Lotus 78

[chrisb]

thank you for the lovely picture JC, I always liked the Chevron's but never the Marches, methinks over the following few weeks my historical collections of Autosports are going to be reviewed,

I still remember vividly that awful November night when that dreadful tragedy occurred - I have never read the book about Tony, Tom and Roger, but they surely were , The Lost Generation, but I do remember the excitement Tony brought with him when we started to realise this was someone special, only to be snatched away so terribly, as was all 4 including Gunnar,

[Carl]

Nov 26, 2017 10:58:00 GMT chrisb said:

thank you for the lovely picture JC, I always liked the Chevron's but never the Marches, methinks over the following few weeks my historical collections of Autosports are going to be reviewed,

I still remember vividly that awful November night when that dreadful tragedy occurred - I have never read the book about Tony, Tom and Roger, but they surely were , The Lost Generation, but I do remember the excitement Tony brought with him when we started to realise this was someone special, only to be snatched away so terribly, as was all 4 including Gunnar,

Chris,

I remember how Tony Brise astounded everyone (even other drivers in a stellar field) in the Formula 5000 race at Long Beach in September, 1975, on pole, winning his heat race and setting fastest race lap.  His was an incredible natural talent.  I remember the terrible news and calling Road & Track to commiserate with an editor who was also stunned and grieving all who were on board. 

A separate tragedy befell Graham Hill's wife and children, who must have rejoiced, not long before, that he had safely retired. 

[charleselan]

Carl,

I was wondering if you would bring in the Tony Brise F5000 Long Beach performance, it was simply stunning and against a very experienced and stellar field. To me it was amazing that one of the larger teams had not snapped him up earlier, but one has the feeling that had they all been spared from that tragedy it might have been the beginnings of something very successful.

Chris,

They certainly were a lost generation who would have achieved much had they been spared.

JC

[chrisb]

Carl, I'm not sure if you have read Damon's book but it tells the tragic events in brutally emotional detail and must openly admit to becoming quite upset when I read his words, as an aside it is still my favourite recent autobiography and whilst Betty finished Graham's book off with the news of the tragedy it just [for me] didn't capture the moment as Damon's did 40 years later

JC- Tony - yes with no doubt in my mind would have been up there, I liked Tom and his sideways style but aside from his victory at Brands I was never convinced of his ability to take it to the next stage, and Roger, I never really knew, I was at Donington Museum a few years ago and there was a tribute to him, but I never felt a connection with him,

incidentally now with Dr Jonathon taking over Donington [here's hoping the DTM's go there] what happens to the museum?

[Deleted]

While I was doing something else - engineering, as usual... - look what I have found!! Look at the name of the "inventors/claimants"!

patents.google.com/patent/US4386801/en

patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/17/cb/9c/27e4c175c6c73d/US4386801.pdf

The invention can of course be embodied in other ways, and to other kinds of vehicles than as specifically described.

It is evident that those skilled in the art may make numerous modifications of the specific embodiment described above without departing from the present inventive concepts. It is accordingly intended that the invention shall be construed as embracing each and every novel feature and novel combination of features present in or possessed by the apparatus herein described and that the foregoing disclosure shall be read as illustrative and not as limiting except to the extent set forth in the claims appended hereto.

[René]

That is very cool Lucio.

[Deleted]

I have read a couple of scientific papers Peter Wright published at the time, but wasn't aware they had patented ground effect. Quite a find. In the sentence I quoted in bold they tried to pre-empt others copying the idea.... Wishful thinking.

[Jamie]

What a find Lucio......really interesting 👍

[Deleted]

[chrisb]

that is a beauty