Colin Chapman: The Man and His Cars

This is a reissue of the biography of Colin Chapman who built up the world-famous, multi-million pound Lotus car company. The book has been written with the full cop-operation of Chapman's widow, Hazel, and the Lotus company. It shows how the man and his cars were inseparable until his sudden death in 1982. Chapman's full history is covered, from using an Austin Seven Tourer as the base for his first Lotus "special" in 1947 through to his sophisticated 1980s road and racing cars. After the company went public in the late 1960s, Chapman took the marque still further up market with the new Elite, the Eclat and the central-engined Espirit. The Lotus Grnd Prix team went on to win a record seven constructors' world titles and six drivers' world titles.

Gérard ‘Jabby' Crombac was a close friend of Colin Chapman throughout his life, having bought one of the earliest Lotus Mark VI sports cars in 1953. In 1954 he founded the Paris-based magazine Sport Auto and eventually sold it in the late 1970s, having been its editor throughout. He remained an active Formula 1 journalist until 2003 and died in 2005.