10 Of The Coolest Cars Of All Time Formula One
Lotus 79
When it raced: 1978 to 1979
I won’t bore you with terms like Venturi tunnels, but just know that Lotus boss Colin Chapman was a firm believer in aerodynamics, and his race cars were always cutting edge. This is the car with which Mario Andretti took the championship, in no small part because it was virtually glued to the ground at high speed.
The Lotus 79 was a Formula One car designed in late 1977 by Colin Chapman, Geoff Aldridge, Martin Ogilvie, Tony Rudd and Peter Wright of Lotus.
The Lotus 79 was the first F1 car to take full advantage of ground effects aerodynamics, pioneered in its immediate predecessor, the Lotus 78. The undercar pressure problems in the 78 were resolved with the 79, with further design work on the venturi tunnels under the car, which allowed the low pressure area to be evenly spaced along the whole of the underside.
This was achieved by extending the rear bodywork to a point inside the rear wheels, allowing the underside to extend further back, instead of ending abruptly in front of the rear wheels as on the 78. As a result, the rear suspension was also redesigned to allow the air to exit the rear more cleanly than on its predecessor. This allowed a smaller rear wing to be designed, causing less drag.
When the car first appeared, the upper bodywork was steeply raked and featured «Coke bottle» sidepods. After work in the wind tunnel, these features were found to be unnecessary, as the car generated so much downforce anyway. These features were, however, later incorporated into the Lotus 80. In all, five chassis were built during the design’s lifetime, with the prototype 79/1 being sold to Héctor Rebaque to race as a privateer entrant.