Lotus Returns to Formula 1

[EliseAtLeast]

Originally Posted by MattG

Lotus is not returning to F1, but rather, Proton is using the Lotus name to market their Malaysian-based F1 effort. It's a shame to see this happen. Yes, Lotus will be involved to some extent, especially initially, but as the transition to Malaysia takes place any link with the history and legacy of Lotus will fade away.

Well, the Malaysian goverment owns Proton and Proton owns Lotus and they are willing to use the Lotus name so I think its as good as it will ever get. This will be a very well funded team. Lets face it, we can't bring Collin Chapman back so there will never be a true Team Lotus like the old days. Let us all just support this new team and be glad that we finally have to team to cheer for. Not to mention all those Lotus F1 merchandise that we get to buy .

[cornbeef]

Well lets look at the good side:
Lotus is back in F1
The factory (or at least the parent) is involved so there is a link to the car company
Gasgoyne can build a competitive car with a tight budget (his track record with big budgets isn't as good).
It looks like they have some cash!

The bad:
How long will they use the Lotus name.
The factory isn't directly involved
They're using Cosworths, which is an unknown quantity

[erics75218]

Originally Posted by EliseAtLeast

Well, the Malaysian goverment owns Proton and Proton owns Lotus and they are willing to use the Lotus name so I think its as good as it will ever get. This will be a very well funded team. Lets face it, we can't bring Collin Chapman back so there will never be a true Team Lotus like the old days. Let us all just support this new team and be glad that we finally have to team to cheer for. Not to mention all those Lotus F1 merchandise that we get to buy .

great point man, BMW got tired of spending, Honda got tired of spending, Toyota is getting tired of spending. Since the auto companies proper can't afford this...one has to turn to entities that can spend spend spend and have no worries....LIKE GOVERNMENTS!!!!

Mylasian ownership hasn't ruined our beloved brand, so lets give them a chance to try this before we throw out all the hate mail.

[Houston Lotus]

It is good to see one of the great teams of the past come back to F1.

[lotusport]

Looks like a sure deal: autosport.com - F1 News: Lotus aims to be the best of new teams

Yeehaa! A REAL Lotus F1 Team!

[Rat27]

Anybody else notice that the AP story left out the last Lotus World Champion Driver? Perhaps they don't want to highlight an American champion.

Originally Posted by ...m...

Lotus team awarded spot on 2010 Formula One grid
By EILEEN NG (AP)

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — Lotus is returning to Formula One racing.

FIA, the sport's governing body, on Tuesday awarded Lotus the 13th spot on the grid for the 2010 season.

Lotus has been out of F1 since 1994. The team, initially based in Norfolk, England near the Lotus car factory, is funded by a partnership between the Malaysian government and a consortium of Malaysian businessmen.

The team headquarters is expected to relocate to a purpose-built facility at Sepang International Circuit, home of the Malaysian Grand Prix for the last 11 years.

FIA turned down an application from BMW Sauber, but said the team would be granted a spot in 2010 if a vacancy arises. FIA said it is consulting urgently with teams about a possible expansion to 14 teams and 28 cars for 2010.

Lotus' team principle will be Tony Fernandes, owner of the Air Asia airline. The team technical director is Mike Gascoyne, who held the same role with Force India, Toyota, Renault and Jordan.

Lotus has reached an engine supply deal with Cosworth.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak held a news conference Tuesday to outline details of what was called the 1Malaysia F1 team.

"The 1Malaysia F1 team is a government and private sector initiative combining the collaborative experience of Proton and Lotus, coupled with world class expertise," a Malaysian government statement said ahead of the news conference.

Prime Minister Najib Razak said the team would integrate Malaysian technical and pit crew, with the future design, research and development, manufacturing and testing conducted near the Malaysian capital. The driving lineup is set to be announced by Oct. 31 from a short list of six candidates.
Najib declined to give investment costs or other details, but said the future design and testing would be conducted in Malaysia.

He said the venture would be a big boost to local automaker Proton, a government-owned company which has suffered in recent years because of increased competition from foreign car makers after the liberalization of the auto market.

"If we want to export Proton we need to establish our brand name so that it is accepted globally," Najib said. "We are determined to do our best to make our mark in this arena."

The investors in the venture are Proton, budget airline AirAsia and Naza Motors, a local auto group.

