Colin Chapman is my baby's daddy...

[SpeedStar]

Any cool sites with info/video regarding the Big Daddy of Lotus?

[4re308]

Not really, but it would be cool to name your kid Colin. In memory of Chapman and McCrae.

[Martin]

We should start amassing a "plethora" of Colin Chapman information here.

So anyone know any interesting trivia about the legend himself?

[SpeedStar]

He may have gone to prison if he had been around a decade longer...

Chapman, who came from relatively humble roots, was also a businessman who introduced major advertising sponsorship into auto racing; beginning the process which changed Formula One from rich gentlemen's pastime, to multi-million pound high technology enterprise. It was Chapman who in 1966 persuaded the Ford Motor Company to sponsor Cosworth's development of what would become the legendary DFV race engine. Shortly before his death he became involved in John De Lorean's De Lorean Motor Company troubled venture to manufacture sports cars in Northern Ireland. The full extent of his involvement has never been proved, but it is believed he would have been investigated for possible complicity in the manipulation of government loans during the development of the De Lorean car. Fred Bushell, Chapman's colleague and close confidante, pleaded guilty in 1992 to "Conspiring with the late Colin Chapman and others to defraud the De Lorean Motor Company" and was sentenced to four years in prison. De Lorean himself was tried on drug-trafficking charges and acquitted.

[SpeedStar]

He pioneered the use of struts as a rear suspension device. Even today, struts used in the rear of a vehicle are known as Chapman struts, while virtually identical suspension struts for the front are known as MacPherson struts.

[SpeedStar]

Video from the 1970s...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUPKT5ET9Bc

[Esprit2]

Not really, but it would be cool to name your kid Colin. In memory of Chapman and McCrae.

Well, this isn't quite the same, but...

A friend of mine had three St. Bernards, all with proper British names. Mom & dad were Abby & Bentley, and the puppy he kept was Colin. As with many owners and pets, Tommy & Colin looked a lot alike.

It used to by pretty humorous to see Tommy and one of the dogs going for a ride in his right-hand drive bugeye Sprite. Both of them were way out of scale to the car and overfilled the cabin. And everyone would do a double take when they first thought the dog was behind the wheel.

Regards,
Tim Engel
Lotus Owners Oftha North

[SpeedStar]

HILARIOUS! Would have loved to see that!

[TWO OLD ELANS]

There are some biographies about Colin Chapman, one entitled, Colin Chapman Wayward Genius, by Mike Lawrence. And did Jabby Crombac write one?
Two trivial trivia thoughts come to mind....
He had hay fever and would wear gloves frequently.
Also, for reasons of privacy perhaps, he would trapse back to the Speedway Motel from Gasoline Alley when in Indy to do his morning throne business.
When I was a kid I got his autograph several times and he was always polite to me.

[Martin]

Damn, you have met the man himself. You can't just give us that morsel and not expect us to ask for more! :)

So how is it that you have met him on more than one occasion?

[TWO OLD ELANS]

...okay.... I was a kid, between 12 and 14 years old when Lotus first came to Indy. My dad would take my brother and myself out of school one weekday each May and we'd go the Speedway and watch practice. It was all very low key. We'd stand at the Gasoline Alley gate and wait for driver's and owner's to come through and hound them for an autograph. Dad had us put a rotating stack of new typing paper pages on a clipboard so each autograph is by itself on a clean white sheet. I still have them, Colin, Jimmy, Dan, Graham, Jackie, Jack, Parnelli, JC Ajaganian, Andy Granatelli, plus many earlier years and a few later, Mark Donohue and Peter Revson come to mind.
It's a flood of memories, Colin Chapman smiled and kind of thanked us for the request. We were American kids, I've probably got five of his over four years.
Andrew Ferguson's book "TEAM LOTUS The Indianapolis Years" is a great read, depicts that time and place and Mr. Chapman very realistically. Too bad he didn't stay around to fill Bernie's shoes.

[Martin]

I can't imagine how great that must have been.

I have to agree, it would be something if Chapman had not had such a short life. Who knows what new and exciting things he would have thought of next.

[TWO OLD ELANS]

...the banned "twin chassis" F1 car was his last attempt at securing top spot on the podium I think.... who knows what would have followed.... including the Bernie slant...

[Kimbers]

I can't imagine how great that must have been.

I have to agree, it would be something if Chapman had not had such a short life. Who knows what new and exciting things he would have thought of next.

Martin

Colins Brilliance was in innovation, without a shadow of a doubt but he also had a superb team behind him, some had mostly taken over the Car and Engineering company by the time of his death, so that he could concentrate on his love of F1. Of course he still had an overview as Chairman but Tony Rudd (ex of BRM), Mike Kimberley (Ex of Jaguar), Fred Bushell (Finance Director) and a few others had taken major parts of the day to day running over.

