After Rubens Barrichello drove the 79 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2000, he spoke of its "phenomenal grip and traction", and stated that "it felt like a modern Grand Prix car".

In all, five chassis were built during the design's lifetime, with the prototype 79/1 later sold to Héctor Rebaque to race as a privateer entrant.

This had the advantage of increasing fire protection and returning the centre of gravity to the middle of the car, helping cornering and braking.

The car was secretly tested in late 1977 by Ronnie Peterson and proved extremely fast, but the chassis suffered early fatigue due to the severe suction and g-forces generated by the ground effect.

Nicknamed "Black Beauty" by the press and F1 fans alike, for its graceful design and sleek profile and its black and gold livery through sponsorship by John Player Special cigarettes, the Lotus 79 was instantly competitive on its debut, the 1978 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder.

[3] The 79 proved to be almost unbeatable during the 1978 Formula One season and provided an unprecedented level of domination; the team had already won in Argentina with Andretti and South Africa with Peterson.

Peterson had a poor start plus bunching around him caused a collision between him, Patrese's Arrows and James Hunt's McLaren.

Peterson's car caught fire and Hunt dragged the Swede free and laid in the middle of the track fully conscious, but with severe leg injuries.

The Canadian Grand Prix had problems for Andretti as he attempted to pass John Watson's Brabham and the two made contact dropping the American almost to the back of the field and finished tenth.

[7] The Lotus 79 was so dominant the only real threat was the Ferrari 312T3, and the advantage its Michelin tyres gave in hot weather conditions.

So superior was the Lotus, that most races became a scrap for minor placings, as Andretti and Peterson regularly finished first and second, more often than not by a considerable margin ahead of the rest of the field.

Andretti was comfortably world champion in 1978 and Peterson finished runner-up posthumously; Lotus won the constructors’ championship with 86 points.

Unlike the two previous models, although, the 80 proved to be a total failure and Lotus was forced to go back to the 79, driven by Andretti and Carlos Reutemann.