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Peter Collins is a man who produces many different emotions in people whenever his name is mentioned in conversation,To
a few people he is a crook who took a thriving Team,and drove it to bankruptcy ,To the others ,in the majority it seems ,he
tried to save a washed up team who's car had left one of its drivers for dead on the racetrack, and ressurect it to its
former glory.Until now Peter has never given his own version of the final 4 years of Team Lotus,a story which through the
mere fact of it having to be written at all, brings sad memories to Lotus fans who still believe that Team Lotus was the greatest
motor racing team ever and always will be .
Peter has agreed to this interview specifically for Japanese readers.It is not a syndicated article from a Western magazine.It
is the first interview he has given to the media since the collapse of Team Lotus.
MF : Peter, why give your first interview since the collapse of Team Lotus to me for exclusive publication in a Japanese
magazine ?
PC : I owe the Japanesesponsors and people a debt of gratitude for the help and support given in the form of sponsorship and
other ways to Team Lotus in the years I ran it .The enthusiasm of Japanese companys such as Tamiya,Komutsu ,Hitachi and
many equally valuable sponsors was crucial to Team Lotus.The Japanese sponsors ,press and fans were far more understanding
of the teams aims and ambitions than the Britsh were .It seems incredible to me that an important team like Lotus,one of
Englands glories ,with all the prestige and name,had to be taken over by a Australian and supported in the main by the Japanese.
MF: When did you first have the idea about taking over the Team.
PC: In 79-81 when I started to work for Chapman I felt that Team Lotus would be my lifes work and that one day, if I was
good enough ,I would perhaps take over the team when the old man (Chapman ) retired .Unfortunatly after 3 years we had a disagreement
and I left the Team,but just before Colin died we had again made contact and were on friendly terms.
MF: At what point did you contemplate taking over the Team .Was it after you had left running Bennetton or did you have
ideas about it when you were still there.
PC; I initially thought of setting up a new team before I ran Bennetton but after I left later made contact with the Chapman
familywith a view to taking over the remannants of the team along with Peter Wright .
MF Did you and Wright face opposition from the Chapman family.
PC : No .They were fully supportive .
MF. In initial press packs the name Horst Schubel was included as one of te team directors, but subsequently no mention
is made of him .Whats is the story ?
PC .Horst Schubel was originaly going to own 50 percent for a payment of 4 Million pounds.Unfortunatly he could only come
up with half a million pounds and badly let us down . The lack of this money immediatly put the project in serious jepody
and only really got off the ground thanks to Ted Ball and Landhurst Leasing which was a long term loan which had to be paid
back, not a stake in the team. You can say in reality that Schubel put the noose round our neck and walked away. In the end
we raised another 2 . 5 million in sponsorship and kept the team running ,but we were always that 3.5 million down . We gained
3 World Champion points and proved we had a viable team despite the fact trhat 91 was just a holding year
MF
: What did you find when you arrived at Ketteringham Hall.
PC The Team showed all the signs of lack of investment and having run out of money ,and technicaly they did not keep pace
with the rest of the teams.While Tony Rudd and the Chapman family did a good job under the circumstances and used their minimal
amount of Camel sponsorship to good effect ,some middle managment and technical personel did not perform adequatly and the
whole team had run down .they had a design (the lotus 103),but no engine .no sponsorship . The1989 car( type 101) was a good
car, but then they seemed to lose it and the Lotus 102 was a disaster in terms of design and was a structural nightmare.
MF:How important was Japanese sponsorship to the reformed Team Lotus.
PC :Japanese support and sponsorship was crucial to our effort .Without the Japanese the Team could not have been viable
.I cannot thank everyone involved enough.We recieved nothing but a welcome in Japan where I felt they appreciated the aspirations
of a reinvigorated Team Lotus
MF ...Tell me about the Tamiya sponsorship .? PC Mr Tamiya was the first person to give support for our team,He
appreciated the heritage of Team Lotus and also the fact that his1/12 model of the Lotus 49 had been an important model
for Tamiya .His designer Mr Kiya (now boss of EBBRO model cars ) was a good friend, while he was waiting at Kettering Hall
for the Lotus102 to be made ready for its first run he built me the49 kit for me .It stood in my office and I was very annoyed
when David Hunt would not let me keep it .
MF :How about British help and support.?
PC :Virtualy non existent.I cannot believe how little support from Britain either in sponsorship or goodwill we had in
our first season.I cannot think of any other country that would let a priceless asset like team Lotus disappear . I was very
disappointed in that .
Some parts of the British press were openly hostile.
MF
Your choice of drivers was perhaps one of your strongest elements in the revised team, especialy Hakkinnen,straight from
F3 and later in the season Johnny Herbert .
Did you consider you were taking a risk using a relativly inexperienced driver such as Hakkinen
PC Not really ,it was obvious that he was very quick and he also brought some usefull sponsorship .We could use the Lotus
102 B as a good introduction to F1for him and then he would have good experience when the 107 came on board .
MF
When did Hakkinnen first come to your attention?
PC.... At Silverstone in 1990 in an F3 race .Hakkinnen and Salo were racing wheel to wheel the whole race but Hakinnen
was very impressive .
MF..Were other Teams trying to sign him as well ?
PC ...No .
He had tested with Bennetton as part of his his deal for the F3 championshipbut nothing had come of it .He was due to
test and possibly race in F3000 with Malboro,but we offered him a drive instead .
MF Had it always been your intention to sign Johnnie Herbert when you took over Lotus.
