Why unloved Lotus 76 may be Colin Chapman's most significant car
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
In 1967, Ford commisioned model maker Henri Baigent to build eight models of Jim Clark’s Zandvoort-winning Lotus 49, one for each driver, designer, team member and one for Colin Chapman.
The incredibly detailed models took Baigent a mere 2,800 hours, according to the South London Advertiser at the time, going on to reveal that his trip to Silverstone to capture a shot of the car was scuppered when the film failed to properly develop. But Lotus and Cosworth provided him with drawings, allowing him to rebuild it in minuscule, Firestone provided him with the tread patterns and even the rubber compound – for him to recreate in his own mini press.
The July 1967 edition apparently also played its part, as this British Pathé video reveals.
A wide variety of Lotus cars are often proffered as the ultimate F1 game-changer – but was the Lotus 76 an unusual candidate which trumps them all?
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