Lotus 72 reunion commemorates Emerson Fittipaldi’s 1972 F1 title

Fifty years after Emerson Fittipaldi raced the Lotus 72 to a drivers’ and constructors’ championship double, he and every example of the legendary car have returned to Hethel.

Guests, including former Team Lotus members, watched seven of the suviving eight cars running on the test track where they were developed. Fittipaldi was back in Chassis 72/5 that he drove to his maiden F1 victory at Watkins Glen.

Fittipaldi named the Type 72 as the greatest racing car he had ever driven in our October 2022 issue, where we profiled all of the remaining examples.

“After two years [in the 72 in the 1970s] I talk to the car and the car talks to me,” said Fittipaldi during the event at Lotus’s HQ. “Before I sat in it, I knew how I was going to drive. We understand each other.”

The Colin Chapman and Maurice Phillippe-designed Type 72 made a champion of Jochen Rindt in 1970, which was followed by Fittipaldi’s 1972 success. Its innovative features and six-year spell of racing in the top flight has led many to name it the greatest F1 car of all time.

Fittipaldi said that on the rare occasion where the car wasn’t competitive, Chapman knew what to do.

“The 72 was consistently fast,” recalled Fittipaldi. “But if it wasn’t very good, there was Colin. He had an intuition. He said, ‘Emerson, will have dinner together,’ and I described every corner — every part of the corner. Colin said, ‘I know what to do.’ Next day, it was much faster.”

A limited edition Emerson Fittipaldi version of Lotus’s Evija electric hypercar has been launched to commemorate the anniversary, featuring JPS livery, a rotary dial made from Type 72 aluminium and Fittipaldi’s signature on the dashboard. All eight examples, costing more than £2m, have been sold.