Download the audio here, also on the YouTube ChannelHere is an excerpt from the interview we filmed with Peter Warr for my Lotus 72 documentary. These are the pieces where he's not talking about the 72! Peter (or PEW as he was known) was the Team Lotus Team Manager as well as at Walter Wolf Racing. But before that, he worked at Lotus very early on. He also tells us one of the ways that Jim Clark won the Indy 500 in 1965, pay driver Alex Soler-Roig at Clermont-Ferrand in 1970 and Dave Walker in F3 in 1971. The interview was conducted by Steve Holter.
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Beaky Sims tells us what it was like to work on the revolutionary gas turbine Lotus 56B
Download the audio here, also on the YouTube channel.Reine Wisell pictured in the 56B in the Silverstone pitlane at the 1971 British GP.Picture courtesy of the Supercharged Collection.
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John Miles explaining the principles of anti-squat and anti-dive suspension pioneered on the Lotus 72
Download the audio here, also on the YouTube channel.Beaky Sims pictured with John Miles in the Lotus 64 at the 1969 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.Picture courtesy of the Supercharged Collection
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Dave Brodie, recorded in April 2016
Download the audio here, also on the YouTube channelI met the Brode just twice, the first time was to film this interview (April 2016) for my Lotus 72 documentary. The connection to that was that he was Ronnie Peterson's best friend, and indeed, at his wedding to Barbro was not only his chauffeur but also his Best Man!In this interview I cut virtually nothing out, the Brode was such a skillful storyteller that we needed no re-takes.Ronnie is my favourite Grand Prix driver and as the interview drew to a close both the Brode and I knew how it was going to end, we both finished with tears in our eyes.RIP Brode, thank you for your time and patience.
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Peter Burns, part 2 of 2, recorded 23rd January 2023
Download part 2 of the audio here Gary continues his interview with Peter, you can watch the whole conversation on YouTube.
I came upon the phrase ‘the mechanic’s gallon’ a while ago. Lotus in the 60’s were trying to save weight and make the car as light as possible, inc. putting as much fuel in the car at the start of the race so that it lasted JUST to the end. This generally worked but a few times ran out of fuel with a few laps to go. So unbeknownst to Colin Chapman, the mechanics when fuelling the car would add an extra gallon, just to make sure it was enough, hence the ‘mechanic’s gallon’!
Ireland