• The most-globally significant car of the Andretti Dynasty's glittering heritage
• 'Black Beauty' – Consistently adjusted the best-looking Formula 1 car of them all.
• The only surviving American-driven Formula 1 World Championship-clinching car
• The last Lotus to secure the Formula 1 Constructors' World Championship Title
• One of the three most influential Grand Prix Car designs of all time
• A Grand Prix-winning, double World Championship-clinching, iconic design

When this gleaming 'Black Beauty' Lotus 79 rolls into place on Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit for bidding to begin upon it, our audience will be in the presence of one of the most significant and iconic Grand Prix car designs of all motor racing history.

That overall legacy now extends back more than 128 years. What makes this occasion so very special, of course, is that this 1978 World Championship-clinching Lotus's exquisitely well proportioned and lithe form combines significance within more than just one connoisseurial collector's discipline...

To the Formula 1 enthusiast in particular - and motor sports follower in general - Lotus '79/4' embodies a truly historic technological turning point in racing car design. To the unengaged, this car - resplendent in its contemporary jet black and effectively gold livery - is an entirely captivating, sleek and beautiful head turner - nothing less than a fully functioning, electrifyingly useable, piece of mechanical and artistic sculpture.

Dig deeper, and consider its gorgeous surface form as seen by the appreciative art-lover's eye. The number of truly successful, functioning Formula 1 racing cars which could ever be considered seriously as a sculptural form of connoisseurial-world value is vanishingly small. Yet within even such a rarefied group - Lotus '79/4' as offered here most surely soars.

While bearing in mind the future appeal of such multi-tiered potential, now consider in finer detail this outstanding car's individual history.
It is so much more than being 'just' the machine in which the great - much admired, and indeed much-loved - Italian-born American racing driver Mario Andretti won the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix upon its public debut. In so doing he was adding that achievement to his five previous Grand Prix wins that year, four of them in sister 'Black Beauty' Lotus Type 79 cars, plus the first of the year in its immediate predecessor design, a Type 78.
What's more, Mario immediately secured yet another on-track victory in that year's very next pinnacle-level Formula 1 race - the Italian Grand Prix, only to be penalised post-race for an early rules-infringement which saw that repeated success immediately downgraded to a sixth-place finish.

But against the background of his previous Grand Prix victories that season in the John Player Special Lotus factory team's sister Type 79 cars, the single point scored for that sixth place still clinched for Mario his long-held life's ambition. Within the cockpit of Lotus '79/4' here - he had just won the Formula 1 Drivers World Championship title.

Now add another level of significance to his achievement in doing so. During the entire long history of that World Championship, from its inception in 1950 to date, the title has been won by only two Americans. The first was the late Phil Hill, who had also clinched that towering title there at Monza, in the 1961 Italian GP, driving for Ferrari.

Importantly, the Italian manufacturer subsequently scrapped the 'Sharknose' car that he drove that day. In that uncompromising period, once even such an iconic car had become uncompetitive and obsolete, its Italian constructor saw it only as an obstructive waste of space, so it had been scrapped, destroyed...

In contrast, the 1978 standard-setting '79/4' here raced on through 1979 before being retained and reserved by its British constructor. Not until 1983 was it sold into private hands. Six years later its subsequent minor-level, private-hands, career within American Vintage racing was punctuated by an on-track accident demanding extensive repair.

But since that work had been lovingly completed, Mario Andretti has again driven it as only he knows how - enthusiastically, energetically, hard and fast - and here it is offered today as the world's only surviving continuous-history Formula 1 Grand Prix car in which an American racing driver has ever won motor sport's glittering pinnacle Championship of the World.

With no timeline on when another American superstar driver might join that so-exclusive club, to revel in all that the likes of Team Lotus, Mario Andretti and the Lotus 79 has passed down to us — the opportunity now to own the car that so transformed topline motor racing technology through its high-downforce 'ground effects' underwing design — is now uniquely attractive.

In the Type 79, victory in Formula 1's always-ongoing aerodynamic arms race went to Lotus founder/designer Colin Chapman and his contemporary aerodynamicist Peter Wright. By 1978, Formula 1's ever-restless and frenetic quest not just to harness airflow around its 200mph projectiles but to exploit that latent energy in profitable new ways, had been work in progress for several years. Desires to expand upon the use of traditional front and rear wings to generate downforce, enhancing tyre grip against the road surface which could benefit lap-times around each race circuit, led the industry to investigate airflow not just over and around its cars, but also beneath them, within the confined volumes between car underfloor and track surface beneath

Between Mario Andretti's first stint with Team Lotus in 1968-'69 and his return to them in 1976, he recalls early experience of 'ground effects' while testing the rival March 701 chassis in 1970. Although that car's design lacked the full box-shaped sidepods that Lotus would be introduced upon 1977's Type 78, the March sported possibly-pioneering stubby wing-form body sections which could be added on both sides of the chassis. They captured this always thoughtful star driver's imagination.

