Remembering Hazel Chapman (1927-2021)

Today we heard about the death of Hazel Chapman, wife of Lotus co-founder Colin Chapman. All of our thoughts go out to her family and friends.

For those of you who perhaps didn't know all that much about Hazel, she was an integral part of the Lotus brand, and her contribution to motorsport and the motor industry in the latter half of the 20th century should not be under-estimated.

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During her life, she was a successful racing driver, a clever businesswoman and part of the rock upon which the Lotus was founded in 1948 when the very first Lotus car was made. Her involvement in the development of the Lotus business was around the same time where women so often played second fiddle to their husbands – and she certainly proved many men wrong by backing up the claim that 'behind every strong man is a stronger woman'.

Hazel Williams was born on May 21st 1927 in North London and met her soon to be husband Colin Chapman at a dance in 1944 when he was just 16 and she a few months older. Little did they know that just a few years down the line, Colin would be building the world's first Lotus in the back of their house in Hornsey.

While Colin was in the Royal Air Force, Hazel continued with the building of the Lotus Mark 1 and then the Mark 2. After that, both Hazel and Colin began racing before starting Lotus in 1952, thanks to Hazel's business-orientated mind.

Hazel worked alongside some of the greats while working at Lotus including Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna. In fact, she was also a founder of The Dog House women’s motorsport club.

After being widowed in 1982, Hazel didn't back down and decided that Lotus Cars needed new ownership to secure its future in making sports cars, so she became a Director of Classic Team Lotus, the Chapman family business which preserves the cars and legacy of the brand’s global racing success.

Ever since then, Hazel still kept a close relationship with Lotus and even signed off the brand's 100,000th road car in 2018. She even had a sneak peek at the Evija before the public did back in July of 2019.

It's a real shame to lose someone who played such an integral role in the British motoring industry, but both Hazel and Colin Chapman will never be forgotten.

Rest in peace.