SOLVING AN IDENTITY CRISIS
In its day, Lotus’s Type 72 was probably the most advanced car on the grid, and it remains one of the most remarkable cars in F1 history. Its ground-breaking design – carried out by Lotus founder Colin Chapman with Maurice Philippe – features inboard brakes, side-mounted radiators and an overhead air intake. Its distinctive outline resembles a wedge on wheels and had been inspired by the earlier Lotus 56 gas turbine car, while its layout was taken from the experimental four-wheel-drive Lotus 63 and featured the stressed-engine structure type of the Lotus 49. It was years ahead of its rivals, and fully 12mph faster than the Type 49 when powered by the same Cosworth DFV engine.
Of course, such an innovative package took more looking after than any other contemporary F1 car, though it was regularly the quickest on the grid, given the likes of Emerson Fittipaldi, Jochen Rindt, Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx behind the wheel. Team Lotus chief mechanic Eddie Dennis played a crucial role in making the Type 72 reliable, while designer Martin Waide – Philippe’s successor – made significant improvements for 1972 and 1973. Dennis and the team’s half-dozen dedicated race mechanics ran the cars, and were usually last to leave the pit garage at night.
Fittipaldi took part in 39 races in chassis 72/5 – from 1970 to 1973 – and 24 races in 72/7 during the