PC ..No Johnnie was only one of several options
M F :Was Herbert important to Japanese sponsors
PC
Johnny was popular in Japan as he was racing in Formula Nippon and had of course just won Le Mans in a Mazda when he
joined the Team He became more important as time went on on
M F:The Lotus 102b got you some vital world championship points.Were you surprised
PC . No ,the 102b proved the basic team was sound It was very much an interim car just to get us through the season but
it proved the Team was moving in the right direction. The car had to have 50kilos of Carbon fibre added to stiffen the monocoque
in the light of Martin Donnellys the year before ,but it did its job well.
MF :The Lotus 107 was the the car that all hopes were riding on ,did it reach your hopes and expectations.
PC
The 107 was a beautiful car .It was, considering our budget , a very sucessful car .It qualified
MF: I suppose one of the surprises of the 93 season was the lack of performance of the 107B .What went wrong?
PC We were very short of money and just could not develop the car as we wanted to ,also the active suspension was much
more expensive to develope than we anticipated as all other teams found .The initial Silverstone test of 93 was reasonably
successful and the cars good performance was commented on by other team managers, but then performance dramatically decreased.we
were frankly baffled.It was not until many years later that someone who was working on the shop floor at Cosworth at the
time told some former Team members that the HB engines supplied to us had sports car ie endurance racing spec internals .If
it is true ,and no-one can prove it now,either way, then that would explain the sudden drop in straight line speed that plagued
us all year. It meant we were constantly taking off downforce to try and get more speed .
MF
Why would Cosworth do such a thing .
PC
I must stress that this was under the old Cosworth management not the one in place now but it was I believe to save money..We
owed money from the 92 season and although we paid in full for 93 they knew we had no option but to use their engines.we
were told by Cosworth that if we carried on using their engines in 94 ,they would not call in the 92 debt .This would have
meant still using poor performing engines so we were happy to sign with Honda -Mugen and hope we would find the money to
pay Cosworths debt. In the end we couldnt and it was in fact Cosworth's management at the time that applied for the Team
Lotus bankruptcy, for the 2 million pounds owing from 92.It was a sad and unexpected end to the relationship that had started
with Team Lotus so many years ago.
MF
:The Mild Seven sponsorship that you thought the team were getting ended up at Bennetton.How did this affect you .
PC
It was a great disapointment .It would have meant financing the team properly and it was a blow we did not really recover
from.It would have made a vast difference.but we just had to carry on .
MF Did Irvines misjugement at Monza ,where Herbert amazingly qualified the type 109 fourth (when he took off Herbert
at the first corner)make a difference to the fate of Team Lotus at that critical time .
PC
It made a bad situation worse .Lets just say things that may have happened if we had made a good result .were negated
by Irvines crass driving .Although Team Lotus was going into administration,a good positive position at Monza would have been
of great help I have since learnt . At the time I considered Eddie to be a completely irrisponsible idiot,although of course
I do not think he took Johnny off deliberately .
.Now I think he is like a breath of fresh air.s .
MF what about the infamous Salo letter where Mika Salo took Team Lotus to court to get out of his contract. Some members
of the teams final management felt you had let the team down by backing Mika Salos requst to go to Tyrrell ,taking his 5 million
dollars of sponsorship from Nokia with him .
PC
Team lotus just did not have the resources to justify him staying in the team ,They had only the bare designs for the
next car and no finalised engine deal ,time was running out to get the car built in timre and it would have been unfair to
Mika to keep him in contract . The Nokia money was simply not enough to allow the team to survive and run in the 95 season
.
MF
Finally
What did you think of the idea of a Team Lotus -Pacific Grand Prix tie-up
PC
No comment !!
At this point the interview ended , There are a million questions still to ask but none will be answered yet ,maybe for
legal or personal reasons
editorial comment
Martin feldwick
Many people including exTeam employees tell they still cannot believe that when the sport,at least to a few , is worth
Billions ,Team Lotus went under ,that no-one rescued it .Companys that just a few years later paid fortunes to enter the
sport did not have the forsight to buy a fully integrated TEAM for just a few million.Just think of where Honda Team Lotus
could have been now ,Michael Schumacher would have been begging to sign up,or maybe Team Ford Lotus .A better investment of
their millions I think than the over optimistic takeover of Stewart some years later and certainly a lot cheaper.
It seems to me that the various people who tried to buy the bankrupt team misunderstood the nature of motorsport.By
trying to take over the team they tried to apply the quick buck theory ,whereas in F1 the only really quick buck is the one
one being spent by the million just to get to the grid, let alone win. Those that followed vastly underestimated the task
ahead .Peter Collins tried to save a drowning team by throwing it a financial and managerial lifeline when in reallity it
needed a lifeboat .
Will Team Lotus ever be resurected?.I met a man at Silverstone this year ,who promised it would be.He was saying the
same thing a few years ago ,Actually he was saying exactly the same thing a few years a go .If it does reappear .It wont
be Team Lotus as we remember it .It will be just another team in just another factory ,gleaming chrome and logos ,probably
reflecting its image in a dead lake .The victorys, losses,tears and laughter will be missing .The trophys that were won are
stored in different places.It will have to start afresh ,have its own triumphs and tragedies ,win its own trophys .So why
call it Team Lotus .Why not play it straight .The only people with the slightest moral right to raise a new Team Lotus is
Lotus Cars.
Team Lotus were my local team,and always will be .They say Ketteringham Hall is haunted,I wonder what by ? A skirted
lady drifting through cold corridors perhaps, or a screaminng F1 engine powering up after being installed ,or maybe just Colin
Chapman wondering where his team has gone.
Sometimes I go to Ketteringham hall and stick my neck round the corner and take a peek , the ghosts are silent
but ,Well, you never know ,do you ?
FIN
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