The US GP West was held at Long Beach OTD in 1981, but the ground-breaking twin chassis Lotus 88 wasn't taking part – already thrown out on technical grounds. Denis Jenkinson surveys the scene in today's Great Read as confusion reigned over the 88's legality at the beginning of the '81 F1 season
One thing about Colin Chapman and his staff at Ketteringham Hall, the Research and Development centre of Team Lotus, is that they do have a go and do not sit around waiting to see what others are doing before they design a Formula 1 car. Since they got on to the subject of aerodynamics, with particular reference to the flow of air under the car, at a time when most designers were trying to prevent any air from going under their cars, they have discovered a lot of interesting things about car and air behaviour at high speed.
If you are going to look at the passage of a racing car through the air like you do an aircraft, then there are many things which spoil accepted theories. One of these is the exposed and rotating wheels, but rules have forbidden total enclosure on Formula 1 cars since 1960, so wheel disturbances are something you have to live with in Formula 1...
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