{"id":369211,"date":"2011-01-21T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2011-01-21T14:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/?p=32869"},"modified":"2024-12-04T20:34:52","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T20:34:52","slug":"lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"Lotus Type 79 – Restoring an Icon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story by Will Silk and photos by Richard Parramint
\n\"\"<\/a>Team Lotus discovered the use of ground effect with the Type 78, and really began to think that they were onto something big by the time Mario Andretti had taken the car to its first victory at the U.S. Grand Prix West in April of 1977.\u00a0 Work was then immediately ordered to commence on the successor to the Type 78, a car that would ultimately change the face of motor racing as we know it, the Lotus Type 79.
\nWork began on the Type 79 program, which was to be a true wing car in that it would effectively make the most use out of the air passing between the car\u2019s underside and the surface of the track.\u00a0 The project was given to Martin Ogilvie, with Peter Wright advising on the aerodynamics and Colin Chapman having a strong input on the program as things progressed.\u00a0 Ogilvie constructed a monocoque tub of sheet aluminum with a honeycomb floor.\u00a0 Unlike its predecessor, the Type 78, the Type 79 was designed from the outset to be narrow, with removable side pods, unlike that on the T78.\u00a0 The side pods were to do a variety of tasks, as the right side pod housed the radiator, while the left side pod was constructed to hold the oil cooler.
\nThe biggest job for the side pods was to assist in producing down force via the air moving above and below the pods.\u00a0 In order to achieve full capitalization of the air moving under the car, the sides of the car had to seal the air under it forcing the air to travel from the front to the rear.\u00a0 This was accomplished by using what became known as the “board in a box\u201d, or skirts.\u00a0 While a variety of skirts were tried on the Lotus Type 78, the \u201cboard in a box\u201d skirts employed on the Type 79 were deemed to be the most effective style of skirt to be used.
\nThe Lotus Type 79 used a complex assembly of building a hollow channel into the outer part of the side pods and then sliding in a carbon-honeycomb skirt that utilized rollers in order for it\u00a0to move vertically inside the channel.\u00a0 A spring mechanism was constructed in order to help hold the skirt in place along the ground, but suspend the carbon-honeycomb piece enough to allow it some movement while rubbing the surface.\u00a0 A rubbing strip was placed at the bottom of the skirt to take the brunt of the friction while traveling along the track\u2019s surface.\u00a0 This effectively sealed the air off, and produced a defined channel underneath the Type 79 to assist the car in the production of down force.
\nThe 34-gallon fuel tank for the T79 was situated immediately aft of the cockpit, which led to a rather cramped seating area for the pilot, especially on T79\/1, the first car constructed which was built with a low front scuttle so that a safety roll hoop could be implemented on top of the scuttle just ahead of the gauges.\u00a0 The cockpit was also tremendously narrow in terms of leg room, with the front shock and coil spring units being mounted vertically on either side of the driver\u2019s legs.\u00a0 These pieces were linked to fabricated upper wishbones which led out to the uprights, with tubular pieces connecting the bottom of the upright to the chassis.
\nThe brakes on a T79 are interesting in that the front brakes consisted of two Lockheed brake calipers, one on the leading side of the rotor, the other to the aft of the disc.\u00a0 The T79\u2019s rear brakes were mounted inboard on the gearbox, the calipers being cast into the gearbox housing side plate and made from magnesium.\u00a0 It was the choice of magnesium in the construction of this component which would ultimately give T79 pilots a fit, since the magnesium castings would become porous during a race and with the heat, begin to give the driver a soft brake pedal requiring the driver to rapidly pump up the brakes while in the thick of on track action.\u00a0 Later T79s would resort to using outboard rear brakes which ultimately aided the ground effect concept behind the entire theory of the car by getting the rear brakes out of the path of air that was travelling under the car.