Colins brilliance also spread to his chosing of the right people for the right job. I can only speak about what I know and remember but after he saw MJK's work on the E type and XJ13 (to name but 2) he headhunted him to be project leader on the design team for the Europa Twin Cam. MJK then went on to be heavily involved in the Elite, Eclat, Excel, Esprit, Lotus Sunbeam, Lotus Carlton and M100 Elan.

As an aside, another interesting point is in your categorisation of the Esprit as Guigaro and Stevens. We have the same on LEF but it's pretty widely recognised now that Colin Spooner contributed just as much of the design as did Peter Stevens (if not more).

[WayneB]

Great post about Mr.Chapman, Kimbers. I hope some of the younger forum members take the time to find out as much as they can about this charismatic, clever and hardworking mans short life.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/WayneBarr/ANTHONY20COLIN20BRUCE20CHAPMAN-1928.jpg

It also makes me proud to see your father Mike Kimberley has carried on his legacy and is running the company in a style I'm sure Mr.Chapman would have whole heartedly approved of.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f355/WayneBarr/MikeKimberley-1.jpg

I'm also pleased to see you publically acknowledging the major part Colin Spooner played as then director of design for Lotus in the styling of the X180 Esprit. As you already know it isnt my favourite, but it was a good effort all the same (untill Russell Carr totally ruined it!)

Colin Spooner has a company, Chapman Associates whos website I'm sure would have a better pic of him than this one(If it was working!)

Colin Spooner, some bloke whos name I forget (alright Delorean), and your dad MJK.

http://www.lotusespritworld.com/images/history/Delorean/Delorean_07.jpg

[Martin]

I love this kind of stuff. Ok, since we clearly do have some experts on board, please educate me as to why Colin Spooner did not receive the credit that he should. I love when history is told in one way, and the facts tell it another :)

[WayneB]

Well as I understand it Colin Spooner was technical director at Lotus at the time and Peter Stevens produced drawings and clay modeled the car under his direction. Colin Spooner ultimately chose the form of the car as it exists today, and I suppose when Peter Stevens Left Lotus he felt the car was more his design than Colin Spooners (looked good on his CV)!

Its funny that Mike Kimberley personally told me that the car was designed by Colin Spooner (when I visited the factory last year), probably because of my well known tongue in cheek joking about the styling of the X180 Esprit.

Now if they would only ask Mr. Giugiaro to style the new Esprit due in 2009!:)

[Martin]

Cool.

Yes, I would love to see another collaboration of Lotus and Giugiaro. That would be an awesome marketing "pull" for the guys who love the old Esprit.

[Kimbers]

Waynes got it off to a tee. It was similar with the Guigaro car though, with my dad being Technical Director, but he was pretty quiet about it when it came out and everyone knows it as the Guigaro car. However, you mustn't forget that realistically, though Guigaro did the original exterior concept it was actually finalised by Guigaro, Colin and MJK as they spent many days living in their office working on clays etc to finalise the design.

As you know Wayne (as an Automotive Engineer yourself) the old mans specialty was in Engineering design, for which he and the team won the Don safety trophy on the Elite (thats him holding the trophy)
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/Kimbers34/EliteDonsafety2.jpg

i have this one with Colin Spooner:
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/Kimbers34/Mike_Kimberley_and_co1.jpg

Here's a more recent picture:
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p259/Kimbers34/Dad.jpg

[bigsi]

yes i have to agree , mr kimberly sure knows his stuff and was a pleasure to meet at the 40th celebrations, also mr brian angus as well who was one of the people involved in the design and production of the giguiaro esprit.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/pk0258/IMG_3603.jpg

[Martin]

I never noticed the exhaust work. That looks sharp. What kind of setup is that?

[bigsi]

the exhaust was custom built for me by pro speed exhausts in cardiff in the u.k the system is a single fed twin silencer system with twin fed tip pipes.

it has a 20 year guarantee and is a very well built system , its basically a copy of a tubi system. i am still braking it in though.

the one in the pic is the one prior to this, the first one was about the same length as the stock one and was also twin pipes but lacked on the tone and note.

i went back and had it re-made so i now have this twin system and its much better.

heres a picture.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b6/pk0258/DSCN5765.jpg

[Martin]

That is indeed a pretty exhaust, if you can say that.
So what does it sound like? A Lamborghini? :)

[WayneB]

I must admit that is a nice looking exhaust Si, but where does the wastegate exhaust go to now?

[bigsi]

the pipe from the turbo is now a larger diameter, and the wastegate pipe joins it prior to going into the main feed pipe into the silencers

[Martin]

For the dual exhaust look, was their a simple cut into the bumper made or was it a bit more complicated than that?