Although I had no more than a small role as the team’s press officer during the black-andgold glory days of the Lotus 72, I had a ringside seat at some of the not always proper events that went on behind the scenes at John Player Team Lotus, as recounted below. Lawyers please note: only a few of the alleged wrongdoers are still with us.
I was recruited to the job early in 1972 by Peter Warr, who had managed Team Lotus very capably for Colin Chapman since 1969, and with whom I had become friends during my two seasons as F1 correspondent for the weekly newspaper Warr did not have to press me very hard: at the time my salary at was a slum-level £1000pa (augmented by £200 from the position I briefly occupied as deputy ed of its monthly sister publication, – and Warr was offering £3000.