\nThe Cosworth DFV engine was the heart of this revolutionary car, as it had become the motor of choice throughout the Formula One paddock in the middle-to-late 1970s.\u00a0 The 3.0 liter unit that Lotus used in the T79 were prepared by Cosworth, Nicholson Racing Engines, Swindon Racing Engines, and Euroracing Engines.\u00a0 While most would think that the best DFVs would come straight from Cosworth itself, the definition of \u201cbest\u201d would have to be clearly defined, as Cosworth was always tweaking and developing the small V-8 to improve on the 450 horsepower output at 9,500rpm, sometimes ending in a poof of smoke while in the heat of battle.
\nThe first choice of gearboxes for the T79 was nearly as revolutionary as the car at first glance.\u00a0 Insisting on a sequential shift box, Colin\u00a0Chapman directed Tony Rudd and Brian Spooner to revive the \u201cqueerbox\u201d as it was known when first used in the late 1950s on the Lotus 15 sports racer, as well as the Type 16 formula car.\u00a0 In effect, it was a small, compact gearbox similar in concept to what the Messerschmitt Company used on their small bubble car just after the Second World War.\u00a0 Getrag, the company that made the transmission for Messerschmitt in the 1940s, was recruited to assist in making the new Lotus-Getrag box.\u00a0 The Lotus-Getrag box proved troublesome, and was replaced by mid-season with the more conventional Hewland FG400.
\nLotus would debut the T79 in England at Silverstone\u2019s non-championship Daily Express International Trophy Race on 19 March 1978.\u00a0 The debut was to be short, as Andretti would exit the rain soaked race on lap 3, damaging the car fairly significantly.\u00a0 This would lead to the official championship debut to be postponed until the Belgian round of the championship held at Zolder in late May.\u00a0 It would be at Zolder that Andretti would drive the repaired T79\/2 to victory, with teammate Ronnie Peterson coming home second in a Lotus T78.\u00a0 A few weeks later, in Jarama, the duo of Andretti and Peterson would again finish one-two, this time both piloting T79s.\u00a0 This would happen again at France, racing on the Paul Ricard circuit.
\nAndretti would take the top spot on the podium at Hockenheim\u2019s German Grand Prix in T79\/3, the third T79 to be built.\u00a0 Ronnie would score his first victory with a T79\u00a0two weeks later in Austria piloting T79\/2.\u00a0 The Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort would once again see a Lotus sweep of the top two podium spots.\u00a0 Monza however, would be one of the less glorious moments in the history of the T79, with a chaotic first lap crash that ultimately took the life of Ronnie Peterson.
\nWhile still coming to grips with the loss of their teammate, the Hethel-based outfit set off to America for the U.S. Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen.\u00a0 Jean-Pierre Jarier was recruited from the ATS squad to drive the team\u2019s second T79 that weekend, bringing home a 15th place finish, while Mario was forced to retire with engine trouble.\u00a0 The last round in Montreal, Canada saw Andretti wrap the season up with a 10th place finish, while Jarier drove a stunning race once again, having placed his T79 on pole and then dominated the race in superb fashion until an oil leak would force him to retire.\u00a0 Despite the two North American rounds outcomes\u00a0not being\u00a0quite in tune to what the team was use to experiencing, Andretti walked away with the driver\u2019s World Championship for 1978, thirteen points ahead of Ronnie Peterson, and sixteen points clear of Reutemann in third.\u00a0 The Lotus Type 79 proved instrumental in also capturing the Constructor\u2019s World Championship for Lotus that year.
\nWith Reutemann moving over from Ferrari and with Andretti staying onboard, Team Lotus looked set for utter domination in 1979.\u00a0 The rest of the grid was rapidly catching up with the ability to harness the power of ground effect to pull the car to the earth.\u00a0 Harvey Postlethwaite\u2019s Wolf WR5 was the only car really close to the T79 in 1978, but the arrival of the\u00a0Williams FW07 in 1979 saw many of the complexities of the T79 put to use in a simpler manner, and indeed\u00a0turned out to be\u00a0a very challenging car to race against that year.\u00a0 To combat the competition in 1979, Lotus had constructed the Type 80, but by the time the French Grand Prix came about in July, Andretti had endured enough of the new car\u2019s shortcomings and returned to running a T79 for the rest of the season.\u00a0 Reutemann and Andretti only managed a few podiums between the two of them, resulting in Lotus falling back to fourth on the constructor\u2019s championship table for the 1979 season.\u00a0 The T79 was then retired for a new series of cars to take the marque into the decade of the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Lotus T79\/1 Restoration<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This brings the tale of Lotus Type 79 into the 21st century.\u00a0 Early in 2010; Paul Rego, an avid Lotus enthusiast and owner of two Lotus 23Bs, got word from Lee Chapman of Lee Chapman Racing in New Milford, Connecticut that Lotus Type 79\/1 was available for purchase.\u00a0 Lee helped place Paul Rego in contact with Joel Finn who owned the classic Lotus F1 machine and had done some vintage racing with the car.\u00a0 Paul was able to strike a deal for the black and gold artifact, knowing fully that a restoration was going to have to be immediately undertaken.
