GRAND PRIX CROWN JEWEL

Of all the racing cars made during the 100-year history of Motor Sport, the 49 is the true diamond. Karun Chandhok takes Graham Hill's chassis R10 out for a few laps at Lotus's sacred space – Hethel -

- Karun Chandhok

The era that made me fall in love with Formula 1 was the late 1980s and early 1990s. People often ask me about my favourite F1 cars at which point the Williams FW14B, the Ferrari 641 and the McLaren MP4/4 come to mind with the beautiful curves of the Jordan 191 pushing it into that bracket. I guess we’ve all got a ‘first-touchpoint bias’ when answering the question.

However when I take off the rose-tinted glasses and look at the history of the sport more objectively there is no doubt in my mind that the Lotus 49 is the most significant car in F1 history. This firmly puts it on the bucket list of cars to drive for any racing driver who is a true fan of motor racing. I’ve been fortunate to drive an F1 car from every decade of the sport going back to the 1930s, right up until the 2019 hybrid-powered Mercedes that took Lewis Hamilton to the world championship title that year. The list includes 12 world championship-winning cars and this has given me the wonderful opportunity to appreciate the evolution of the sport from the cockpit.

Clive Chapman and his team at Classic Team Lotus kindly let me drive the 49 before at Monza but somehow driving it at its spiritual home at Hethel felt extra special. Sitting in the cockpit is actually remarkably comfortable. I suppose the chassis had to be designed to accommodate Graham Hill who I’m told was reasonably tall. When you first look at the off-centre steering wheel, it seems very odd but actually once you pull away and start driving, it’s not really something you think about. Frankly, I felt grateful for the extra space to change gear.