Najib said the creation of the team is a "natural progression" since Malaysia has hosted a leg of the F1 race since 1999 and national oil company Petronas has been a sponsor of BMW Sauber team for the last four years.

Lotus competed in F1 from 1958-94, winning 79 Grand Prix races and seven constructors' titles. Lotus had world champion drivers in Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi.

FIA noted that BMW has announced it is pulling out of the sport in 2010, leaving uncertainties over the future ownership of the team.

"Nevertheless, the FIA considers that BMW Sauber's application is of high quality and would constitute a competitive participant in the championship," FIA said. "As such, it has awarded BMW Sauber the '14th place' in the championship meaning that it will be entitled to fill any vacancy that arises on the 2010 grid."

[...m...]

Lotus Aims to Be the Best of New Teams
By Jonathan Noble
autosport.com

Lotus technical director Mike Gascoyne is targeting his Formula 1 team becoming the best of the new outfits in 2010, after getting the green light for its entry on Tuesday.

The new Lotus F1 Team has beaten BMW Sauber to the 13th slot on next year's grid, and marks a historic return to the sport for the iconic name.

And although the FIA approval of Lotus's plans has come late in the year, leaving the team in a race against time to get ready for 2010, Gascoyne is sure it can still make an impact.

"It will be a big challenge to get on the grid, but certainly by mid-season I think we would clearly like to be the best of the new teams, and by the end of the year I would hope we have broken into the top ten overall," he told AUTOSPORT.

Gascoyne is overjoyed by the decision of the FIA, which comes after many weeks of efforts to secure funding from Malaysia - and get the approval for the country's road car manufacturer Proton to make a marketing push with the Lotus name.

"For me it is fantastic news," said Gascoyne. "I have had nearly a year out, which has been frustrating, but this is now a tremendous challenge. But with the team that Tony Fernandes has put together, and the backing of the Malaysian government, it has the opportunity to be something really big. We are aiming to take this team to the very top level in the long term."

Gascoyne had been part of the original Litespeed plans to get Lotus back into F1 earlier this year, but it failed to make it on the original shortlist of 13 teams that was originally picked in July.

However, despite missing out then, Gascoyne kept working on the plans – and, as AUTOSPORT revealed earlier this month, revived the Lotus plans with the support of the Malaysian government – and is now pushing flat out to get its car ready.

"Things are very tight," he said. "We are aiming at the second week of February for the roll-out, and we have got a huge amount of work considering we are starting from nothing.

"One of the good things with Tony Fernandes and the Malaysian backing is that it is a very well-funded thing. We have got a very big aero programme in place with Fondtech and Jean-Claude Migeot, and we will be expanding that. The first half of the season will be tight, but it is a great challenge."

And Gascoyne has admitted that there are special emotions both reviving the Lotus name and setting up work at a factory in his local Norfolk.

"We are based at the RTN factory and I went to school about four miles down the road," said Gascoyne. "I was born and bred in Norfolk, and there is a bit of emotion about it.

"It is the same for Malaysia, with the Proton and Lotus tie-up. It brings a famous name back into F1, and it is a good story for F1. We are not pretending to be the old Team Lotus. We are the new Lotus F1 team."

[...m...]

...i have a lot of respect for gascoyne's take on the new team and its relationship to the historical lotus legacy...

[E5PR1T]

It's the real deal...and Group Lotus will be involved as well. However, it's not the "Team Lotus" from the past. Looks like it'll be "Lotus F1".

[EliseAtLeast]

Originally Posted by ...m...

...i have a lot of respect for gascoyne's take on the new team and its relationship to the historical lotus legacy...

+1. We should all be very very excited about this. Kind of surprised that so far it only generated luke warm responses from fellow Lotus owners .

[dickedup]

Or was it Miss Emma Peel from The Avengers?

Attended that 1984 Dallas Grand Prix where Lotus' Nigel Mansell collapsed of heat exhaustion while attempting to push his car over the finish line!

Check out 1:33

YouTube - Dallas 1984 -THE RISE OF THE DOMINATION & THE FIRST HONDA TURBOCHARGED VICTORY IN F1

What lump will the team be using?

[dickedup]

... a Cosworth then?

Interesting.

[Desperado]

Great for Lotus but with Mike Gascoyne involved they will need a lot of luck.

