Collectors & Aficionados
Colin Chapman and Lotus 2 - From Formula 1 to the road
This article explores the history of lightweight car design in Formula 1, focusing on the pioneering work of John Cooper and Colin Chapman.
The idea of lightness wasn’t just Colin Chapman’s. As a matter of fact, in Surbiton in the Surrey region of England, John Cooper and his father Charles had already been very successful building small Formula 3 (500cc) single-seater cars, using rear-mounted Norton motorcycle engines. A kind of ante litteram Kart.
The idea had been successful and the Coopers had thought big, driven also by the Australian driver Jack Brabham who believed in the efficiency of simple, lightweight mid-engined cars that would also allow them to eliminate the bulk and weight of the drive shaft. In the same period, Chapman focused on two-seater sports cars but remained faithful to the Austin Seven he started out with, keeping the engine in the front.
