Re: Factory Five\'s Quasi-Clone
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I remember the GT 40 at Le Mans, but, to me, it's just a Ford... always was, always will be. One brutish and very ugly racer built to win, with no heritage!
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"just a Ford" - Someone should remind this Lotus fan that a Ford Cosworth heart beat inside the Lotus F1 cars during the only era (and category) in which they dominated. Then when Lotus were all spent, Ford Cosworths continued to dominate inside other makes of F1 cars, becoming one of the most winingest engines of the 60's 70's and 80's.
"One brutish and very ugly racer" - actually, the GT40 was built purely with functionality in mind and the first to use a wind tunnel in the design process and in doing so wrote the book on how a mid-engined road car should look. In fact, it was such a hit that the Lotus Elise borrowed almost all of its design queues from it… 35 years later! not to mention the Lamborghini Muira, Ferrari F50, MacLaren F1 and countless other low-production racers.
"built to win" - OH NO! It wasn't was it? Now I'll have to tear down all my GT40 posters and buy some Volvo posters instead (no offence intended Volvo owners).
"with no heritage" - Ummmm, where do I start here? I think he may be confusing Focus with Heritage. The fact that Ford built mum-and-dad cars at the same time does not degate their race success. Suffice to say that Ford were racing before Lotus was even an idea. The GT40 project transformed the world of motorsport from a game between wealthy enthusiasts, to the modern professional sport that it is today.
Now don't get me wrong. I am a Lotus fan and have lots of admiration for the make, but as far as heritage is concerned, Lotus only ever had one good design idea, and that was that a race car should be uncompromisingly light. But even that idea was borrowed from Bugatti . Lotus just took it to the next level. (Colin Chapman once claimed that the ideal race car should fall to bits the moment it crossed the finish line, otherwise it was over-engineered). However, once all other teams accepted this concept, Lotus never dominated in any form of international motor sport ever again. EVER! They simply ran out of ideas.
... I guess I'm preaching to the converted here. Someone, feel free to post this on the Lotus forum /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif