Four Lotus Elevens on the front row at the 30th MM in July 1958. Michael Taylor (2) will take one of his six MM victories

Autosport Plus

Historics Special feature

How Lotus emerged as a period Goodwood force

By:

Marcus Pye

Apr 8, 2022, 5:40 PM

Colin Chapman’s marque was the most successful across Goodwood’s 71 contemporary era Members’ Meetings, from 1949 to 1966. Many of the future Formula 1 pacesetter's finest creations will be in action during this weekend's 2022 event, attempting to re-live an era when period Lotus was gaining unstoppable momentum

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Lotus’s rapid rise from humble roots in a garage behind a North London pub in 1952 was down to the charisma of founder Colin Chapman BSc (Eng), the determination and resourcefulness of cohorts and disciples in realising his clever designs, and marketing. The early production cars were race-proven and attractively priced, thus sporting motorists made a bee-line for Hornsey, cheque books at the ready, impatient to join the throng.

More than 100 Mark 6s, with cycle front mudguards and shrouded rear wheels, left the works over three years, but their super-sleek successor, the Eleven, was the game-changer. From 1956-58 the Lotus Engineering Company made around 270 examples – priced from under £1100 for the Club model – keeping employees, volunteers and a local supply chain of skilled chassis fabricators and sub-contractors working flat-out. The cash flow generated underpinned the business’s expansion and Chapman’s ambitions, which took Team Lotus grand prix racing at Monaco with Type 12s in 1958.

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Marcus Pye

Raised initially within earshot of South London’s fabled Crystal Palace circuit, racing engines are the soundtrack to my life. Car enthusiast Dad and godfather took me to British Grands Prix of the 1960s, which sowed the seeds of my passion. Reading Autosport every Thursday morning, following my hero Ronnie Peterson’s exploits, fuelled it.

Volunteering as a BARC junior at Thruxton in the mid-'70s led to lap-charting for commentator Simon Taylor, Autosport's publisher, and grid/pit marshalling. Landed my dream Autosport job aged 19 in July 1977, working under legendary editor Quentin Spurring and Robin Bradford. A staffer for 20 years (1000 issues!), freelance since 1997, I’m its longest-serving writer.

Over 45 seasons I have reported 1200-plus events - covering F2, F3000, F3, club and Historic racing to hillclimbs and sprints at towards 100 venues - and commentated worldwide, most notably at Goodwood and the Spa Six Hours.

My driving CV lists almost 550 competition cars spanning 140 plus marques. Since 1981 I’ve contested over 200 events, from Brands Hatch to Daytona, scoring the occasional result. Co-owning and racing the Chevron B40 in which Keke Rosberg won Enna-Pergusa’s European F2 round the weekend after I joined Autosport and an F5000 Lola T332 were special!

A lottery windfall would see me buy a Chevron B8 (my favourite car from boyhood), Lola T294 and March 782 - and expand my racing sticker archive, popular on Facebook. Beyond the sport and family, my abiding interest is classical music.