Customer Reviews

Lotus 78 and 79: The Ground Effect Cars

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book does an excellent job of balancing admiration for the Lotus people and drivers, and criticism when needed. It has much inside information and many inside photos and drawings from Lotus and Ford. The technical discussion has some depth, and none of it is speculative. Also some asides on the personalities involved, which prevent any monotony. Many B-W and about 30 color pictures. Covers in enough depth the Lotus F1 cars before and after the 78/79.

This book delivers on the promise of its title. It gives a comprehensive history of the development and race history of the Lotus Type 78 and 79. It includes several excellent appendices on all the F1 cars made by Lotus and their histories in competition.

The presentation is handicapped by the small page size, tiny type face for quotes, and dark black and white photographs of cars under construction. It should be a coffee table sized book with large clear drawings of the skirts and the underside of the chassis and side pods. It also spends too much time on Colin Chapman's management style and the team's facilities.

The only drawings of the Type 78 and 79 are views of the complete car. They are very small with thin lines. There are better drawings of the Type 88 in last chapter. The many black and white photographs of the cars during construction do a poor job of showing the key components.

This is a great history of the initial "wing car" concept. Lotus wins races w/ innovative ideas and this book proves it! I love the interviews w/ the small crew of brilliant minds who put into reality the ideas of a true racing genius, Colin Chapman. It is amazing that they created this by slide rule, "what if" concepts and experimentation that is now replaced w/ huge teams and computer imaging. Could Ross Brawn's winner been built by any other means? It is a very enlightening book and a great book for any motor racing enthusiast.

John Tipler does an outstanding job of documenting two of the most important cars in the history of Formula 1, the Lotus Type 78 and 79. In this book, John talks to designers, mechanics, and the lead driver for Lotus during those amazing years in the late 1970s when F1 was beginning to enter a new dimension with the discovery of ground effect aerodynamics.

The title does an exceptional job of going in depth behind the scenes at Team Lotus and thoroughly details how the entire project came about by utlizing first hand accounts from several key people that were involved in the design and construction of the Type 78 and Type 79. You hear from Ogilvie, Waters, Rudd, Andretti, and Wright on just how they conceived the use of ground effects and designed a car to maximize their concept, ultimately winning the 1978 World Championship.

It was the Lotus 78 that layed the ground for the Lotus 79, and ultimatley changed racing as we know it by placing a huge emphasis on the aerodynamic side of the design.

A crucial book for any Lotus enthusiast, but even more important to the F1 fan for its technological and historical review of two of the most ground breaking cars the sport has ever seen.

The information in the book is pretty accurate and up to date. The photos could be better, but there are a lot of rare pictures.