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How a champion turned "rubbish bin" came back to life

For 40 years, the crumpled wreckage of Lotus 72/5 remained untouched in a Hethel hangar. Now, Classic Team Lotus has breathed new life into the car dubbed 'Old Faithful' that took Emerson Fittipaldi to his 1972 world championship title

Formula 1's youngest world champion sat trapped aboard his Lotus 72, feet pinched and ankles badly bruised. It would be 20 minutes before Emerson Fittipaldi was freed; a painful blow for his title defence, which had been ignited by successive wins in the 1973 season-opening Argentinian and Brazilian Grands Prix.

Come the Dutch race, round 10 of 15, the 26-year-old needed to bounce back after two straight retirements. He was on course to do just that, and was topping the qualifying times at Zandvoort behind the wheel of 72/5, in which he'd scored four world championship victories and a further three non-championship triumphs, making it the most successful of the 10 chassis built.

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