Hofmann’s Motorsport Announce 2012 Lotus Cup Plans

Posted on 4th March 2012

Hofmann’s Motorsport have announced that they will be rejoining the Lotus Cup grid for 2012, with a two car entry in to the Lotus Cup Italia race at the Monza Autodromo, along with a full season single car entry in the Lotus Cup UK.

In both instances Hofmann’s drivers Campbell Cassidy and Chris Randall will be competing for the team, with individual entries in the Lotus Cup Italia race, and sharing a car in the Lotus Cup UK.

A strong performance is expected from the teams Lotus Europa, which took pole at last years Lotus 1000km Brands Hatch event, but later retired due to technical issues.

Source: Hofmann’s – Hofmann’s Motorsport to race in Lotus Cup UK, Hofmann’s field a two-car squad in Lotus Cup Italia

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Site Focus: SELOC Forums

Posted on 3rd March 2012

The SELOC Forums are only visible to registered users, so if you’re not a member you really don’t know what you’re missing out on.

So why not take a look at our short guide to the forums, find out what’s inside, and join one of the most active Lotus communities on the internet.

Posted in SELOC

Lotus Cars – Lotus Racing set for tarmac and grassroots

Posted on 2nd March 2012

Following on from the announcement of the Exige R-GTs rally debut, Lotus have posted up more information on the R-GT, along with news that Lotus will be entering the European Le Mans Series with a pair of Evora GTE teams- a factory effort driven by Johnny Mowlem with the black and gold colour scheme, and the Lotus Giudici Racing team running former touring car driver Gianni Giudici.

There’s also more news on the Lotus Racing Karts, while elsewhere there have been announcements that American driver Conor Daly will be driving for Lotus in GP3, and in an interesting move that Lotus has joined forces with Gravity-Charouz Racing to compete in the 2012 World Series by Renault with drivers Richie Stanaway and Marco Sorensen.

Source: Lotus Cars – Lotus Racing set for tarmac and grassroots
Discussion: SELOC Chat – Lotus to go Rallying Continue reading →

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Exige R-GT to Make Italian Debut

Posted on 2nd March 2012

Lotus have announced via Facebook that the Exige R-GT rally car will make it’s competitive debut next month at the Rally 1000 Miglia round of the FIA European Rally Championship in Brescia, Italy between the 19th and 21st of April.

The car, which is based on the hotly anticipated Exige S, will be driven by Bernado Sousa for the Lotus International Rally team.

Source: Lotus Cars Facebook
Discussion: SELOC Chat – Lotus to go Rallying

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Lotus F1 Team – Barcelona Day 1 – Test summary

Posted on 1st March 2012

Lotus F1 have posted their daily blog for the end of Day 1 at the third and final pre-season test in Barcelona.

The Lotus E20 completed a total of 73 laps and managed to top the time sheets for the day.

“The feeling in the team is fantastic and it’s like last week’s issues never happened. My crew told me that the problems would make us stronger, and this is true. The chassis is stronger, and all the team is stronger. We gathered good data today and we have a few interesting things that we would like to confirm tomorrow which should help us make a good step forwards.”

Source: Lotus F1 Team – Barcelona Day 1 – Test summary
Discussion: SELOC Chat – Final F1 pre-season test in Barcelona

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Lotus F1 Team – Back in Business

Posted on 1st March 2012

The Lotus F1 Team have made a strong return to the track after their issues at the previous Barcelona test, with Romain Grosjean putting in the third fastest time of the morning in the revised E20.

You can find out more on the Lotus F1 Team website, or keep up to date on the latest test timings with Autosport.

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Lotus F1 Team – James Allison: We’re back on track

Posted on 29th February 2012

Lotus F1 have updated their site with more information on the failure which saw them head home early from the second pre-season test in Barcelona.

The issue according to Technical Director James Allison was a failure of the mounting of the upper front wishbone rear arm. This has since been resolved and the team will be back on track tomorrow for the start of the third and final pre-season test before the season begins in Melbourne.

James, what happened to the E20 in Barcelona last week?
We arrived in Barcelona with a brand new chassis, the E20-02. We completed installation laps on Tuesday morning then Romain left the pits for his first run of the day. As soon as he touched the brakes before turn 1 on his first flying lap, he felt that something was wrong. He told us on the radio that he was aborting that run and returning straight to the pits.

What did you discover when the car got back to the garage?
We saw immediately that we had a problem with the mounting of the upper front wishbone rear arm.

Source: Lotus F1 Team – James Allison: We’re back on track
Discussion: SELOC Chat – Lotus suspend second pre-season test

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Event Focus: Lotus-on-Track Snetterton 300 Track Day, March 3rd

Posted on 29th February 2012

Lotus-on-Track returns to the popular Snetterton 300 circuit this month. The new 300 layout was introduced last year and has proved a great success, with the new infield section providing a great mix of corners allowing drivers to really test themselves and their cars.

For this day Lotus-on-Track are running the Snetterton 300 layout as an Open Pit Lane event, with a relatively relaxed 105dB noise limit, but isn’t suitable for novices drivers.

The day is priced at £150, with second drivers able to share a car free of charge and instructor sessions available for £20. You can book the day through the Lotus-on-Track website.

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Freddie Mercury Evora up for sale

Posted on 28th February 2012

After famously buying the special edition Freddie Mercury edition of the Lotus Evora S at a charity auction it seems that Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans has moved on from it already, with the car appearing on the PistonHeads Classifieds at Ferrari and Maserati dealership Meridien Modena.

The car features an exclusive colour scheme of Pearl White paint with red and gold stripes and black and yellow interior, complete with Freddie Mercury signature on the dash, and the specification was signed off by Chris Evans in person at the companies Hethel factory.

Discussion: SELOC Chat – Freddie Mercury Evora up for sale
Source: PistonHeads Classifieds – Lotus Evora S Freddie Mercury Special Edition

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Lotus to Launch Exige S Convertible at Geneva

Posted on 27th February 2012

Bad news for those anticipating the revealing of an Evora Convertible at the Geneva Motor Show after Lotus’s teaser last week, as sources have indicated that the announcement next month will instead be of a convertible version of the yet to be released V6-engined Exige.

The convertible Exige will share the same bodywork as the already announced Exige S, but with the rear spoiler removed and a fabric soft top as used on the current generation Elise fitted. Due to limitations imposed by the roofs fixing method the top speed will be limited to 155mph, down from over 170mph for the hard top model.

The introduction of the model is likely made possible by the lack of a roof scoop, used by the previous generation Exige S to provide air to the superchargers intercooler, and is backed up by spy shots taken last year of the car in testing near the Nurburgring both with and without the hardtop cars rear spoiler.

Along with the Exige S Convertible, Lotus are expected to unveil a special F1 themed edition of the Evora GTE – perhaps similar to that already seen at the Autosport International show in January…

Discussion: SELOC Chat – Lotus to Launch Exige S Convertible at Geneva

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