"One thing that I brought to the Lotus table was experience with a March car back in '70", Andretti told Road & Track magazine. "We were testing in South Africa with a car [Andy] Granatelli owned and he sponsored a team.

"South Africa is at altitude and you've got thin air, so the naturally-aspirated engine [was] obviously struggling. And the March had sidepods, you know, the shape of a wing. I figured they're not doing anything. All they are is a piece of body. [I thought], not knowing, not having experience in a wind tunnel, so let's remove those. It's just another piece...we probably don't need.

"We removed those for testing, and all of a sudden, the front end started flying, which means they were producing downforce."

Later, closing a modestly successful 1976 season with Lotus and its pre-ground effects Type 77 chassis, memories of that March test sparked a transformational conversation with always innovation-seeking Lotus head, Colin Chapman.

"Development took a while. "It was at the end of 1976, we were over in Hethel (the Lotus plant in England) and just kicking about, 'okay, what were your wishes, what's your wish list' and so forth. And I'd say, 'Well, my wish list is to have downforce with minimum drag penalty'...okay, it's not reachable, but you just throw that around.

The 1970 March 701's detachable side 'wings' carried no vertical fins nor outboard closure surfaces to separate flow over the wing section from the general airstream around the entire car. This drastically reduced the 'wing's ability to create really significant downforce.

Andretti: "I said to Colin: 'What if we [modify] the sidepods, make them bigger and then add an outboard fence to them...? And that's what they did. That's how the [Lotus] 78 was born to start the process...

"In testing the [Lotus 78] was getting some advantage from downforce...but we didn't really know how much because at that time the model-sized wind tunnel was no not getting any real figures.

"What opened our eyes big time was testing at Hockenheim (Germany) and at the end of the two long straightaways, in a long right-hander and quite fast ... I could find additional downforce right there".

The Lotus 78's first stab at using sidepods and underbody wing profiles offered promise, and through testing, the next breakthrough emerged. Sitting a few inches off the ground, the outer edges of the sidepods would prove to be too high, which allowed the air flowing through those sidepods' underwing tunnels to escape or surrounding air to rush in. As Mario found while turning into fast corners, the Lotus 78 leaned to one side, the outer sidepod came close to sealing the edge against the road, and suddenly he'd feel the car sucked down providing a massive boost in cornering grip.

"I said to Colin, 'Looks like I'm closing the gap between the fence and the road because of the body roll'. I was running the car fairly soft still. So he sent [chief mechanic] Bob Dance to town to buy some strips of plastic to close the gap.

"So I'd go out and it'd improve. But then the plastic would wear down, then you're back to square one. So that's why, if you look at the season in 1977, as it was progressing, we fitted brush fences. [Colin] hired one of the photographers to go a different [corners] to photograph and see which way the bristles are going to get an idea of the flow."

Without a device that would extend from the outer edges of the sidepods to connect with the ground while Andretti and team-mate Gunnar Nilsson drove at high speeds, the Lotus 78 would lack the proper vacuum beneath the car to reach its downforce potential. Plastic strips and brushes were a good first attempt, and the Type 79 would follow that route.

"We were losing a lot of underwing air going down the straight. So that's when moveable skirts were born...it was one process after another. Now the next problem was the diffuser in the back, you never thought about having a clean exit for the air, but that was important [to draw maximum airflow through the newly created tunnels]. Obviously, we were increasing the flow, which was creating a downforce, so the difference between the Lotus 78 and 79 is they really cleaned up the back end of the Lotus 79."

Into 1978, with Andretti and his new team-mate Ronnie Peterson driving, Lotus took the small lessons gained from the 78 and applied them to the 79. Inevitably, new problems were encountered. While its World Championship-dominating record established it as the legendary Formula 1 design it most certain is, but Mario recalls how the 79's then-sublime aerodynamics and winning downforce achievements masked at least one enduring issue derived from the clean-up process.

"We had inboard brakes at the rear and this [was] a double-edged sword. had Hewland half of the calipers cast into the gearbox, [recessed] so [the air] would have a nice flow to the back for the diffusers. It accomplished that. But the gearbox runs pretty hot and we began boiling the brake fluid [then at] every corner you had to keep pumping the brakes, and after a while, you really didn't even have any rear brakes because the fluid was just boiling.

