BEN EDWARDS @benedwardstv PICTURES
AMERICA FIRST: 45 YEARS ON FROM A GROUND-EFFECT GREAT
F1 returns to the USA at a time when national interest in the sport is rapidly expanding, helped by having a US driver on the grid. Logan Sargeant will experience a new level of spectator passion as he attempts to consolidate his role at Williams. This hasn’t always been the case in recent years as F1 struggled in the US; in fact it was a surprise a few weeks ago to realise I was attending an event on the 45th anniversary of the last time an American F1 driver became world champion.
September’s Goodwood Revival corresponded with the weekend at Monza in 1978 when Mario Andretti took the title with Lotus, and the car which served him so well was being demonstrated in West Sussex. While the anniversary of that Italian GP always has the sad aspect of the loss of Ronnie Peterson, Andretti’s team-mate, there’s no doubt the Lotus 79 still captures the imagination. It was the last car to earn titles for Lotus but was the first
F1 car designed around the aspects of ground effect to win both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles.
Ground effect is a major part of current F1, having been reintroduced for 2022. In 1975 Lotus founder Colin Chapman was frustrated the team was uncompetitive and, while on holiday in Ibiza, came up with a list of design aspects he wanted the engineers to explore. One was how to improve aerodynamics and the crew spent late nights at Imperial College in London, where the quarter-scale wind tunnel proved useful. Especially since it had a rolling rubber belt that ran beneath the scaled model of the race car – because they quickly learned that lowering the front wing closer to the ground created greater downforce. As soon as they told Chapman, he was encouraging them to explore more aspects; not just the front wing but other parts of the chassis, to turn it into an upside-down wing. The basis of ground effect had begun.
The first car drawn up along those lines was the Lotus 78. Sidepods were shaped underneath to suck the car down towards the track and it was a design Mario Andretti was already encouraging the team to follow as he was racing a car that wasn’t generating grip in the dry. Yet Mario’s wet-weather win in the 1976 season finale pumped Colin Chapman to throw himself into the development of the new car, understanding that he had a great opportunity to g
