Colin Chapman

Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman, CBE (born May 19, 1928 - died December 16, 1982 at age 54 years) was an influential British designer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars.
He studied structural engineering at University College London, joined the University Air Squadron and learned to fly. Chapman left UCL in 1948 without a degree, resitting last paper of Mathematics in 1949 and earned a year late. He briefly joined the Royal Air Force in 1948, offered a permanent commission, but changing it down in favor of a quick return to civilian life. After several false starts Chapman joined the British aluminum company, using his civil engineering skills to try to sell the aluminum as a viable structural material for buildings.


In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman Lotus originally ran in his spare time, assisted by a group of fans. Knowledge of the latest techniques of aerospace engineering will prove important in the automotive technical progress of his mind to. He was famous for saying "Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere", as a design philosophy focused on cars with light weight and good handling rather than horsepower and bulking in the spring.


Under his direction, Team Lotus won seven constructors' world titles and six world champion racing driver, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States, between 1962 and 1978. Production side of Lotus Cars has built tens of thousands of relatively affordable, cutting-edge sports car. Lotus is one of but a handful of British performance car builders still in business after the industry downturn in the 1970s.

Chapman suffered a fatal heart attack in 1982, aged 54.