[Eddie Haskell]

Great news!!!

[lotus69f2]

Originally Posted by EliseAtLeast

+1. We should all be very very excited about this. Kind of surprised that so far it only generated luke warm responses from fellow Lotus owners .

I am not surprised at the tepid response.

I can not speak for any one else, but will offer my take as a long time - ain't nobody gonna doubt his committment - Lotus enthusiast.

F1, for a long time has ceased to be the innovative engineering platform it once was. No doubt that it still employs many talented engineers and designers, but the formula itself is trending - slowly - to a spec series, and true innovation, as Lotus is famous for, is no longer tolerated. So entering F1 for Lotus (or for a team with Lotus in it's name) does not accomplish the same thing as it did in the earlier eras. In addition it seems like a bit of a circus with lots of cheating and unsportsmanlike behavior. It is also difficult for a new team to become competitive - though I am very encouraged by Brawn GP (although Brawns success sheds a lot of light on the success of Ferrari while Brawn was designing their cars) and Force India. The last thing Lotus enthusiasts want is for an F1 team with the Lotus name attached to it to become another Minardi.

In addition, while Team Lotus was always a separite entity from Group Lotus there was a clear associaition between the entities, even in the last days of the Peter Collins owned era. Lotus enthusiasts are very wary of a new team with the Lotus name, but no clear assocoiation with the Lotus marque. It is at least encouraging that the current corporate owners and country of origin of those owners are involved, and that, at least initially, the skunkworks will be in Norfolk.

I personally have fear of further obfuscation of what defines a Lotus as a Lotus. There are already too many people out there who are unable to, or don't wish to see the line between a Caterham, Birkin, Westfield, GRD and a Lotus. If there is an unrelated F1 team with Lotus in it's name it will serve to add to the confusion.

For my part I am anxiously waiting for more real information (as opposed to the tons of speculative opinions usually profferred on forums such as this - including that of myself).

I genuinely hope to see a Lotus back on the grid. I hope the new Lotus F1 team will use Lotus type numbers in sequence with Lotus road cars. I hope Lotus engineers are utilized or rotated through the team to braoden their experience level, and that Lotus engineering can help to innovate the F1 circus as Lotus has in the past and as Lotus is currently promoting their expertise in "green" technologies. But for now, I'm just sitting back and waiting, because while I have an opinion, I'm not consulted in the endeavor and have no influence. So lets all hope for the best, and cheer the team on when it makes it to the grid for the first time.

[cornbeef]

Originally Posted by lotus69f2

I genuinely hope to see a Lotus back on the grid. I hope the new Lotus F1 team will use Lotus type numbers in sequence with Lotus road cars. I hope Lotus engineers are utilized or rotated through the team to braoden their experience level, and that Lotus engineering can help to innovate the F1 circus as Lotus has in the past and as Lotus is currently promoting their expertise in "green" technologies. So lets all hope for the best, and cheer the team on when it makes it to the grid for the first time.

the type numbers would make it a 'real' lotus and make me very happy as would working the engineers through the team and the fact that Proton is involved it may be a possibility. Lotus has a lot of experience in green tech (kers?) and gasgoyne has been known to think outside the box (when left to himself). If it works out right, it could be a great thing.

[EliseAtLeast]

Originally Posted by lotus69f2

I genuinely hope to see a Lotus back on the grid. I hope the new Lotus F1 team will use Lotus type numbers in sequence with Lotus road cars. I hope Lotus engineers are utilized or rotated through the team to braoden their experience level, and that Lotus engineering can help to innovate the F1 circus as Lotus has in the past and as Lotus is currently promoting their expertise in "green" technologies.

+1000. If that were to happen, I'm sure Collin Chapman will be smiling somewhere. Even if it does not, I'm still extremely happy to have a F1 team with Lotus in the name. Maybe I'm just simple minded but all these years watching F1, I don't really have a favorite team. Don't get me wrong, I like all the F1 team and all the drivers but now I have a team that I can really cheer for.

[fitfan]

....i am far more excited at the prospect of the Evora in LeMans

[mikehall]

Here is the model used at the announcement today in Malaysia - lets hope that these are not the final colours.

[Green Hornet]

Originally Posted by mikehall

Here is the model used at the announcement today in Malaysia - lets hope that these are not the final colours.

WOW - That's NASTY