I don't have many 'heroes', but I was lucky enough to see Colin Chapman in action when I started attending the British GP in 1971. His darker side has been well documented over the years but his ability to think outside the box has rarely been equalled. Maybe Gordon Murray was his natural successor for innovation.
Chapman's obsession with lightness of course, was to go faster, but the approch was spot on, and in the future we may see more lightweight cars. I can remember seeing the Lotus 72 on the front page of Autosport at the start of it's first season. It looked like something from outer space. You had to be there to understand the massive impact of that design. Such a shame the inboard front brakes cost Rindt his life. And then such a shame that Chapman tried to drive the company upmarket, something which is being repeated at Group Lotus right now.
That early influence is why the Lotus flame burns so bright with me even now. I couldn't afford an Elan at the time, all I had was a JPS jacket...............
