Lotus: The Complete Story

A great present for a Lotus owner. He loved it.

Like it

this was a gift for our brother-in-law and he was very happy with it.

Crowood titles are generally my favorite model-specific books, and this is a solid effort. My only gripe is with Johnny Tipler’s somewhat haphazard style of photography and layout. He loves to interject himself into his books a bit more than I would like for a reference or history book. He jumps around chronologically and includes too many vehicles that are not under the subject of the book. This book’s “introduction “ chapter basically covers the entire Esprit run in 30 pages, and then it is expanded upon again. Weird. Overall good effort. Just wish it was laid out as cleanly as James Taylor’s books. He is the gold standard in my opinion.

Good book

"Lotus: The Complete Story" is a well written treatment of Lotus, except . . . the first thing I noticed is that the author completely ignored Tony Rudd's contribution to Lotus Cars, Lotus Engineering, and Team Lotus. No idea why Tony should be written out of history.

Good book about the early Elise and its development. Plenty of interesting pictures and interviews.

It has been four years since the Elise was launched at the 1995 Frankfurt Auto Show so it is not surprising that a book on the Elise has become available. Surely this will be the first of many considering the volume of works that have been dedicated to the iconic Elan of the 60's and 70's and the inevitable supplanting of the Elise into the list of all time great Lotuses. John Tipler has another book on Lotuses to his credit, namely Lotus and Caterham Seven Racers for the Road. This publication follows a similar format. All of the steps form concept through development are covered and not only give an insight into the principles behind the Elise, but the workings of Lotus as a whole, with special focus on engineering. Unfortunately much of the book reads like an interview, with a large part of the text direct quotes. But who better to explain the why's and how's of the Elise than Julian Thompson, Richard Rackam, Dave Minter, and the rest of the crew who are responsible for Lotus' latest classic. Interestingly all of the Lotus staff interviewed give full credit for the Elise to Colin Chapman who's tenets are apparently reborn at Lotus. A full chapter is dedicated also to the GT1 as it is spiritually related to the Elise and it serves to fill in this small gap in Lotus history. There is obviously a limited appeal to US Lotus enthusiasts as the model discussed is not available on US shores. However the book is as valuable for it's discussion of Lotus design and engineering philosophy as it is for it's detailing of the specifics of the Elise. A quote from John Miles (ex-Team Lotus F1 pilot and current chassis development consultant) sums it up, "The Elise was risky to do, but that's what Lotus Thrive on."