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Group Lotus Commercial Director Tony Schulp and
Factory Driver Johnny Mowlem took to the
Autosport Stage today to announce a series of
exciting new developments. For those of you who
missed it, here is something to read....
LOTUS INKS ITS DRAGON TATTOO
Lotus has chosen the Autosport International
Show to announce its full factory partnership
with the Dragon Racing IndyCar team. Lotus
Dragon Racing will be an official Lotus team,
racing in the black and gold colours that are
shared by the marque’s Formula One programme.
Owned by Jay Penske – Chairman and CEO of the
Penske Media Corporation, and son of US racing
legend Roger Penske – Dragon Racing debuted in
2007, picking up fifth at the Indy 500 straight
out of the box at the hands of Ryan Briscoe. In
2009, its first full season, Dragon driver
Raphael Matos took the Rookie of the Year
honours. In 2012, the Lotus Dragon Racing line
up is a particularly strong one: Katherine Legge,
the first female driver to win a major
open-wheel race in North America, and four-time
Champ Car Series champion and former F1 racer
Sebastien Bourdais.
Claudio Berro, Group Lotus Director of
Motorsport: Claudio Berro: "We are very pleased
to be able to announce this new and exciting
partnership with Dragon Racing today, a team
which has demonstrated its potential and which
we believe will achieve great success thanks to
the Lotus IndyCar engine and the security of a
major backer. Last year was Lotus' first foray
into this prestigious open-wheel series since
Jim Clark won the Indy 500 back in 1965. We have
a tremendous legacy in this sport, and are
determined to become winners again. The American
market is one of the most important to Lotus in
terms of road car sales, hence our aggressive
marketing strategies through US auto racing. We
believe Lotus Dragon Racing and our other
partner teams will give us the best opportunity
to achieve our ambitious goals."
INDIANA CLONES AND THE FAST CRUSADE
In 2012 no less than four teams with an
anticipated minimum eights cars will be packing
Lotus power in the IZOD IndyCar Series. The
company’s all-new twin-turbo V6 has its first
shakedown today at the Moroso circuit in Jupiter,
Florida, with Lotus HVM driver Simona de
Silvestro working the loud pedal. The engine
program, which was announced in November 2010,
has come together quickly without teething
problems, and fire-ups away from the track have
ticked all the boxes. Lotus Dragon Racing, Lotus
HVM Racing, Lotus Bryan Herta Autosport, and
Lotus Dreyer & Reinbold Racing are all confirmed
as engine partners. The Autosport International
Show marks the first public appearance of this
ambitious powerplant.
Claudio Berro, Group Lotus Director of
Motorsport: “The engine has performed extremely
well so far, and we and our partners are very
pleased with the results. We had our first
fire-up in a Dallara chassis in Palma, Italy on
21-23 December, then the engine was sent to
America, and today we’re having our first
on-track shakedown, at Moroso, which is very
exciting. On January 1st we opened a Lotus
facility in Indianapolis which will be our US
engineering and logistics hub, so it’s all go.
We’ve still got a lot of work to do before the
start of the season, but I couldn’t be happier
with the progress we’re making.”
LOTUS MOTORSPORT BECOMES LOTUS RACING
In order to reflect the broad range of Lotus’
competition activities, Lotus Racing becomes the
new umbrella name for Group Lotus’ racing
division. All of our official works teams will
now race in the evocative black and gold livery.
These include the Lotus F1 Team, GP2 and GP3
team Lotus GP (formerly ART) and Lotus Dragon
Racing. Partner teams, such as the Lotus-engined
IndyCar teams Lotus Herta Autosport, Lotus
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will also run in black
and gold with Lotus HVM Racing running in
predominantly green, yellow and white. Customer
teams have the option of running other classic
Lotus liveries, such as Lotus Sport UK’s ‘Gold
Leaf’ red, white and gold, which was raced to
victory in the British GT Championship last year.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
As mentioned earlier this week, Lotus has formed
one of the most exclusive members clubs in the
world - Lotus Club GT. It’s a gentlemen’s – or
ladies – club with a difference. No leather
Chesterfields, wood-panelled walls or cigar
smoke – here, you’ll find bucket seats,
carbon-panelling and the smell of burning
rubber. It is the ultimate club for sports car
enthusiasts. The club’s current entry
requirements are met with the purchase of one of
Lotus’ premium race-bred models – the Evora GT4
and Evora Enduro with club specification. Member
benefits include one-to-one driver tuition
catering for drivers of all abilities from our
professional works drivers and the Lotus F1
Team. Members also receive exclusive VIP access
to Lotus events, like going behind the scenes at
the Lotus F1 Team’s high security HQ and in the
pits at glamorous grands prix.
