Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman CBE RDI (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and car builder. He founded the sports car company Lotus Cars in 1952. At first, he ran Lotus in his spare time, with help from others who shared his interest in cars. His understanding of new methods used in airplane design was important for making major improvements in car technology. Chapman believed that lightweight cars with good handling were better than cars with more power or stiffer springs. He once said, "Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."

Under his leadership, Team Lotus won seven Formula One Constructors' titles, six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 race in the United States between 1962 and 1978. Lotus Cars also built tens of thousands of affordable, advanced sports cars. Lotus is one of only a few English performance car companies that remained in business after the industrial decline in the 1970s. Chapman died from a heart attack in 1982 at the age of 54.

Early life

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman was born on May 19, 1928, in Richmond, Surrey. He grew up at 44 Beech Drive, near Muswell Hill in London N2. His father operated The Railway Hotel on Tottenham Lane, which was located next to Hornsey Railway Station. Chapman attended the Stationers' Company's School, which is located on Mayfield Road.

Education

Chapman studied structural engineering at University College London. He joined the University of London Air Squadron and learned to fly. He left University College London without a degree in 1948. He took the final mathematics exam again in 1949 and received his degree one year later.

Chapman briefly joined the Royal Air Force in 1948. He was offered a permanent position but chose to return to civilian life quickly. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Chapman joined the British Aluminium company. He used his civil engineering skills to try to promote aluminum as a practical material for building structures.

Career

In 1948, Chapman created the Mk1, a modified Austin 7, which he entered in local racing events on his own. He named the car "Lotus," though he never explained why. One theory suggests the name came from his girlfriend (later wife), Hazel, whom he called "Lotus blossom." Using prize money from races, he developed the Lotus Mk2. Around this time, Chapman showed skill in improving car performance while following rules. One early design had a 6-port engine head with 4 exhaust and 2 inlet ports. Chapman realized an 8-port head could improve engine flow and power, but without the resources to build one, he adjusted the existing ports by reversing their functions. With new manifolds and a camshaft, his engine outperformed others until the rules changed to stop his modifications. As his success continued with the Lotus 6, he began selling car kits. Over 100 kits were sold by 1956. The Lotus 7, introduced in 1957, became especially popular. Today, Caterham Cars still produces a version of the Lotus 7, called the Caterham 7. More than 90 different versions of the Lotus 7 have been made by other companies over the years.

In the 1950s, Chapman designed and built several racing cars, sometimes producing limited numbers because of their popularity. He eventually moved to Formula One. In 1956, he drove a Vanwall F1 car but crashed into his teammate, Mike Hawthorn, during practice for the French Grand Prix at Reims. This accident ended his racing career and shifted his focus to engineering. With John Cooper, he helped change Formula One by creating lightweight, mid-engined cars. These cars had less power than others but better handling, allowing them to compete with powerful front-engined cars like Ferraris and Maseratis. When driver Jim Clark drove the Lotus 25, Team Lotus won its first F1 World Championship in 1963. Clark also drove the Lotus 38 to victory at the Indianapolis 500 in 1965, making it the first mid-engined car to win there. Clark and Chapman became close friends, and Clark’s death in 1968 deeply affected Chapman, who said he had lost his best friend. Over the years, Lotus employed many important figures in the automotive industry, including Cosworth founders Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, and Graham Hill, who worked as a mechanic to earn race opportunities. In 1966, Chapman convinced Ford Motor Company to sponsor Cosworth’s development of the DFV race engine.

Innovations and legacy

Many of Chapman's ideas are still used in Formula One and other top-level motorsports today, such as IndyCars. He helped introduce the use of struts as a rear suspension device. Struts used in the rear of a vehicle are called Chapman struts. Front suspension struts, which are very similar, are called MacPherson struts. These were invented in 1949, ten years before Chapman's work.

Chapman's next major innovation was popularizing the use of a monocoque chassis in racing. This type of construction was first used in the 1962 Lotus 25 Formula One car. A monocoque chassis makes a car's body lighter and stronger. It also helps protect the driver during crashes. Although the idea was not widely used in motorsports before, the first car to use it was the 1922 Lancia Lambda, which was a regular car, not a race car. Lotus had already used this technology in the 1958 Lotus Elite. The body of the Lotus 25 was made of fibreglass, making it one of the first production cars to use composite materials.

