iRacing Goes Vintage With Lotus 79 F1 Car: Announcement Comes on 30th Anniversary of F1 Title

BEDFORD, MA. September 10, 2008 – The Formula One championship-winning Lotus 79, one of the significant race cars of the past century, will be the first vintage race car available to members of the iRacing.com motorsport simulation and internet racing service. The announcement was made jointly today, the 30th anniversary of Mario Andretti's Formula One World Championship, by Dave Kaemmer, chief executive officer of iRacing and Clive Chapman, managing director of Classic Team Lotus.

"Many of our members are very interested in historic race cars and a fair number of them compete in vintage racing in the physical world," said Kaemmer, who is well known for an earlier simulation, Grand Prix Legends, which was based on the 1967 Formula One season. "To have the Lotus 79, a technically ground-breaking Formula One car and a World Championship winner, as our first historic car is a great place to start, and to be able to announce it on the anniversary of Mario securing the title is perfect."

"Of all of the racing cars in Lotus's long history, including others that have won world championships, few have had such an impact on the sport," said Chapman, who is the son of Lotus founder Colin Chapman. "The Lotus 78 was designed around the notion of underbody aerodynamics, but the 79 was the first car that fully exploited ground effect principles. And that changed the face of racing. It was an amazing car for its time, and it remains an amazing car today. I'm pleased that iRacing will be making it possible for people today to experience what it is like to drive the 79."