Lotus Exos launched.

Deigned by Lotus cars without any input from Lotus racing f1 team - think they missed a trick here, or is it just because Lotus racing f1 team are not really a part of Lotus (it's the air asia f1 team essentially) but only licence the name?
 
hiroofheroes said:
Deigned by Lotus cars without any input from Lotus racing f1 team - think they missed a trick here, or is it just because Lotus racing f1 team are not really a part of Lotus (it's the air asia f1 team essentially) but only licence the name?
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Lotus Racing aren't technically part of Lotus. But neither was Team Lotus.
Lotus Racing is owned and funded by a consortium of the Malaysian Government, Proton (who own Lotus Cars and Engineering), Sepang International Circuit, Tune Group, Naza Motors amongst others.

Lotus Racing does have very close ties with Lotus Cars and Engineering though. Technology exchanges are in place and development is done by each other.

Plus, the Chapman Family are happy with what Tony Fernandes and Mike Gascoyne are doing and where they are heading. It's already been said that when they win it will be Lotus' 80th win not Lotus Racing 1st.

Interestingly there are rumours that there will be closer integration over the next couple of years. Tony has apparently been trying to buy Ketteringham Hall *historic base of Team Lotus* and set it up as the base of operations. Including facilities for Classic Team Lotus, and a Lotus Museum - something that has been sorely lacking over the years. Also strongly rumoured is a name change from Lotus Racing to Team Lotus. Proton bringing them under the full Lotus umbrella.
 
I spent some time at Ketteringham when they were building the Lotus Esprit race cars a few years back, cracking place full of history and felt very 70's inside not least in the car shop where they were being prepped.
 
Housey said:
I confused, what is this car?
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Lotus version of the Ferrari FXX, but done properly. ;)

Housey said:
I spent some time at Ketteringham when they were building the Lotus Esprit race cars a few years back, cracking place full of history and felt very 70's inside not least in the car shop where they were being prepped.
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From what I gather it would retain that feel, but have modern race bays and manufacturing facilities.

Could be the old race bays are used by Classic Team Lotus, after all, it is their home and new bays built for the current F1 effort.
 
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Flibster said:
Interestingly there are rumours that there will be closer integration over the next couple of years. Tony has apparently been trying to buy Ketteringham Hall *historic base of Team Lotus* and set it up as the base of operations. Including facilities for Classic Team Lotus, and a Lotus Museum - something that has been sorely lacking over the years. Also strongly rumoured is a name change from Lotus Racing to Team Lotus. Proton bringing them under the full Lotus umbrella.
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Mr Tony seemed very keen on the idea when he was interviewed on Radio Norfolk at the start of the season. He was quizzed on the future of Lotus Racing and the possibility of the team & operations being moved from Hingham to Malaysia. He was very enthusiastic about the idea of bringing the whole of the Lotus family under one "roof" here at some point in the future. Will it happen? Who knows but it would be fantastic if he pulled it off.
 
Flibster said:
Lotus version of the Ferrari FXX, but done properly. ;)



From what I gather it would retain that feel, but have modern race bays and manufacturing facilities.

Could be the old race bays are used by Classic Team Lotus, after all, it is their home and new bays built for the current F1 effort.
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My company in the day provided them with some software to help them build race cars, as we did with RML too so as a petrol head I always managed to find a reason to visit them! :D
 
Pete19s said:
Mr Tony seemed very keen on the idea when he was interviewed on Radio Norfolk at the start of the season. He was quizzed on the future of Lotus Racing and the possibility of the team & operations being moved from Hingham to Malaysia. He was very enthusiastic about the idea of bringing the whole of the Lotus family under one "roof" here at some point in the future. Will it happen? Who knows but it would be fantastic if he pulled it off.
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They pretty much binned the move to Sepang immediately. Nice idea, but in order to keep staff who know what they are doing they can't move.

Imo, the biggest problem with them staying in Norfolk is the A11... Hateful road. Dual the lot of it you useless *******! I don't care about the Stone Curlew or whatever it is - Send in Prince Phillip - he'll sort them out.
 
By the beard of Zeus that is AWESOME. I would much rather have this than any other track car currently available (Or not as is the case with the FXX :/).

Pretending to be an F1 driver > Pretending to be a normal racing driver.

What I'd love to see is some side by side shots of it next to this years Lotus F1 chassis for a comparison. Paint scheme is also win, 100 man hours for what is very little body work - albeit complex.
 
Flibster said:
They pretty much binned the move to Sepang immediately. Nice idea, but in order to keep staff who know what they are doing they can't move.

Imo, the biggest problem with them staying in Norfolk is the A11... Hateful road. Dual the lot of it you useless *******! I don't care about the Stone Curlew or whatever it is - Send in Prince Phillip - he'll sort them out.
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Agree on both counts, Europe & the UK in particular is where all the great minds are based when it comes to Formula 1. I can't see the A11 being sorted any time soon sadly, always some eco hippies or unhappy residents throwing a spanner in the works. Would be a massive boost to the county. Anyhoo, is it just me or is there a slight whiff of A1GP to the Exos?
 
So... Ferrari make a track only car for the uber rich by taking a road car and sticking some fins on it and making it a bit more powerfull and wanting £1m...

And Lotus make a de turned F1 car...

:)
 
marc mercer said:
Very pretty .. but why not just buy an old GP2 or F1 car? It'll cost you a fraction of the amount!
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To buy the car... Possibly. To run it... maybe not.
It's not just the car though - it's the support behind it.

Car - start at £50k for a late 80's early 90's tail ender and go to well over £1million for more modern machinery with a good history.
Engine rebuilds between 300-700 miles - Anywhere from £20k up to £200k *again - depending on engine and rebuild*
No factory support *unless you get a Lotus or a Ferrari who have excellent historic support*
No driver training *apparently including Hakkinen and Trulli*
No fitness training
Specialist knowledge to maintain the classic cars costs a chunk.
Specialist pit gear - engine heating systems etc...
Crew gear to monitor and start the car - especially with a more modern car which requires laptops and specialist software to start them.

Performance wise, I gather it's meant to be about GP2 level. So it's quicker than a lot of the available F1 cars.
 
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