When American driver Dan Gurney saw the Lotus 25 at a race in the Netherlands, he was impressed by its design. He invited Chapman to the 1962 Indianapolis 500, where Gurney made his racing debut driving a car designed by John Crosthwaite. Crosthwaite had previously worked with Chapman. After the race, Chapman proposed building a racing car for Ford Motor Company using an aluminum monocoque and a Ford engine. Ford agreed. The Lotus 29 was introduced at Indianapolis in 1963, with Jim Clark finishing second. This design quickly replaced the older tube-frame chassis used in racing cars. Today, racing cars use materials like carbon fiber instead of aluminum, but the monocoque design remains standard.

Inspired by Jim Hall, Chapman helped introduce aerodynamics into Formula One. Lotus used wings to create downforce, which helps cars stay on the track, at a Tasman Formula race in early 1968. However, Ferrari and Brabham were the first to use wings in a Formula One race at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. Early wings were placed high on the car to avoid disturbed air, but they often failed. This led to rules requiring wings to be attached directly to the car's frame. Chapman also moved radiators to the sides of the car to reduce drag and improve weight balance. These ideas are still used in modern racing cars.

Working with Tony Rudd and Peter Wright, Chapman introduced "ground effect" in Formula One. This technique used the Venturi effect to create low pressure under the car, which generated downforce. Early designs used sliding skirts that touched the ground to keep the low-pressure area isolated.

Chapman planned a car that used only ground effect for downforce, eliminating the need for wings. The Lotus 79, completed in 1978, won many races that year. However, skirts were banned because they could break easily, like when a car hit a curb. This caused instability. The FIA changed rules in 1981 and 1983 to reduce ground effect by raising the minimum ride height and requiring flat-bottomed cars. Engineers later found ways to regain some of the lost downforce through wind tunnel testing.

One of Chapman's last major innovations was the Lotus 88, a dual-chassis Formula One car introduced in 1981. This design used two separate chassis: one for the driver, which was soft, and one for the aerodynamic parts, which was stiff. This helped reduce driver fatigue. However, other teams protested, and the car was never allowed to race. The controversy made Chapman feel discouraged about racing.

Chapman was also a businessman. He helped bring advertising to motorsports, turning Formula One into a major industry. He was one of the first to use car designs to promote products like cigarettes, including Gold Leaf and John Player Special.

From 1978 until his death, Chapman worked with John DeLorean on a stainless steel sports car to be built in Northern Ireland. The UK government funded the project, but design challenges led to a rear-engine layout. This project eventually became the DMC DeLorean.

In 1982, John DeLorean was arrested for cocaine trafficking after an FBI sting operation. His company, DeLorean Motor Cars, collapsed, and it was discovered that £10 million in British tax money was missing.

Lotus Group's financial records were delayed before Chapman's death. After his death, it was revealed that Lotus had been paid by DeLorean through a Panamanian company, despite Chapman's claims that this did not happen. Lotus accountant Fred Bushell was later found guilty of stealing £5 million. A judge said Chapman likely would have received a 10-year prison sentence if he had been on trial. The DeLorean car's design was later sold to Toyota, which used it to build the AW11 MR2. Money from Swiss bank accounts linked to Chapman and DeLorean was also recovered.

Death

On the night before his death, Chapman attended a performance by his long-time friend and Lotus customer Chris Barber, a well-known jazz trombonist, and his band. On December 16, 1982, Team Lotus tested the first Formula One car with active suspension, which later made its debut as the Lotus 99T in 1987. Chapman experienced a fatal heart attack on the same day at his home in Norwich and was 54 years old when he died.

Awards

• He received "Mike's Mug" from the Royal Aero Club in 1961.
• He was named The Guardian's "Young Businessman of the Year" in 1970.
• He was given the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1970 New Year Honours for his work in exports.
• He was named a Royal Designer for Industry for Automotive Design in 1979.
• He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994.
• He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1997.