"Ronnie and I just kept complaining to Colin...and I guess he just did not believe that this was an issue [because] we won races - with no brakes!".

Exploring the Lotus 79's needs during testing displayed to the full the working dynamic between Andretti and Chapman.

Mario's driving style, right on the limits of cornering, braking, and acceleration, all without stepping over the edge, was tailor-made for Lotus 79 ground effects. While many Andretti rivals resorted to a constant state of yaw, flickering between grip and slide, his 79 displayed extreme smoothness, keeping the chassis from rolling and bucking, to maintain underbody downforce. There Mario truly made his mark.

After winning the season-opening Argentine GP, he added another in Belgium, a third in Spain, a fourth in France, a fifth in Germany, and close his Championship account with a sixth in Italy, the nation of his birth. Six wins from 16 races, along with two (one in a Type 78 and one in a Type 79) from Peterson before his tragic death at Monza, gave Lotus and its Type 79 a 50-percent success rate.

But its masterly World Champion Driver has lived with the conflicting emotions triggered on his title-winning day at Monza.

Confusion at the Grand Prix start had the starting signal triggered before the field was in position. While pole-position Andretti and Ferrari's Gilles Villeneuve streaking off the front row on their own, a jumbled assembly of cars barrelled in their wake towards Turn 1. Then cars were jostling, spinning – and crashing. Peterson's Lotus (a Type 78), crashed into a barrier, detonating into flames. His leg injuries were survivable, but the embolism which followed in hospital was not...

Years later, Mario recalled: "It's always going to overshadow what could have been the most satisfying day of my life. But I could never really truly celebrate and I never will."

But ever since he has truly celebrated the Lotus 79 that he drove – declaring unequivocally "Of all the race cars I ever drove – that 79 is my favourite".

In fact the full racing record of Lotus Type 79 chassis '79/4' – or 'JPS22' in the contemporary John Player Special promotional lexicon – is as follows:

1978
August 27 - Dutch GP, Zandvoort – Mario Andretti – FIRST
September 10 – Italian GP, Monza – Mario Andretti – First penalised to SIXTH
October 1 – United States GP, Watkins Glen – Mario Andretti – DNS (minor practice crash)
October 8 – Canadian GP– Mario Andretti – 8th

Car then retained for use by re-liveried Martini Team Lotus, 1979
1979
January 21 – Argentine GP, Buenos Aires – Mario Andretti – damaged at start
February 4 – Brazilian GP – Mario Andretti – Rtd
May 27 – Monaco GP – new team-mate Carlos Reutemann – THIRD
July 1 – French GP, Dijon-Prenois – Carlos Reutemann – 13th
July 14 – British GP – Mario Andretti – Rtd
August 12 – Austrian GP – Carlos Reutemann – Rtd
August 26 – Dutch GP – Carlos Reutemann – Rtd
September 9 – Italian GP, Monza – Carlos Reutemann – 7th

The World Championship-clinching car in 1978 trim was preserved by Team Lotus into 1983 when it was sold to American Harley Cluxton's famed Grand Touring Cars Inc, of Scottsdale, Arizona. On February 27, 1984, he then passed it on via James Stollenwerk in a part-exchange including a McLaren M8F CanAm car. It was acquired then by amateur-enthusiast Vintage owner-driver Gary Arentz, quite a capable mechanic in his own right. With input and assistance from respected American specialist Bert Skidmore the car became a star of every US event in which it appeared.

He derived great enjoyment from campaigning '78/4' at Vintage level through the mid-'80s until at Laguna Seca in August 1989 he crashed heavily in high-speed Turn 2. The car hit the trackside tyre wall slightly left-front first. This impact collapsed the foot-box almost as far back as the dash-panel bulkhead mounts. Poor Arentz sustained lower leg fractures. To free him, safety workers removed the crushed footbox and scuttle panel and the top half of the dash bulkhead. As can be shown upon pre-Sale viewing, the left-side monocoque-chassis' remaining outer skin panel was dented only slightly beyond the dash bulkhead. The right-side sister panel remained intact from bulkhead panel to the rear of the fuel tank rear closure plate ahead of the 3-litre Cosworth-Ford V8 engine.

Upon fortunate recovery from his injuries, ever-enthusiastic Gary Arentz requested a repair-cost estimate from Team Lotus. It proved way beyond his available means (at we are told £49,500) so - over several years – repair was conducted instead by renowned Californian F1 car preparer/restorer Phil Riley's specialist team.

