Famous for its brilliant engineering prowess and for building diminutive sports cars with razor-sharp handling, British carmaker Lotus is famous for the mantra “simplify, then add lightness.” Under the leadership of Colin Chapman, who founded Lotus in 1948, Lotus was a leader in race car design with seven Formula One World Championships during the 1960s-70s and built legendary road cars like the bare bones Seven, the wonderfully balanced Elan, and the wedge-shaped Esprit. Lotuses have been fragile at times but never boring, and Chapman’s sports car philosophy has survived into the twenty-first century with Lotus models like the Elise, Evora, and Emira.