To mark its 100th birthday, Motor Sport magazine has named its Race Car of the Century… and the prestigious honour went to the Lotus 49. The winner was chosen by readers of the magazine in a poll. The Lotus fought of stiff competition from the Porsche 917 and McLaren MP4/4. The award was presented to Clive Chapman at a glitzy ceremony in central London. Appropriately it was Damon Hill who presented the award; it was his father Graham who drive the Type 49 to its Formula One World Championship title in 1968.

Clive Chapman said: “The line-up of cars for the readers of Motor Sport to vote for was spectacular, so for the Lotus 49 to come out on top is just fantastic. The 49 was the biggest step in year-on-year performance ever seen in F1 history and was created by some of the sport’s greatest ever engineering minds. It was raced by five World Champions and not many cars can say that! To be sharing the moment with Damon is special, too, as Graham was so closely associated with the 49.”

Damon Hill, himself Formula One World Champion in 1996, added: “My dad would be tickled pink – as I’m sure would Colin – to know that together they worked on a car which has been recognised in this way. It is a tremendous honour that the readers of Motor Sport have voted for the Lotus and we are proud as the Hill family to have been involved in an amazing project like this. We congratulate Clive and the whole Chapman family on winning this incredible award.” 

Joe Dunn, editor of Motor Sport summed up the 49’s win. “There have been more successful F1 cars in terms of race wins but the Lotus 49, together with its DFV, set the template for what was to come in later years and, therefore, it is the very worthy Car of the Century winner. We know there’s a natural affinity among our readers for that era which for many was a golden age. 

“The 49 also has strong association with the much-loved Jim Clark, one of the sport’s two or three all-time greats, and our highly knowledgeable readership has an in-depth understanding of the significance of the 49 not simply because of what it achieved but because of its longer time influence on motor racing and, indeed, the whole of British motor racing industry. We respect their informed decision and hail the crowning of the  Lotus 49 as the greatest of the greats.”

The Type 49 was introduced in 1967 for Graham Hill and Jim Clark, and is closely associated with the great Scot. It was the first Formula One car to use the Ford DFV engine, and the first to use the powerplant as a stressed member of the car’s structure – an innovation that almost every grand prix car has since followed. 

Image: Motor Sport magazine