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Essex Team Lotus on a wire (1979)
Perhaps the first example of an overblown launch came almost 40 years ago. In 1979, Team Lotus was sponsored by the Essex Petroleum Company, owned by the very suave and very wealthy David Thieme. He didn’t like to do things by halves, and so ahead of the 1980 season he decided to hold a launch extravaganza for the new Lotus 81 at the Paradis Latin nightclub in Paris. After a bizarre show on stage, the car was dramatically lowered from the ceiling of the club on wires, with driver Mario Andretti waving from the cockpit, while the French National Anthem played. Thieme was arrested for fraud in 1981, and the Essex Petroleum empire collapsed, ending its affiliation with Lotus.
Source – Lotus Forums
