Spying

Motor racing has recently been rocked by espionage scandals, but it was ever thus. In 1929, “Leon Dury” swapped two Millers for three Bugattis, and Ettore suddenly had fresh inspiration. When engineers change teams, they take information with them. That is true of any job; it is called “experience.” As an author, if I publish new research, it goes into the public domain and any other writer can use it, within the limits of copyright. When Lotus came up with its system of ground effect, its rivals did not sit around saying, “I wish we had thought of that, but there is nothing we can do.” They copied. Photographers have long made money by supplying photographs of new wings and such, to rival teams. Now you do not even need a camera; it can be done by phone. Seconds after a car with a new item is wheeled from its pit garage, other teams are looking at it at the factory.

When Lotus came up with the Type 79, the mechanics caught a rival designer in the pit garage late at night. You may speculate on the name, but I could not possibly comment. Against popular opinion, I am not convinced that the Lotus 79 was that good a car. It had a brilliant aerodynamic package, but the underpinnings were not special. I think that part of its appeal was that it was drop-dead gorgeous, but it won only six Grands Prix in a window of five months. The less glamorous 78 won seven Grands Prix over a period of 12 months. Lotus had no real idea what it had created, else it would not have made the Type 80, the car that introduced “porpoising” to the motor racing vocabulary.