Matthew de Morgan, businessman and Lotus Club GT
member: “You will enjoy it, and I think what you
get out of it is more than what you give. We
aren’t out there to be pseudo Michael
Schumachers, we’re there to have fun competing,
to enjoy ourselves in an environment which is
safe, educational and challenging. I think this
is what the GT club is all about. I didn’t come
here with a previous history of driving cars
round a track and having done it I’m delighted.
Frankly it’s probably the best thing I’ve done
for myself in the last ten years.”
Claudio Berro, Group Lotus Director of
Motorsport: “Through all our activity on and off
the track, we want to make the driver experience
as incredible and unique as possible so creating
the Lotus Club GT was a natural step for us. Our
clients have come to expect more than just to be
handed the car keys, they want to be part of the
team and to really understand how to get the
very most from their investment. Everything is
tailored to match the individual expectations of
our clients allowing them to truly realise their
potential behind the wheel. So far the feedback
we have had from members is fantastic - they
really become part of the Lotus family”
Check out the Lotus Club GT in action here:
www.4lot.us/motorsportvideos
F1 TEAM PIMPS OUR ULTIMATE RIDE
Lotus’ Formula One customer experience, the Type
125, has become even more F1, thanks to its
final phase of development work by the Lotus F1
Team. Newly-announced driver Romain Grosjean put
the car through its paces in Portugal recently
as engineers honed the car’s set-up to replicate
those of a current generation Formula One beast,
while keeping it safe, easy to drive and
reliable for Lotus’ private customers. A normal
F1 car requires a huge crew just to start it up,
yet the single-seat Type 125 can be fired up at
the touch of a button. It’s 640bhp 3.5 litre
Cosworth V8 engine is linked to a six-speed
gearbox with paddle shift. It weights just 560kg
resulting in a phenomenal power-to-weight of
nearly 1000bhp per tonne. The Type 125 mule sits
in a race bay at the team’s Enstone factory,
where the 2012 F1 car is being prepared. It has
now reached the end of its comprehensive
development programme.
Romain Grosjean: “The idea was to bring the car
as close as possible to F1 level. We needed a
car that was close to the lap time of a Formula
One car, but that was also easy to drive.
Development is something that I love to do, and
the Type 125 has been a really interesting
project for me. Some things were quite funny,
like the auto clutch the car has for when you
leave the garage and the option of auto up-shift,
which seemed odd the first time I used it – a
bit like a computer game – but it works well. We
achieved a strong level of performance and
sensation, but it is not too hard or too
on-the-limit to drive which is important,
because this car is designed for private
customers. We did a lot of laps during our
three-day test in Portimao and we had no
reliability issues at all. Everything worked
perfectly.”
Arnaud Boulanger, Head of External Projects,
Lotus F1 Team: "Lotus asked us to take on the
Type 125 in September 2011 through to its final
development. The programme was not to
re-engineer the car completely, but to hone the
set-up and the car's performance envelope as
close as possible to Formula One, and match the
build quality to 2012 F1 standards, while also
making it safe, reliable and easy to drive. We
needed a car that was exhilarating to drive,
that was reasonably forgiving, that was
relatively easy to operate but that still offers
extreme performance – very close to F1. Our
programme had the added benefit of development
from a current F1 driver, Romain Grosjean when
he ran the car at Portimao in mid-November and
gave us the valuable feedback we needed.
“Working closely with Group Lotus, we have
managed to fulfill all our engineering
objectives in a very short space of time. The
performance is just a small step back from
Formula One, so as to allow the practical
aspects I mentioned, but still provide the F1
experience customers crave. It's going to be
very physical still, and not many drivers will
be able to cope with more than a few flat-out
laps. Drivers will be thrilled with the finished
product."
BACK TO BASICS
You’re never too old to drive a Lotus. You’re
never too young either. Arguably the most fun,
raw and inspirational racing machine on our
stand in Birmingham is the new Lotus Racing
Kart, built in Italy to the highest standards by
Wildkarts. The official Lotus Racing Karts team
will be evaluating drivers at the end of the
month in Lonato, and will compete in the CIK-FIA
KF1 Karting World Championship. Championship
events will take place at Varennes sur Allier in
France (29 April), Suzuka in Japan (20 May),
Brandon in UK (22 July), Sarno in Italy (9
September) and Macau-Coloane (21 October).
Lotus Racing Karts has also set its sights on
the Asia-Pacific zone and, represented by a
Japanese partner, will form a team in the
exciting All-Japan Championship.
Another important task for Lotus Racing Karts
will be CIK-FIA «U18» Karting World Championship.
