Friday 4th November 2011

Pic Of The Week: Proper Lotus F1

Lotus 72 in dab-of-oppo pose. Now that's an F1 car...

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With yesterday's news that the tug of war over the use of Lotus name in F1 has at last been settled, a part of the indignity suffered by that once-great badge is over.

But it does throw into sharp relief the fact that the Lotus name - whichever F1 team has been bearing it - isn't covering itself in glory these days (though we wonder what a certain R Kubica would be doing behind the wheel of the black-and-gold Renault).

And that's a shame when you consider that, for whole chunks of the 1960s and 1970s, Colin Chapman's Team Lotus dominated the sport of F1.

So let's remember Lotus this way, with the magnificent Ronnie Peterson at the helm of the revolutionary Lotus 72 on his way to winning the 1973 French GP.

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[Chunkychucky]

In my opinion Peterson is in my group of greatest ever drivers never to win a drivers' world championship, shame he had to play the role of 2nd driver to Andretti when he was at Lotus even though he was no slower, perhaps even quicker . A sad loss..

[LukeBird]

Fantastic pic, thanks PH!

[cathalm]

Lovely, the best F1 car ver in my humble opinion, the first modern F1 car also.

[JumpinJack]

best POTW in a long time

[Stevie Mojo]

Lovely.

[stuwalsh]

Along with the 49 the 72 was a real advance over their contemporaries of the time. This was an era when the F1 supporter could visualise F1 technologly.

[Meteor Madness]

stuwalsh said:

Along with the 49 the 72 was a real advance over their contemporaries of the time. This was an era when the F1 supporter could visualise F1 technologly.

and spell it.

[johnaachen]

Meteor Madness said:

and spell it.

Is that oggling at technology?

[andyps]

Definitely my favourite F1 car. A great picture, the only thing for me is that, with all due respect to Ronnie Peterson, I always associate that car with Emerson Fittipaldi and therefore a black and red helmet.

[Cotty]

Definitely having that on my home PC

[dbanes]

Remember that Vettel managed something similar this season

[Oddball RS]

Chunkychucky said:

In my opinion Peterson is in my group of greatest ever drivers never to win a drivers' world championship, shame he had to play the role of 2nd driver to Andretti when he was at Lotus even though he was no slower, perhaps even quicker . A sad loss..

I agree and playing second fiddle and having to use an obsolete second car sadly ended up costing him his life.

[M666 EVO]

JumpinJack said:

best POTW in a long time

What he said.

[SteveEvo8]

Lovely picture.

[Owlwood]

Yeah, top POTW! Love the old F1 shapes.

[Mark-C]

Liking this one a lot ... cheers!

[dvs_dave]

+1, Great pic and it replaces that pic of the orange MP4-12C GT in the wet I had on my desktop until now.

What's the deal with the wheel sizes though? Why back in the day did they have such a difference between front and rear, and now they're the same size? Is it a regulation thing or has is been found that with modern aero and brakes the same size F/R works better?

[MattDell]

JumpinJack said:

best POTW in a long time

The PH tech team agrees. We all have this as our background now.

[mybrainhurts]

This is what F1 should be like...

If so, I might get interested again..

[Chunkychucky]

Oddball RS said:

I agree and playing second fiddle and having to use an obsolete second car sadly ended up costing him his life.

Yeah so sad. Still, the fact that Petersen had to qualify with full fuel tanks and a tempremental development gearbox in his car, and yet still managed to nearly match Andretti for pace says it all really. The good old days when drivers use to drive more than just F1 cars too.