Rohan Silva on Colin Chapman
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2019
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The arrival of Lotus shook up motor sport in 1960s and 70s. In Formula One, Colin Chapman made his cars lighter and quicker than anyone else, often challenging the rules.
But not everything he designed was safe. On the roads, Lotus sports cars are an icon of the era.
To discuss this colourful and controversial life, Matthew Parris is joined by the entrepreneur Rohan Silva and motor racing journalist, Maurice Hamilton.
Producer: Chris Ledgard
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2019.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Doleepa, and I'm at your service. |
| 0:04.7 | Join me as I serve up personal conversations with my sensational guests. |
| 0:08.8 | Do a leap interviews, Tim Cook. |
| 0:11.2 | Technology doesn't want to be good or bad. |
| 0:15.0 | It's in the hands of the creator. |
| 0:16.7 | It's not every day that I have the CEO of the world's biggest company in my living room. |
| 0:20.7 | If you're looking at your phone more than you're looking in someone's eyes, you're doing the wrong thing. |
| 0:26.0 | Julie, at your service, listen to all episodes on BBC Sales. BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:37.0 | Here he comes now, listen to the latest going by. |
| 0:40.0 | Through Whitcord Corner passing us at a good 115 miles an hour for the 81st time and |
| 0:48.9 | Jim Clark in the leading lotus goes through on his last lab. Here comes to Beaufort on the old four-cylinder |
| 0:55.0 | Porsche. The 1963 British Grand Prix was won by the Scottish driver Jim Clark. The car he was |
| 1:01.9 | driving was a Lotus 25 and in the pictures of the post-race celebrations, |
| 1:07.0 | the ritual spraying of Champagne, you see a man in a corduroy cap, the brain behind Lotus, Colin Chapman. |
| 1:15.2 | He is today's great life. |
| 1:17.2 | The choice of my guest, the entrepreneur columnist and former policy advisor to David Cameron and George Osborne, |
| 1:23.9 | Rohan Silver. |
| 1:25.2 | Rohan, I have to start by admitting that I know absolutely nothing about motor |
| 1:30.7 | racing when the big figure in Formula One, Max Mosley some years ago, was hit with various rumors |
| 1:39.2 | about wild sex parties, I felt completely relaxed about the sex parties but could not forgive him for Formula One, |
| 1:46.0 | seem to be much more a matter of disgrace. Where does your interest in motor racing and cars come from. I've just always been really, really into cars. |
| 1:56.3 | And I think Lotus, Colin Chapman, I think played a part in that. As a little kid, I used to be obsessed with James Bond films. He used to hate the fact he was always kissing girls I thought that was a waste of time |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.