This new series is aimed at promoting drivers
between 15 and 18-years-old through an FIA World
Championship in which costs are rigorously
limited, in particular thanks to the free
allocation of engines and tyres to all
participants. Free? That’s not a word you hear
often in this business, is it?
TEAM BULLRUN’S NEW BABY
Team Bullrun will be running a Lotus Evora GT4
in the 2012 Britcar MSA British Endurance
Championship. The team has previously won the
series’ production car titles, while the Evora
placed a very credible third in the Britcar 24
Hours last October, but this will be the first
full season’s racing for Lotus’ endurance model.
Former Britcar Production Champions Richard
Adams and David Green will be joined by 2011
BTCC driver Martin Byford. Formula Ford veterans
Fluid Motorsport are joining forces with Bullrun
to manage the team.
Team Bullrun refers to the US-based luxury rally
in which fun-loving and cash-rich enthusiasts
take the public roads by storm. Expect some
eye-catching Lotus models as well as Burt
Reynolds look-a-likes on the Bullrun this year,
which kicks off in Hollywood on June 23 and
promises seven days of high-octane hedonism. A
few thousand miles from Tinsletown – and with no
pressure to obey the rules of the road - the
first round of the 2012 Britcar series will be
held at Silverstone on March 24.
Claudio Berro, Group Lotus Director of
Motorsport: “We are delighted that Bullrun share
our view that the Evora could be a serious
championship contender this year. It is clearly
good news to see a British team, with a British
car competing for a British title. The overall
package Bullrun has managed to put together
looks very strong and we look forward to closely
following their progress throughout the season.”
Lindsay Allen, Fluid Motorsport co-founder: “We
have been considering a move in GT racing for
some time – the combination of Bullrun’s track
record in Britcar, its trio of experienced
drivers and our own race preparation and
championship expertise should make for a very
strong team. The new Lotus Evora package Bullrun
have secured looks to be very competitive. We
are very much looking forward to running this
alongside our usual Formula Ford operations.”
UP FOR THE CUP
The Lotus Cup Series, which sees enthusiasts
race wheel-to-wheel across the globe, is set for
even more action this year. In addition to the
Elises, Exiges and 2-Elevens that already make
up the grids, we will be welcoming Evora V6
entrants worldwide, including the GTS and GTN
variants. Lotus-On-Track, which runs the Cup,
has its own stand at the Autosport Show 2520
with the GTS on display. Here, you can also view
the GTS/N conversion kit, which will turn your
production-spec Evora into an out-and-out racer.
Bolt it on, and stand well back.
The Lotus Cup has proved massively popular, with
350 participants racing worldwide on some of the
most challenging and legendary race tracks and
this year there is the added incentive of a
prize for the most successful Evora running in
the 2012 Cup. Championships are held across the
UK, Europe, Eastern Europe, Italy, the USA and
Japan, and we’re hoping to add some more
territories in 2012.
Echoing our famous Formula One livery, the Lotus
Cup gets a lick of paint this year and a new
logo in keeping with the refreshed Lotus Racing
brand strategy.
HOWDY PARTNERS
Lotus is pleased to announce a couple of new
corporate partners to our racing stable.
OCS is an international facilities management
company, which provides many businesses with
cleaning, catering, security, waste and
maintenance services – and, by partnering with
Lotus Racing, it hopes to wipe the floor with
the competition.
OAMPS is one of the UK’s leading independent
insurance brokers, with a broad range of general
and specialist insurance solutions – such as
motor racing – as well as associated
environmental, health and safety services.
Partnering one of the most successful marques in
motorsport they, too, are in safe hands.
Both brands will be carried on our GT
championship Evoras. In addition, on the stand
at the NEC, we have a Petronas-plastered Evora
GT4. Our collaboration with the Malaysian
petrochemical giant is going from
strength-to-strength and it’s great to have
their growing support.
A PETROLHEAD’S SMORGASBORD
Lotus’ stand at Autosport International is
showing off some of our most exciting track-born
and race-bred models. In addition to the
Petronas-sponsored Evora GT4, in which Lotus
Sport UK scored two wins during its maiden
season of British GT, we’re displaying a Lotus
Renault GP F1 car; the black-and-gold R31 took
podiums in the Australian and Malaysian grands
prix last year. Then there’s the Evora GT Enduro,
our new 440bhp evolution of the GT4, which will
be used in the Lotus Club GT. Finally, the NEC
boasts the sensational Evora GTE – the ultimate
road-going Lotus and by far the most powerful
too. With its aggressive face and eye watering
stats, it stole the show at last summer’s Pebble
Beach Concours, so we were compelled to put it
into production.
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