a new car (the Lotus 112 ) was halted and the staff laid off. In February 1995 Hunt announced an alliance with Pacific Grand Prix , who like Lotus were also based in Norfolk in the UK, and Team Lotus came to an end. Pacific were initially referred to as Pacific Team Lotus and their car featured

7644-506: Was introduced in 1959, an attempt to be all things to all people (both a training formula replacing Formula Three and a high-level international category below Formula One replacing Formula Two), and it was soon realised that there was a need to split it into two new formulae; Formula Two and Formula Three were reintroduced for the 1964 season, with Formula Three requiring one-litre production-based engines, which were similar to Formula Junior with very restricted tuning, and Formula Two also having

7735-598: Was made in respect of the Company on 12 September 1994, and it was compulsorily wound up by the Court on 13 February 1995. A sworn statement of affairs showed that the company had an estimated deficiency of £12,050,000. Disqualification Orders were made against Peter Collins, and Peter Wright on 15 October 1998 for nine years, and seven years respectively. Before the end of the 1994 season, the team had been sold to David Hunt , brother of 1976 World Champion James , and Mika Salo

7826-407: Was not a success with Warwick scoring all the three points for a 6th in the 1990 Canadian Grand Prix and a 5th in the 1990 Hungarian Grand Prix ; Donnelly was nearly killed in a violent accident at Jerez . At the end of the year Camel withdrew their sponsorship. Former Team Lotus employees Peter Collins and Peter Wright organized a deal to take over the team from the Chapman family and in December

7917-515: Was not far behind Riccardo Patrese's 3rd placed Benetton at the end, having benefited from the retirements of Ayrton Senna, Martin Brundle and Damon Hill . Zanardi scored one 6th place at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix , the last race with both Lotus cars in the points. Debts were mounting and the team was unable to develop the Lotus 107. For the 1994 season , the team gambled on success with Mugen Honda engines. Herbert and Lamy struggled on with

8008-411: Was permitted because of the unique grading system used. Any driver with an A grading was not permitted to score championship points. A driver gained an A rating via various means which changed somewhat over the years, such as finishing in the points in two Grand Prix events or the top three in two World Sports Car events. The annual Formula Two champion was also granted an A rating for one year, and

8099-644: Was replaced as team manager by Rupert Manwaring, while long time Lotus senior executive Tony Rudd was brought in as chairman. The best results for the team in 1989 was 4th places for Piquet in the British , Canadian and Japanese races, and 4th place and fastest lap for Nakajima in Australia . At the end of the season Piquet left for Benetton , and Nakajima moved to Tyrrell . A deal was organized for Lamborghini V12 engines and Derek Warwick and Martin Donnelly were hired to drive for 1990. The Dernie design

8190-559: Was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport in the years from 1964 to 1965, from 1969 to 1977 and from 1979 to 1988. Mexico ran its own Formula Two series (previously known as Formula K) for 12 years in the early 1990s. The cars were similar to Formula Atlantic vehicles, fitted with 2.2 L Chrysler engines. Formula Two racing was popular in the United Kingdom in the late 1940s and early 1950s. During

8281-405: Was won by Andy Soucek although was marred by the death of Henry Surtees during the fourth round at Brands Hatch. The series was discontinued by the FIA and MSV after the 2012 season. The championship had struggled to attract enough drivers in the final year, with the single team concept proving to be unpopular compared to championships run on a more conventional basis. Despite being marketed as

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