Lotus 79 Owners' Workshop Manual

The Lotus 79 with its classic JPS black and gold sponsorship colours was thefirst F1 car to fully exploit the potential of ground-effect aerodynamics.Designed by Colin Chapman and his engineering team the Lotus 79dominated the 1978 World Championship taking US driver MarioAndretti with his only F1 World Championship. Lotus?s two drivers Mario Andretti and ?Super Swede? Ronnie Peterson proved almost unbeatable with four 1?2 finishes during the season. The car made its debut at the 1978 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Andretti winning first time out with the car. Having won once race each earlier in the season with the 79?s predecessor the Lotus 78 Andretti and Peterson went on to dominate the championship with the 79 Andretti winning a further five races and Peterson a single further victory in Austria and a further five podium finishes. The key to the car?s success was thepioneering use of ground effect with twin underbody venturis creating a lowpressure area under the car effectively sucking it onto the track. When RonniePeterson secretly tested the car during late 1977 there were several chassisfailures due to the shear force of the suction and the aluminium tub had to be strengthened in several places.