\nOnce the car was purchased, it was moved to Paul\u2019s racing firm in Dallas, Texas.\u00a0 Known as Regogo Racing, the staff supports a number of classic Lotus race machines and retains the services of Doc Bundy, a former IMSA GTP and Trans Am ace, to handle some of the driving duties.\u00a0 Chris Dinnage was placed in charge of the restoration of T79\/1 and immediately set about stripping the car down in order to crate the car up for its journey to England.
\nOnce the car was stripped and crated, T79\/1 departed for Classic Team Lotus in Norwich, UK where the car was reunited with its spiritual home and placed in the hands of Colin\u2019s son, Clive Chapman, who runs the operation at Classic Team Lotus.
\nWhile at the Classic Team Lotus facility in northern England, the Martin Ogilvie-designed aluminum tub was completely stripped and repaired before undergoing crack testing, which it passed in the latter part of December, 2010.\u00a0 The Cosworth DFV was sent to Phil Reilly\u2019s shop in Corte Madera, California for a full race rebuild based on a recommendation by Don Hoevel.\u00a0 As progress continues to be made daily with the restoration tasks in the UK, Regogo Racing currently awaits the return of T79\/1 to their facility in Dallas, Texas so that work on reassembling the car can begin in hopes of having it racing at the Barber Motorsports Park round of Bobby Rahal\u2019s Legends of Motorsports series in May, 2011.
\nThe Lotus T79 changed the face of Formula One, as well as virtually all of racing, with its harnessing of the air under the car to create down force.\u00a0 The significance of having this car, the first of five to be constructed, returned to the track so that young fans of Formula 1 can see it in action and think about how the car single-handedly transformed the sport is perhaps one of the greatest events of the upcoming 2011 vintage racing season.
\nLotus 79 Restoration Photo Gallery<\/strong> (click image for larger picture)<\/p>\n

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[Source: photo credit: Richard Parramint]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story by Will Silk and photos by Richard Parramint Team Lotus discovered the use of ground effect with the Type 78, and really began to think that they were onto something big by the time Mario Andretti had taken the car to its first victory at the U.S. Grand Prix West in April of 1977.\u00a0 Work was then immediately ordered to commence on the successor to the Type 78, a car that would ultimately change the face of motor racing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":795752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1920,255],"tags":[429,7971,1961,12555,17250],"class_list":["post-369211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lotus","category-news","tag-news","tag-john-player-special","tag-lotus","tag-lotus-79","tag-restorations"],"yoast_head":"\nLotus Type 79 - Restoring an Icon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A close look at the Lotus Type 79, with a focus on the type's history as well as the restoration of one of these classic F1 machines.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lotus Type 79 - Restoring an Icon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A close look at the Lotus Type 79, with a focus on the type's history as well as the restoration of one of these classic F1 machines.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-21T14:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-04T20:34:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/t79-1-Jarier-in-action-1978.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"460\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Will Silk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Will Silk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Will Silk\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82de736767a1f81f8dc6170a0882466b\"},\"headline\":\"Lotus Type 79 – Restoring an Icon\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-21T14:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-04T20:34:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1977,\"commentCount\":8,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/t79-1-Jarier-in-action-1978.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Car News\",\"John Player Special\",\"Lotus\",\"Lotus 79\",\"Restorations\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lotus\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/lotus-type-79-restoring-an-icon\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lotus Type 79 - 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