Lotus co-founder..Female racer 'Hazel Chapman' success story
Mar 09, 2025
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Her pre-wedding name was Hazel Patricia Williams. Born in north London in 1927, Hazel spent her childhood helping her with work at her mother's wool shop, as her mother said during World War II, "It's better to stay at home than to escape." He resembled his mother's strong personality, so he was independent and had a different academic enthusiasm.
My relationship with Colin, the husband of the future (?) began at a social dance party in London around the age of 17. The two fell in sweet love, but Hazel's parents didn't like their prospective son-in-law very much. He even moved out to separate the two. Undaunted by this, Colin was responsible for her daily trip to school. In the meantime, he tried to reduce travel time as if he was breaking 'rap time'.
The reason why the two quickly became close was none other than a car. Hazel's interest in automobiles was incredible for a woman born in the 1920s. In the end, Hazel's parents, unable to separate the two, allowed their daughter to build a car with her boyfriend in the garage behind the house. It's not even a toy, it's an actual race car. This is how he was born in 1948 in 'Lotus Mark I'. Like the movie 'Iron Man', they immediately started developing the follow-up 'Mark II' and focused on performance upgrades based on the Austin 7 chassis. Meanwhile, Colin joined the Air Force and she became a 'rubber god'. However, it was not a princess who would wait quietly until she was discharged from the military. She continued her development without choline, installing a Ford engine on the incomplete Mark II.
After being discharged, the two went to car races every weekend with their cars. They competed in lap time with each other, with Hazel occasionally outpacing Colin and gaining fame in the race. As such, she showed off her outstanding talent as a racer as well as her ability as an engineer.
Loters Mark III stood out in the race, and the Chapman couple now wanted to expand race car production into the realm of full-fledged business rather than a 'hobby of love'. In January 1952, he founded Lotus Engineering with Colin based on Hazel's 25 pounds. The two married in October of the following year, and they were not an ordinary couple, using a bus with the 'Team Lotus' logo as a wedding car.
Actual hazel contributed greatly to the growth of Lotus. He recruited staff to be with him and led the team by attending major motorsports competitions such as the Le Mans 24:00 Race and Indianapolis 500 as well as customer care. At the same time, he faithfully performed his "mother's role" by taking charge of the parenting and education of his three children so that Colin could work full-time at Lotus.
is not the only one. Moving to East Carlton in 1969, he transformed a muddy field into a fine garden, and to this day, he is known to have such a beautiful garden that it is open to local horticulturists once a year. For Colin, it was a tranquil resting place to dissolve the stress of daily life, contrasting 180 degrees with the gas-smelling Hedel factory.
Also, Hazel contributed to expanding Lotus' business area by creating a women's motorsport club called The Dog House. The fact that it has expanded the status of women in races such as "Men's Exclusive" is significant.
With this same dedication, Lotus rose to become a top motorsport manufacturer, winning seven Formula One constructors and six drivers' championships from 1962 to 1978. She was joined by legendary F1 players including Jim Clark and Graham Hill, Emerson Pitti Faldi, Mario Andretti and Ayrton Sena.
In 1982, Colin Chapman died early at the age of 54. The cause of death is a heart attack. Hazel decided that new investments were needed for the future of Lotus and was instrumental in selling its stake to British Car Auctions. Despite Colin's absence, the Lotus were active in F1 until 1987, with the Ayrton Sena at the helm.
Since then, the Lotus F1 team has remained owned by the Chapman family, and in 1992, son Clive Chapman founded the Classic Team Lotus, continuing his family business with Hazel to preserve Lotus' motorsport heritage. Hazel Chapman, who was "Lotus" itself, died in 2021 at the age of 94.
Editor Kim Tae-jin, tj.kim@carguy.kr
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
