The price of gold today is approximately $5,795 an ounce. That’s a big number compared to back in 1968 when it was $35 in January of that year. No doubt Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars thought he had struck the jackpot at that time when fielding the first fully sponsored Gold Leaf Team Lotus Ford 49T in the Lady Wigram Trophy event held at the Wigram Aerodrome in Christchurch, NZ, in January 1968.
Arguably 1968 was just as turbulent as today with the on-going Vietnamese war, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, uprisings in Czechoslovakia, the first successful Apollo mission orbiting the Moon and New Zealand’s worst modern maritime disaster when the inter-island ferry Wahine struck Barrett Reef and capsized in Wellington Harbour killing 53 people.
Leading up to 1968, it was a tradition that F1 cars were painted in the colours linked to their country. However, it was also a move by the FIA that allowed advertising to open up, moving away from exclusive car related products.
Chapman went against F1 etiquette, changed car colour and advertised a cigarette brand. It is reported that this was perceived as selling his soul. Yet, it was motivated by financial survival. He needed money.
The sponsor was Imperial Tobacco and the relationship with Lotus would last through to 1986 including the John Player Special branding on some of F1’s most stunning chassis.
Cue the Tasman Series and the third round held at the Wigram Air base in Christchurch.
The Tasman Series was a ‘must do’ for teams and Jim Clark represented Lotus down under driving a Lotus 49T (2.5 litre).
Initially Kiwi Chris Amon dominated the first two rounds in his 2.4 litre Dino powered Ferrari while Clark retired out of both weekends. It may have been the new Gold Leaf advertising on Clark’s car that saw him win at Wigram followed by a second place at Teretonga, Invercargill. Three wins on the trot in Australia (Surfers Paradise, Warwick Farm, Sandown (Australian Grand Prix)) plus a fifth at Longford gave him the title. Unfortunately, this was his last major appearances before passing away in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim in Germany.
So, for the 1968 F1 season, the FI decided to permit unrestricted sponsorship on cars. Initially Team Gunston, a South African privateer team, was the first Formula One team to paint their cars in the livery of their sponsors when they entered a private Brabham for John Love, painted in the colours of Gunston cigarettes, in the 1968 South African Grand Prix.
Following on from the Tasman Series, the next F1 round at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix saw Team Lotus become the first works team to follow this example, with Graham Hill’s Lotus 49B entered in the red, gold and white colours of the Imperial Tobacco’s Gold Leaf brand. The rest is history!
Comments