THE ENGLISH PATIENT

LET’S BE CLEAR: the story of Team Lotus as an active, contemporary Formula 1 team ended sadly but decisively at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix. Everything else after that, at least in terms of cars carrying the Lotus name on to F1 grids, should be considered – to resort to that hateful modern phrase – fake news. Most of what has followed in the past 27 years has little or nothing to do with Colin Chapman’s hallowed F1 legacy, which was guarded and maintained for a dozen more years after his death in 1982 by the three Peters: Warr, Wright and Collins. It’s a pity really that our story couldn’t have been wrapped up in five chapters. But this sixth and final part, picking through the sorry tales of how a great name was dredged up for revival when it would have been best to leave well alone, is necessary because it reminds us of the power Lotus was perceived to still hold in F1, even as a shadow of what it used to be. It’s also important to acknowledge not all attempts to keep Team Lotus alive should be dismissed as cynical opportunism. Some of the players in this chapter were genuine in their intentions.

David Hunt was one. The brother of 1976 world champion James Hunt, 13 years his junior, became the custodian of the Team Lotus name and badge – which is and always was a separate entity to Lotus Cars and the Lotus Group. Chapman kept it that way, sensibly,