ACBC Film

[rodlittle]

Just found a very interesting 1968 BBC film about and with ACBC thanks to this months Motor Sport
well worth watching on youtube
[url]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEFSGcdAAzA[/url]
rod

[richardcox_lotus]

"millionaire" is available on DVD from classic team lotus. I recommend it.

[john.p.clegg]

Rod

Most enjoyable half hour..
Thanks
John

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Ditto; I enjoyed watching that; a whole host of very young looking hero's in that film.

Cheers
John

[Galwaylotus]

Great stuff. I remember that era well!!

[hartley hare]

good find....

this one is pretty good too..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucau77iVndk

what drivers..
i'd be surprised if they could find pants that fitted..

[1964 S1]

Thanks for the links you guys. Interesting, and it got me thinking, it's harder to become a millionaire in Britain than the USA considering dollar pound conversions. I thought Mr. Chapman handled all the silly questions about his wealth rather well. The "pilot interview" was my favorite, also he showed patience throughout the film which sort of surprised me.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Thanks for the links you guys. Interesting, and it got me thinking, it's harder to become a millionaire in Britain than the USA considering dollar pound conversions. I thought Mr. Chapman handled all the silly questions about his wealth rather well. The "pilot interview" was my favorite, also he showed patience throughout the film which sort of surprised me.

Yes I agree; it seems that acting was another of his talents

[1964 S1]

Ah ha, I shall have to watch it again...
I "met" him a couple of times at Indy, when I was a kid. He was polite and gave my brother and me autographs.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Don't worry, that was me at my cynical best

[robertverhey]

Never met ACBC but did shake hands with Graham Hill once in the pits at Warwick Farm!

Above link took me to "secret Life of colin Chapman" also on youtube in 5 parts.....wow that certainly changes the perceptions a little.....got me thinking how much active safety can compensate for a lack of passive safety? (did I get that the right way around?) . Sure the elan is nimble at skirting around danger, but oh boy, if anything hits ya......

[1964 S1]

Just make sure it doesn't hit your Elan on the driver's door.
And speaking of safety, whether active or passive, I literally could not believe the scenes on the start finish straights.... it could've been 1908! People literally on the track...
I've also thought about what a difficult time it was in Colin's life when this film was made. I wonder if all the interviews took place after Jim Clark and Mike Spence's accidents.

I firmly believe Colin Chapman is one of the most influential automobile personalites of all time.
Innovation in performance unequalled.
Or should that be performance in innovation unequalled?
Now that I look at them, those three words in almost any order apply.

[richardcox_lotus]

Colin Chapman was one of my heroes when I was a kid. I can see now that he wasn't the whitest of white, and The "Secret Life" film was obviously made after his death. Tim Enright has a leading role in it, but if you look at Lotus during that period 70s-80s he doesn't come across as a "main man". Others have observed that most of his "main men" (eg Mike Kimberley; Tony Rudd; Peter Wright; Fred Bushell) are less damning, and I recall that Graham Arnold later said that he thought the editing was somewhat selective, wouldn't have been such an enlighting program otherwise I suppose !

I think both Karl Ludvigsen's and Mike Lawrence's books also throw interesting light on the man & his methods.

To this day I still cannot understand why he got involved in DeLorean the way he did. I can't believe he personally needed the money.

Regards
Richard

[Galwaylotus]

I firmly believe Colin Chapman is one of the most influential automobile personalites of all time.
Innovation in performance unequalled.
Or should that be performance in innovation unequalled?
Now that I look at them, those three words in almost any order apply.

When it comes to innovation I'd put my money on Jim Hall first and then ACBC!

[sprinter55]

excellent !!!
A true genius, whether or not he was the leading innovator, he was the catalyst which bought a team of people togather to succeed, and is the reason why the magic of Lotus exceeds all other marques. This is why we love Lotus !!