1978 JPS MKIV Lotus 79

Click here for more pictures of the most amazing racing car ever built.

Much credit for effective early wind tunnel work has been attributed to Shadow designer Tony Southgate during the mid-70's. However, Team Lotus designer Peter Wright was the man who made some of the most significant discoveries. This led to the development of Colin Chapman's 'ground effect' Lotus 78 and the Championship winning type 79.

Whilst working with models of the still secret Lotus 78, Wright, almost by chance, stumbled over the development that was destined to have enormous implications for F1 car design over the five years that followed.

Wright had been studying the complexities of airflow beneath racing cars ever since the late 1960's when he had worked at BRM. During the course of his tests to finalise the Lotus 78's basic aerodynamic configuration, an assessment was carried out as to whether the water radiators could be incorporated within the leading edge of the inverted wing side-pods. In this configuration, Wright began to obtain non-repeatable results with the wind tunnel model. What followed was a break-through of momentous significance that would open the door to new areas of understanding of under-car airflow. This established a basic yard-stick that would remain valid even after wing section underbody profiles were banned in F1 at the end of the 1982 season.

On closer examination, Wright detected that the model's side pods were sagging, and as they moved closer to the tunnel floor, so the downforce increased. The Lotus research team explored this phenomenon with a degree of fascination, quickly cutting up some makeshift card-board sides that extended the model's pods right down to the ground. Thus tested, their results indicated that the downforce had doubled, opening the way for skirted ground-effect F1 racers.

If the type 77 had started the team along the road back to a competitive status, the type 78 sharply focused the thinking towards the benefits offered by ground-effect aerodynamics. The Lotus 79 carried that philosophy a giant step further. The design concept called for a brand new car with a slim monocoque, central fuel cell and inboard suspension all round; in short, every facet of its performance succumbed to excellent aerodynamics.

Unfortunately, title sponsor JPS left, and the new 80 model was too advanced to tame. Reining champion Mario Andretti only scored 14 points, with a best of 1 third place, compared to 64 points and 6 wins the previous year. However, the basic layout of this revolutionary car can still be seen on Formula One machines today.

http://www.f1nutter.co.uk/tech/aero.php

And here are the Stats:

Lotus 78
FIRST GRAND PRIX Argentinian Grand Prix 1977
ACTIVE YEARS 1977-1978
GRAND PRIX WINS 7 [Details]
POLE POSITIONS 9 [Details]
POINTS SCORED 106
RACING LAPS COMPLETED 2646

Lotus 79
FIRST GRAND PRIX Belgian Grand Prix 1978
ACTIVE YEARS 1978-1979
GRAND PRIX WINS 6 [Details]
POLE POSITIONS 10 [Details]
POINTS SCORED 112
RACING LAPS COMPLETED 2559

INCREDIBLE!!!