After careful inspection of '79/4' we believe that while both external monocoque-chassis skins, and the part-severed dash panel bulkhead were plainly replaced during the rebuild, the monocoque fuselage's inner panels each side of the driver today remain the 1978 originals. The dash panel, which Mario himself would have studied so intently during both his winning drives in the car at Zandvoort (Dutch GP) and Monza (Italian GP), we are also conclude is the original.

Gary Arentz finally sold the car on November 18, 1999, to the present long-term owner – himself a renowned and highly-respected driver and modern era endurance-racing team entrant of vast experience and long-standing. Included in semi-part-exchange was a racing trailer... His own professional team's specialist technicians subsequently race-prepared '79/4' to their own elevated standards, most significantly (for any future user/drivers) providing enhanced rigidity and safety within its footbox area in the form of aluminium-honeycomb reinforcement skinning. Since 2000, this superb car in the capable hands of its extremely active (and competitive) new owner regularly starred within upon the Vintage racing. Of even greater significance has been '79/4's renewed relationship with Mario Andretti himself.

The present owner – remembering in his teens attending the 1978 United States GP at Watkins Glen, when he found himself within touching distance of both its left-front tyre and boyhood hero World Champion Mario as the great man climbed into its cockpit – also recalls most vividly a 2016 photo session back at The Glen, organised by 'Road & Track' magazine.

Upon arrival Mario seemed uncharacteristically disinterested. He subsequently admitted he had briefly tried the car during its former ownership - opting out after a single lap, unimpressed and disappointed. But now he quickly recognised the highly competent professional approach of the new owner's team, not least in first showing him the car's set-up data – as supplied from-period by today's Classic Team Lotus in the UK – and how their work matched it. The owner remembers: "...then he started to smile. We spent some time getting the car dialled-in to his liking, and once he was happy with it, he starts winding it up and you could hear he was On It!"

"The track hadn't been used in months. It was dusty. Mario just went barrelling past us into Turn 1 with the ground-effect tunnels kicking-up huge dust-wake clouds behind. One of the track supervisors rushed over telling us to call him straight in. 'He's going too fast for a photo shoot! You'd need an ambulance here for safety if something happens'. By that time Mario was just having a ball. When he duly came in he just smiled and said, 'Then go get me an ambulance!'."

At the end of that memorable day, the World Champion added "Man, this is so fun, it's like dancing with an old date'."
At Long Beach a Formula 1 parade for such classic race cars was later organised, at which Mario – whom the organisers just expected to trundle round waving to the fans, borrowed a crash helmet to wear above his short-sleeved sports shirt, no race suit – as he again drove '79/4' now offered here.

He was fifth in line queueing to commence "a couple" of slow demonstration laps. "...Then it's his turn. And Mario just lights it up, leaves the pits in a big sideways burnout, and does five laps at full speed – not just two at parade speed. They were trying to flag him in but he just kept flying by.
"When he finally came in, he tosses me the helmet, and says, 'what are they going to do, throw me out?'. Truly, Real Racers just never lose it.

And, equally truly, the only surviving race car in which an American driver ever won the Formula 1 World Championship has never lost its towering aura. As always, the enduring nature of a man-made thing of beauty will endure far beyond the lives of those intensely capable and committed people who conceived, created, crafted and campaigned it.

And in the case of this particular 'Black Beauty' the historic technology-establishing landmark stature that the Lotus 79s established within all-time Grand Prix racing-cum-Formula 1 history is totally indelible. For they demonstrated the awesome capability of underwing ground-effects technology which has since dominated every single racing category in which regulations have allowed its use.

Even against the background of Bonhams|Cars often-World record-setting achievements within this pinnacle-level racing car field, we have seldom offered one which can potentially be admired from so many different connoisseurial viewpoints.

It is a 'Black Beauty' indeed – a showcase piece – offered here in runnable order, not just treasure for the contemplative collector, but one for the user – one for the racer – and most demonstrably one for the history books.

We absolutely commend it to the market - Mario Andretti's favourite former dancing partner, indeed.

Please note that this vehicle is under customs in the UAE. Our customs partner, The Stables, will manage all post-sale customs administration. If this vehicle is to stay in the UAE, it will be subject to Import VAT at the standard rate of 5% and Import Duty at 5%+VAT on the hammer price. An administration fee of 750 USD + VAT + Transport charges for Customs Inspection (If applicable) + Customs charges at cost with official receipt to process all customs movements will apply. If you have any questions regarding customs, please contact Bonhams|Cars or The Stables.

Purple Paddle Lot: Please note there is restricted bidding on this lot which requires enhanced bid verification checks. Please contact us at [email protected] or call +44 20 7447 7447 as soon as possible if you are planning to bid on this lot to prevent any last-minute delays