Great Lotus Book

[William2]

I have got half way through reading "Colin Chapman The Man and His Cars" by Gerard Crombac. This is a great read and gives a very detailed and fascinating story behind the company and this great engineer. I got mine off Ebay!

[RogerFrench]

Sorry William, I have to disagree.
Jabby Crombac was a great friend of Colin Chapman, and his book is a very rosy, near-sycophantic account of the man.

There are several much better books. I would recommend Colin Chapman, Wayward Genius, by Mike Lawrence, and Inside the Innovator by Karl Ludvigsen as providing balanced views of our hero.

[Frogelan]

Jabby Crombac was very close to Colin Chapman and his book perhaps lacks distance.

But JC was very closely involved in the overall adventure and that is the best way to see it.

JC founded "Sport Auto" which is the definitive French car magazine in 1962.

[richardcox_lotus]

Yes the crombac one avoids things like deLorean. I enjoyed the Ludvisken one, I thought the Mike Lawrence one was a bit rambling.

I recommend the Indianapolis years by Andrew Ferguson/ Doug Nye for a flavour of how it all went on !

Most of the biographies in my opinion fall short in some way. However I suspect when Hazel Chapman passes, then it will be open season on Chapmans character.

Regards
Richard

[William2]

I am also about to read another book called Lotus 49 The Story of a Legend by Michael Oliver. IMO this was the best looking F1 car ever produced but without the horrible rear wing of the 49B.

[baileyman]

The best I have read is Colin Chapman, Lotus Engineering: Theories, Designs & Applications by Hugh Haskell.

Sitting back now to await instruction on its shortcomings and failures...

John

[elansprint71]

Two suggestions for the Chapman library: 1) Colin Chaman's Lotus by Robin Read (former Lotus sales director) amongst other lids lifted it tells the true source of the "Chapman" strut. 2) Lotus, The Early Years by Peter ross, a fabulous historical record.

Both of these guys were there at the time, which makes a huge difference in accuracy.

[Matt Elan]

On a slightly more prosaic note I really enjoy the various Brooklands books of Elan and Plus 2 road tests, most of which are in the current 'Lotus Elan 1962 - 1974 Ultimate Portfolio'. Good to see how the press thought of the cars back in the day.
And the classic Robinshaw and Ross books on the Elan and the Elan Plus 2, the Elan edition having been re-issued by Brooklands books. Loads of obscure information!

[reb53]

The best I have read is Colin Chapman, Lotus Engineering: Theories, Designs & Applications by Hugh Haskell.

Sitting back now to await instruction on its shortcomings and failures...

John

I strongly suspect it has none, apart from its price......
I have most of the usual suspects, but not this one.
Should have bought it when first published I guess.

[Matt Elan]

I agree that Hugh Haskells book is excellent - he even describes how Chapman explained why the rotation of the peg drive knock-on spinners was the opposite way to the traditional splined knock-ons which was in a post on here a while back.

[mark030358]

As I always listen to Pete I bought this off Amazon... second hand and stunning condition....

[mark030358]

And then I thought, in for a few quid, in for a few more and bought these....

[Donels]

I went to a really interesting talk last year given by Oliver Winterbottom. He gave an interesting insight into working with Colin Chapman, dismissed and re-employed several times by Colin. He can’t have been an easy person to work for. His book 'A life in Car Design' is worth a read.

[RogerFrench]

And then I thought, in for a few quid, in for a few more and bought these....

Hi Mark, I have all 3 of those and a few more, I'd be interested to read what you think of them, when you've finished.
Other great writers include Michael Oliver, mentioned above, and Doug Nye whose Theme Lotus, while not a complete marque history, is excellent. As is Lotus the early years by Pter Ross which took me back to my childhood when my father built and raced 750 formula cars.