How the Lotus 72 drove a wedge between the field
Given the extent of its innovation, the Lotus 72 should have had a bigger advantage in 1970. Although Jochen Rindt won four races in a row, it was only dominant…
Fifty years after Emerson Fittipaldi drove the Lotus 72 to a double world championship for team and driver, we assembled every surviving example of Formula 1’s greatest car, and spoke to Fittipaldi, as he was reunited with his 1972 title-winning machine at Brands Hatch.
Scroll down for all of the features from our October issue, as well as more detail on the Lotus 72 and its drivers from our Archive, plus news of a new model from Pocher that recreates the car in unprecedented detail
The Lotus 72 served for six years in the top flight, winning 20 Grands Prix and three constructors’ titles for the team. Alan Henry remembers a truly remarkable F1 car
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Colin Chapman’s groundbreaking Lotus 72, which changed the shape of racing cars for ever, involved some ingenious design – and so did Pocher’s miniature representation of it
Raced at the top level from 1970-75 and making Formula 1 world champions of Emerson Fittipaldi and Jochen Rindt, the Lotus 72 represents the very best of British engineering. To celebrate 50 years since it achieved the double world championship for team and driver, our October issue profiles all surviving examples of the car and tell the stories that helped to make the legend. Subscribe to read
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Make and own a replica of Emerson Fittipaldi’s 1972 British GP-winning Lotus 72D in unprecedented detail.
Years in development, and based on 3D scans of original cars, this 58.3cm-long model has removable bodywork, detailed monocoque, suspension, engine and cockpit, as well as faithfully recreated logos and rubber tyres.
Once a retired racing driver has decided to hang up his helmet, he has to find a way of dealing with the rest of his life. For most, it very…
“The era of radical innovations has passed. From now on we will proceed by detail improvements.” That was Colin Chapman’s view of Formula 1 at the end of 1973. Blimey.…
The Hamilton phenomenon has rewritten the Formula 1 record books. But Lewis’s meteoric progress doesn’t diminish the achievements, 37 years ago, of a Brazilian tyro called Emerson Fittipaldi. Emerson was…
“Mad Ronald,” Mike Hailwood used to call him. Twenty and 30 years ago, Grand Prix racing may have been infinitely more perilous than now, but it lacked the hard edge…
Replacing the innovative and iconic Lotus 72 was never going to be easy — even though it was in its fifth season. Andrew Frankel drives the car that tried Bad…
There are numerous cars greater than the sum of all their parts. There are few, though, infinitely greater. And this is one of them. From its Unipart-sourced pressure cap to…
On 19 April, 1970, a pair of Lotus 72s made their F1 debuts in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama. Striking and purposeful in the distinctive red, white and gold…