- The 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed will honor Lotus on the 60th anniversary of the company's establishment.
- Next year is also the 30th anniversary of founder Colin Chapman's death.
- The festival is expected to draw a rich assortment of Lotus racecars and production models, as well as storied Lotus drivers from the past.
GOODWOOD, England — The 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed honors Lotus on the 60th anniversary of the company's establishment — and the 30th anniversary of its founder's death.
Colin Chapman formed Lotus Engineering in 1952, in a stable in North London. Over the next 30 years, until his death in 1982, Chapman created some of the most remarkable sports cars and racecars of the day, notably the open-wheeled Lotus Seven in 1957, both the original Elan roadster and the ground-breaking Lotus 25 Formula One car in 1962, Giugiaro's wedge-shaped Esprit in 1976 and the innovative Lotus 79 racer in 1978.
Over the past six decades, Lotus cars have won 79 Grand Prix races and 13 Formula 1 World Championships, including seven constructors' titles. Among the F1 world champions who drove for Lotus were Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti.
The Goodwood organizers say they expect to see a wide variety of notable Lotus cars and drivers at next year's event, which runs June 28-July 1.
Get more details at Goodwood's Web site.
Inside Line says: Along with his cars, Chapman rightly achieved iconic status long before his premature death at age 54.
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jeremy_c says:
01:41 PM, 12/27/2011
After seeing what happened to Saab, I don't think the future for Lotus looks very bright. I like the brand and their heritage but the car industry today is consolidated, kiind of like the IT industry. A small niche brand has little chance of success. The other problem is the big guys all have their own sports car brand so they are not in a ruch to buy Lotus. Maybe this is their last hurrah?