Lotus was not the first.

Ask any graduate of UC London’s School of Mechanical Engineering which alumnus they are most proud of and the answer is likely to be Colin Chapman of Lotus Cars fame. Chapman’s pioneering designs resulted in many victories in all forms of motor racing but most notably in the most demanding of all, Formula One.

When asked about his key design tenets, Chapman would answer “Just add lightness”.

1930s Alfa racer at the Laguna Seca Historics, 2008

As this pre-war Alfa Romeo grand prix racer’s suspension shows, he was not the first to have that idea.

What makes our former adulation of great engineers and designers so poignant today is that the US, desperately in need of engineering talent, makes it increasingly difficult to enter the profession. Domestic production of engineering graduates is stymied by the childlike attention spans and instant gratification generated by TV, populism and computer games. We prefer to encourage our kids to become pop stars, actors or sportsmen – all fields of endeavor with miniscule prospects for success. Or worse – we make fine brains into the mush that passes for lawyers, a business (it’s no more a profession than prostitution) that has done more to hurt US productivity and destroy wealth than even the government could. At the same time we place foolish cartels on immigration because we (rightly) fear that we cannot compete with Ivan, Lee or Yamamoto. Capitalism is truly hanging itself with its own rope.