Learning on ScreenColin Chapman
Series
- Series Name
- The Pacemakers
Issue
Story
- Story No. within this Issue
- 1 / 1
- Summary
- COI synopsis: In twenty years Colin Chapman has worked his way into the millionaire class by his single-minded fascination with making cars that go quickly. From his earliest days car racing enthusiasts have clamoured for Chapman’s "Lotus" cars, and right in the earliest days of all he split his tiny company into two division; one to race special cars, built for the purpose, and the other to make road cars using the lessons learned from racing. Chapman has now delegated a great deal of the day to day running of the factory, but keeps the racing - Team Lotus - very close to him. Over the years he has been successful, bringing in sophisticated technical achievements, to keep his team ahead. These advances have largely grown from Chapman’s own skill as a designer and engineer, and his willingness to back ideas. This film spends time in the Grand Prix pits with the man who has made a million, in sterling, from making beautiful fast cars for the road and the track. It’s the afternoon of the British Grand Prix, and it’s a day that will end badly for Chapman - or does it? In the organised chaos of Formula One facing Chapman is experimenting again, with four wheel drive. His experimental cars go out early - and even the conventional cars don’t finish in the flowers and champagne lists. But the lessons learned at the race track are re-absorbed into his racing stable and into his production line of sports cars. In the closing scenes Coling Chapman the millionaire engineer is back at the drawing board with his designers, working out a newer, better way of making cars go faster.
- Keywords
- Motor racing; Industry and manufacture
- Written sources
- COI Catalogue Cards [BFI National Archive]
Viewing Copy - BFI National Archive
COI Microfilm Roll 16 [BFI National Archive] Used for synopsis
- COI Reference
- MI 1461/6
- Credits:
This series is held by:
Film Archive
- Name
- British Film Institute (BFI)
- For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
For commercial/footage reuse enquiries:
footage.films@bfi.org.uk - Web
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- Phone
- 020 7255 1444
- Fax
- 020 7580 7503
- Address
- 21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN - Notes
- The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).
- Series held
- View all series held by British Film Institute (BFI)
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