The Bookworm Critique

LOTUS 78 AND 79:
THE GROUND-EFFECT CARS

By John Tipler


Published by The Crowood Press

I wasn't a Formula One fan when I was really young, but if I ever had to sketch a racing car then the first thing that came to my seven-year-old mind was big and black with wide wings, massive rear tyres and some gold writing on it.

I had no idea at the time that I was thinking of a Lotus 79, and if I had know it, then I should have drawn the skirts along each side of the car as well. I was probably busier making it look like fire was coming out of the exhaust. That's why you never let seven-year-olds design race cars. If author John Tipler was asked to think of a racing car back in the late-1970s, the first thing to come to his mind would probably have been a Lotus 79 as well. The difference is that he would have known what it was.

It's probably safe to assume that Tipler is a bit of a Lotus fan, having already accounted for the 25 and 33 models in one of his many previous books. If you're one of those who divides Lotus into the pre-Jim Clark and post-Jim Clark eras, then the 79 was arguably the company's most significant post-Clark car. It was the logical and successful development of the 78 ­ the first F1 machine to really exploit the airflow underneath the car, producing the phenomena known as 'ground-effect'.

Tipler offers a comprehensive account of the development of the 78 and 79, and makes a point of talking to just about everyone who ever laid a spanner, paintbrush, designer's pencil, or driver's gloves to one of the cars.

Andretti recollections are entertaining, as is pretty much anything that Andretti ever says, and given how many cars he drove during his career his ability to recall small details from 25 years ago never ceases to amaze. But the memories of those who had less glamorous associations with the car tend to be more informative, as they serve as both a reminder of how far things have come in terms of design (I particularly liked reading the accounts of the early intrepid experiments in the wind tunnel), and also a portrait of what life was really like inside Lotus. Designer Geoff Aldridge offers an example.

"Typically, a chassis drawing in those days would be on an A0 sheet because you'd draw it full scale. Drawn in quarter scale, various parts, the assembly and so on, would be detailed on a second sheet. It would be in plan, side elevation, front elevation, whatever it took to get the information down. Not isometric. Then you spent a fair bit of time playing around, ultimately trying to get at what Chapman wanted. He'd have ideas in his head.

"All the time I worked at Lotus I never saw him do a proper drawing at a drawing board. I know he was well capable of it because I've seen his stuff. But we'd get sketches on cigarette packets, or whatever, and then lay it out as best we could. And then of course he'd come in and have a look and say, 'No, that wasn't quite what I wanted'. And it was a sort of to and fro situation ... until we ended up with something that he was happy with.

"We might be given a sketch by Chapman or Peter Wright with the brief that the chassis ought to be a particular shape. You'd try and draw it that shape and realise that maybe the steering column went through the middle of it, or whatever, so you'd have to thrash it out between you. But, in terms of chassis design, we were aware at the time that we were breaking new ground." (p. 50-51).

These interview pieces are probably the book's biggest asset. As important as the 78 and 79 were, their story is not exactly uncharted territory. Having already read two books about Chapman, biographies of Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson, Peter Wright's 'Formula One Technology', Tony Rudd's 'It Was Fun', and an assortment of other tomes about F1's technical history, there does not seem to be much that remains to be said about these particular Lotuses.

There are a ton of photos, mainly black and white, but you'll probably learn more from the proliferation of diagrams and schematics. Some of these seem to be of a rather more recent vintage than the cars ­ one has several scribbles, including a couple of mobile numbers, dotted around it if you look hard enough. But they are great for clarifying some of the ideas that made the cars so special. The drawings that show the evolution of the ground-effect skirts, derived from Wright's book, are particular standouts in this regard.

Given how well-documented the 78 and 79 are, there might not be enough new material in this new book to satisfy die-hard students of F1 history or technology. Some of the interview material might help to balance things back in the book's favour, though. And for everyone else, the book is a convenient starting point if you want to learn something about one of F1's great technical leaps without picking bits and pieces out of six other volumes.