This is Lotus 79 chassis '4' - the car in which Mario Andretti won the 1978 Dutch GP and then clinched his Drivers' World Championship title in the following Italian GP at Monza. Not only is the ground-effects Type 79 a landmark car in GP racing design, but since Phil Hill's 1961 Italian GP 'Sharknose' Ferrari was subsequently scrapped, this is the only surviving F1 car ever to carry an American driver to his Championship-clinching point score.
1 - Mario leading Ronnie - 1978 Dutch GP, Zandvoort - a superb 1-2 success for the Lotus 79 duo.
![GPL-78-Mario-Andretti-and-Ronnie-Peterso](https://i.postimg.cc/4dngRCNH/GPL-78-Mario-Andretti-and-Ronnie-Peterson-79s-Dutch-GP-1-copy.jpg)
2 - In a provincial British studio this month...
![GPL-LOTUS-79-4.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/bv4hPCG6/GPL-LOTUS-79-4.jpg)
3 - Ditto
![GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5616.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/HW2h4vpf/GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5616.jpg)
4 - Chassis plate
![GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5620.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/DyN5BtRY/GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5620.jpg)
5 - 'Black Beauty' indeed...
![GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5660.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/nLJ4WZ2T/GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5660.jpg)
6 - Ditto
![GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5668.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/YSMF3R2s/GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5668.jpg)
7 - Ditto
![GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5670.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/L51hRg6P/GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5670.jpg)
8 - As distinctive a landmark design feature as the Cooper's engine position - the ground-effect 79s' underflooor venturi form
![GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5649.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/sfkJttVB/GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5649.jpg)
9 - For any enthusiast, studio photography's prolonged intense focus upon the artefact can border upon a magical experience...
![GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5614.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/CLJzjq6F/GPL-LOTUS-79-4-5614.jpg)
10 - ...and in period, Mario and Colin Chapman with his earlier-chassis Type 79, 1978 British GP, Brands Hatch.
![GPL-1978-BRITISH-GP-BRANDS-MARIO-ANDRETT](https://i.postimg.cc/Y0CZmZsf/GPL-1978-BRITISH-GP-BRANDS-MARIO-ANDRETTI-LOTUS-79-COLIN-CHAPMAN.jpg)
All Photos strictly Copyright: The GP Library
DCN