Ibrar Malik

The original Team Lotus, i.e. the one that competed within F1 between 1958 to 1994 carries so much affection for F1 fans. However during the 1990’s serious financial problems brought an end to them. It was a huge pity given their rich history. But how did they get to that point in the first place?

This audio book guides listeners through all of Team Lotus’ races between 1983 to the end of the 1989 F1 Season to seek answers. It provides analysis of those GP's & each season covered to help listeners ascertain: 

- Was the loss of their founder Colin Chapman the blow that killed them?
- Were Senna’s & Piquet’s demands too much?
- Or were they just gradually eaten up by leaner, meaner teams during F1’s expensive Turbo era?

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall” is how the old saying goes and while most of the time that is true the once-mighty Team Lotus was the exception to that rule. Because the Hethel team’s decline was unusual in that it was not a spectacular, swift or a sudden affair. Instead, it was a death by a 1000 cuts spanning years if not decades. During which time drivers were calling the shots within the team, resources not allocated efficiently, race-winning technologies squandered, and questionable investments made. But could this have been avoided and if so who or what should take the blame?

Front cover image credit: 
Dima Moroz via the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Team Lotus: Struggling Beyond The Post Colin Chapman Era

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