Genius Colin Chapman's Wicked Fast but Deadly Approach, is Racing Driver Rocket Fuel

"Simplify and add lightness" was what Colin Chapman said. This won championships and cost lives. How to use it yourself to drive yourself into the stratosphere.

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“To finish first, first you have to finish”. Could there be a less ‘racing driver spirit’ phrase than that? It’s puke-worthy in it’s endorsement of caution and mediocrity.

Like that Aesop fable of the hare vs the tortoise, where the tortoise wins and we are supposed to cheer for that heavily armoured slow plodder.

Screw that! The hare was fully lit, built for speed, and brimming with self-assurance. The hare gets my support every time!

So with all that pusillanimous wisdom floating around in our culture, thank the racing gods for Colin Chapman, who blows all the cautionary tales away with attitudes like this:

Colin's idea of a Grand Prix car was it should win the race and, as it crossed the finishing line, it should collapse in a heap of bits. If it didn't do that, it was built too strongly.

-Innes Ireland (unhappy with his Lotus brakes failing)

Yes! If the car finishes in one piece it was too heavy.

That’s a proper racing driver way of thinking. Light, fast af and living with, and relishing in, high personal risk.

This philosophy works, phenomenally well in fact, for racing cars. And maybe for you too if it get’s under your skin, which it bloody well should!

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Colin Chapman was a design genius. With Lotus F1 he pioneered some of the most innovative racing car designs ever, winning seven F1 titles with his super-lightweight and sublime handling cars. That legacy lives on today…

But, his cars were dangerously light - they broke a lot with some drivers paying the ultimate price. He was racing to win, but his approach was highly controversial because he seemed to put his ‘lightness first’ design philosophy, before the lives of drivers.

The fact that drivers died in this pursuit should elevate the seriousness of his philosophy above everyday philosophies. Chapman as a very quick racer himself, was deadly serious about it - quite literally.

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“Simplify and add lightness.”
Colin Chapman

I mean, even the quote itself is perfectly simple and light. There’s no added weight at all!

Lucky for us though, his colleague fleshes it out, and this next quote absolutely blows my mind.

Why? Because it distills beautifully what racing means. And when you absorb it into your own blood it can drive you forward with your life like an unbeatably fast racing car. Unbeatable, when it doesn’t break that is. But who wants to be reliable and heavy?!!

Anyway here’s the quote first, then I’ll break it down for you, because the implications of what is said here is absolutely bloody mental!