1984 Lotus 95T Formula One Race Car
Lotus Racing was formed in 1954 by Lotus Motor Company and continue to participate in Formula One Racing today.
History[]
Lotus Racing was formed in 1954 by Lotus Motor Company and Colin Chapman. Lotus Racing competed in many diffrent series between 1954 and 1957 including Sports Cars and Formula Two Racing events. In 1958, Lotus decieded to only race cars in the Sports Car Division. They won six events including "Index Of Perfermence" in the 1958 24 Heures Du Le Mans. In 1959, Lotus returned to Formula One Racing and in 1961, captured their first win with driver Innes Ireland. In 1963, Lotus Racing driver, Jim Clark, won a remarkable seven races and captured the first championship for Lotus in Formula One. In 1965, once agian Jim Clark won six events and captured another championship. Everything was going well and 1966 looked like it would be even better for the top ranked team. But in 1966, multiple drivers including Jim Clark were seriosuly injured or killed. In 1967, Lotus got back on track and won numerous events but not the championship. In 1968, Jim Clark returned from injurys and raced in the 1968 South African Grand Prix. This would be Clark's last win because on April 7 1968, Jim Clark was killed in a Lotus 48. Graham Hill would go on to win the 1968 championship in Clark's memory.
In 1969, Lotus introduced the all new Lotus 72. The first win for the car came in the 1970 Grand Prix Of Monoco, one of Formula One's most famous events. The driver responsible for the win, Jochen Rindt was running away with the Formula One Championship until he was killed at Monza Raceway when his brake shaft locked up. Due to the event, Lotus lost the championship to Ferrari Racing Team.
In 1972, Lotus got back on top with a championship won by Formula One legend, Emerson Fittipaldi. Lotus and Emerson won another championship in 1973.
The 1980s would prove to be a downfall decade for Lotus Racing. Though they finished third in the points in 1984 the Italian Racing Team won no events. Also, all their star drivers including Nigel Mansell left the team in disgust of how the team was performing. In 1985, Ayrton Senna did win two events and finished high in the standings. The rest of the decade would be a tough ride and hopes were not high at the start of the 1990 season.
Lotus would participate for four more years and in 1994, pulled out of Formula One and decided to focus on more important things such as creating new street legeal cars.
When the 2010 Formula One season was about to ge underway, Lotus announced that they would like to compete in the series once agian. The team had moderate success between 2010 and 2012.
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