SelocFest’13 at the Lotus Festival Ticket Update

Lotus Festival 2012 CampsiteTickets for this years SelocFest’13 at the Lotus Festival at Brands Hatch, August 23rd-25th, have now arrived and have been sent out to those who’ve already placed their orders. The tickets are being sent out 2nd Class Recorded Delivery and so will need to be signed for.

If you haven’t already then you can find out more about what is planned for this years Lotus Festival on the official website and in our dedicated sub-forum, and can buy your SelocFest tickets from the SELOC Shoppe.

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LoTRDC – V6-powered Exige wins its debut race

Image courtesy of snappyracers.com

Image courtesy of snappyracers.com

It was a perfect result for the new Exige V6 Cup R as it took victory around the Snetterton 300 circuit in the hands of Jon Walker this weekend on its racing debut.

Walker could only manage 4th on the grid, but a combination of faultless reliability over the 90 minutes as several of it’s main competitors dropped out and smart strategy gave them a narrow 2.4 second lead come the chequered flag.

In the Elise Trophy the honours were split between newcomer Adam Gore and returning driver Luigi Mazza respectively.

Discussion: SELOC Chat – Snet results- V6 Exige takes 1st

Jon Walker powered the Exige V6 Cup to victory in its debut race on the Snetterton 300 circuit yesterday (7 April), as the 2013 Lotus Cup UK season got underway. Continue reading

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Article: Maidstone Sports Cars in 2013

2013 challenger features a number of mechanical improvementsAhead of this weekends opening round of the 2013 LoTRDC Elise Trophy and Lotus Cup UK season we took the opportunity to put a few questions to Andrew Marsh of Maidstone Sports Cars, who returned to the LoTRDC series in 2012 with their Honda powered S1 Exige.

The team impressed on its return, with not just a trio of wins but also grabbing headlines with a Damien Hirst design livery, so we were keen to find out why they came back to race in the Lotus Cup UK, their latest developments, and their plans for the year ahead.

Article: Maidstone Sports Car in 2013

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Event Focus: LoTRDC – Round 1 – Lotus Cup UK & Elise Trophy – Snetterton – April 6th-7th

Elise Trophy - Snetterton - Phil S DefendingThis seasons Lotus Cup UK and Elise Trophy series kick off once again this coming weekend, with a pair of Elise Trophy races on the Saturday and a 90 minute Lotus Cup UK endurance race on Sunday along with various support races across both days.

You can find more details on the LoTRDC website, or in our event forum thread.

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Exige production update

3M4A1911Since we paid a visit to Lotus in January to see the Exige S production line cars have been arriving with their owners in the UK, but at a relatively low rate, while some have experienced further delays.

Today forum member and Exige S order holder visited the factory to see progress on his car, and was kind enough to share some of his thoughts on the visit in our forum.

Simon was able to see his car nearing completion on the line, however some others have found their builds pushed back, seemingly because of delays on the Diamond Cut finished wheels.

Discussion: SELOC Chat – New Exige S Begins Production

Posted in Group Lotus

Lotus F1 Team – Malaysian GP – Race Report

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix - SaturdayIt was a missed opportunity for the Lotus F1 Team today in Malaysia, the team with good pace in stage of the race but out of position after Raikkonen received a grid penalty for blocking and Grosjean was caught out in changing conditions in qualifying, compounded by poor starts for both.

After a damp start and a change to slick tyres Grosjean began to make up places, but Raikkonen struggled seemingly with losing tyre temperature on the damp parts of the track while trying to pass, along with a couple off track excursions.

As in Australia the team made fewer pit stops than it’s rivals, but being caught behind slower cars compromised their strategy and in the closing stages both cars were passed by Massa on fresher tyres.

Lotus F1 Team – Cold Shower for Lotus F1 Team at Sepang – 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix, Race Report

Discussion: SELOC Chat – F1 – Malaysian GP

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Lotus F1 Team – Malaysian GP Preview

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix - ThursdayIts the Malaysian GP this weekend and Lotus will be looking to repeat their victory in the season opener in Australia.

You can find a selection of their race preview articles below:

Selamat Datang ke Malaysia – Welcome to Malaysia
Romain Grosjean on the Malaysian GP – “I’ll arrive in Sepang fresh and ready to deliver my best on track”

James Allison on the Malaysian GP – “There’s No Room for Complacency”

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Claim for liquidation of Group Lotus dismissed

Press shot of the Evora production line

Press shot of the Evora production line

Following an alarmist report this morning by Autocar that Lotus was facing possible liquidation, spurred by the appearance of Group Lotus on the Companies Court Winding Up List, we are pleased to report that Lotus has issued a response and that filing has been dismissed and the company is not being liquidated.

Contrary to rumours initiated by a single car magazine (Autocar), Lotus is not being liquidated.

Earlier this year, Lotus was in a contractual dispute which was resolved amicably a number of weeks ago. However the High Court process meant that the matter was still shown on the High Court website, as there was a hearing scheduled for today. This is what appears to have been seen and misunderstood.

The case was only listed for the proceedings to be disposed of. The claim has now been dismissed with no order as to costs.

Although the details of the dispute have not been confirmed, some have suggested the filing was made by ART Grand Prix, who previously had run as Lotus ART and later Lotus GP in the FIA GP2 and GP3 series.

Discussion: SELOC Chat – Autocar – Group Lotus could be liquidated ?

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Lotus F1 Team – Australian GP – Race Report

Lotus F1 Team - Australian GPAfter a split qualifying session which saw the Lotus’ line up 7th and 8th on the grid the cars went on opposite directions at the start, with a strong start from Raikkonen seeing him fight his way up to 4th in the opening laps while Grosjean struggled and fell back out of the points.

Raikkonen made a 2 stop strategy work beautifully as the other leaders 3 stopped and passed Sutil in the closing to take a fantastic victory for the team, leading by over 10 seconds from Alonso at the chequered flag. Grosjean by contrast made little progress in the race and brought home the car picking up a single point for 10th.

Discussion: Chapman Arms – F1: Melbourne, ɐılɐɹʇsn∀

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Driven: Lotus Exige S Track Test

Exige V6 on trackOur write up of last weeks Lotus Exige S Track Test is online now, where three SELOCers of mixed abilities took to the Lotus test track at Hethel to try out the new V6 engined Exige and see how it performed.

Be sure to check out our video of the day as well.

Discussion: SELOC Chat – Exige V6 Track Test

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