Lotus Cars – A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step Lao Tzu – Legendary Chinese Philosopher

Posted on 8th November 2011

We noted last week that Lotus had opened their first dealership in China, and now comes the official Press Release and images from the launch.

It certainly looks like Lotus is going all out to build the brand profile in China with an impressive showroom, a wide range of merchandise and a grand opening. Be sure to click through to see the full gallery!

Group Lotus takes on the Chinese market as Lotus China officially opens it’s doors in Beijing

Last week saw a major milestone event in Group Lotus’ history as the first Lotus showroom in China was declared officially open for business. The formal opening ceremony at the showroom in Beijing was overseen by senior representatives of Group Lotus and Lotus China alongside Clive Chapman, the son of Lotus Founder Colin Chapman. Continue reading →

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Lotus Jetalliance – 6 hours of Zhuhai

Posted on 8th November 2011

After a disappointing showing last time out at Road Atlanta, which saw both cars badly damaged, the Lotus Jetalliance team are back and preparing their Evora GTEs to head to the Far East and take on the Six Hours of Zhuhai in China this weekend.

ILMC: Lotus Jetalliance hopes for rewards at the ILMC season finale

As a long and challenging season draws to a close, Lotus Jetalliance looks forward to a strong finishing performance from both Evora GTE cars at the Six Hours of Zhuhai in China this weekend (November 12th/13th). Continue reading →

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LRGP – Abu Dhabi GP Buildup

Posted on 8th November 2011

Lotus Renault GP are busy preparing for the Abu Dhabi GP, and will be hoping for a strong finish to the season to ensure they keep hold of the 5th place in the Constructors Championship.

LRGP – James Allison on the Abu Dhabi GP – “The team needs to keep preparing the car carefully as they have done all year”

What can be done to improve matters for the final two races of the year?
The team needs to keep preparing the car carefully as they have done all year. We need to keep making clean pitstops; an area where our crew have made very clear improvement over the course of the year.

LRGP – Eric Boullier on the Abu Dhabi GP – “This event brings motorsport to the UAE in a big way”

Looking to Abu Dhabi – how does it rank alongside other modern F1 events?
Abu Dhabi is a very, very popular event and racing spectacle. To give you an example: we are absolutely jammed to the rafters in terms of the number of guests we have, and the interest we have received. It arrived on the calendar back in 2009 and since then it has acted as an extremely important race for the annual F1 circus.

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New Exige V6 photos up on the Lotus Facebook page

Posted on 7th November 2011

Lotus have posted up a few teaser shots of the new Exige S V6 on their Facebook page ahead of the launch of a new micro-site dedicated to the car.

These shots are the first official photographs to come from Lotus of the car undisguised and out in natural light – with previous press shots either computer renders or taken under the harsh lights of the Frankfurt Motor Show – and it certainly helps make sense of the cars design details, particularly the rear end which has divided opinions in some cases, but looks great out in the Hethel pit lane.

You can find the 5 images on the Lotus Cars Facebook Page, or for those who prefer not to use Facebook they’re also in our Exige S (2012) Gallery. Be sure to let us know what you think of these latest shots in our forum thread.

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More information on the Lotus V8 emerges

Posted on 7th November 2011

The NZ Herald has posted an article unveiling information on the new Lotus V8 engine currently in development and planned to slot in to the next generation Esprit, Elite and Eterne.

The engine started dyno testing in August and if all goes to schedule may be out testing in a development car before the end of the year. The specifications certainly sound mouthwatering and if accurate are set to make the Esprit the most powerful production road car ever to emerge from Hethel, eclipsing even the forthcoming Evora GTE, and on a near level pegging with the one off Elise GT1 road car.

Power from the naturally aspirated 4.8l engine is quoted as being in the region of 425kW (570bhp) at a heady 9,000rpm, with potential further developments pushing this figure up to 470kW (630bhp) at 9,400rpm.

The engine is set to be light too, with a target weight of just 170kg for the dry sumped and flat-plane crankshaft unit.

Source: NZ Herald – Hot V8 has Lotus all revved up
Discussion: SELOC Chat -New V8 sounding promising

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LRGP – LRGP to adopt Lotus chassis name from 2012

Posted on 6th November 2011

Lotus Renault GP have confirmed that for 2012 the team chassis is to be renamed from Renault to Lotus. The team name will remain Lotus Renault GP.

Eric Boullier, Lotus Renault GP Team Principal & MD: “We are very pleased that our chassis name change has been approved. We have said all along that, in the interests of the sport, it is important that we remove any ambiguity on this matter. It is also important that there are clearly identifiable teams on the grid, and today’s announcement goes some way towards ensuring that.

Source: LRGP – LRGP to adopt Lotus chassis name from 2012
Discussion: SELOC Chat – F1 Name Changes Approved

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Lotus 1000km won by Stratton Motor Company

Posted on 6th November 2011

The 2011 Brands Hatch Lotus 1000km race was won by the Stratton Motor Company, with their factory supported Evora GT4 driven by Lotus Test Driver Gavin Kershaw and Le Mans 24hr racer Stuart Hall, by a margin of 5 laps and in a time of 8hr 20m 52s – some 26 minutes quicker than the inaugural race in 2010.

The Europa Racing and Hofmanns Motors cars, the Lotus Europas which had locked out the front row of the grid in qualifying, both unfortunately failed to deliver on the promise shown on Friday. The Europa Racing car suffered gear-linkage issues and spent much of the race stuck in fourth gear, relying on the tractability of it’s turbocharged engine, while the Hofmann’s car struggled with fuel tank pressurisation issues which caused a pair of flash fires of the pits and prevented the team from mounting a challenge – a real shame for the guy who’ve endured a tough 2011.

Elsewhere the Elise Trophy battle was more closely contested, with Witham Cars Japan claiming the class victory ahead of LaHay Racing, separated by just 7 seconds after over 8 hours of racing!

You can find the full race report on the LoTRDC website, or find photos, video and more in our forum.

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Exige V6 and S2 Exige side by side in the Netherlands

Posted on 5th November 2011

A particularly good spot comes in from Arnhem over in the Netherlands today, courtesy of forum member mevistox5 who managed to not only get some shots of the new V6-engined Exige S, but did so with his own S2 Exige parked up alongside it.

The Exige S looks stunning in Velvet Red, and having the two cars side by side put in to perspective just how much wider the new Exige is compared to it’s predecessor.

Also in the garage was a red Elise, seemingly the new supercharged Elise S.

You can click through to see the full gallery, or find out more over in our forums.
Continue reading →

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Racing under way in the Brands Hatch Lotus 1000km

Posted on 5th November 2011

The Brands Hatch Lotus 1000km race is now under way.

Friday night qualifying saw an all Europa front row with the Europa Racing and Hoffmans Motorsport cars narrowly outpacing the GWS Motorsport Exige. The sole Evora GT4 on the grid, entered by Stratton Motor Company could only muster 5th.

You can follow the race through Live Timings and regular updates on the LoTRDC website.

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Elise Club Racer makes the Evo COTY 2011 line up

Posted on 4th November 2011

Issue 164 of Evo Magazine is landing on the mats of subscribers, and it’s the fabled eCOTY (Evo Car of the Year) issue…

While we of course won’t reveal the winner of the competition we are of course delighted to see the Elise CR has made the cut, going head to head against far more expensive and powerful cars including the Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0, Lamborghini Aventador, and Ferrari FF, as well as more obtainable examples such as the Renaultsport Megane 265 Trophy and BMW 1-series M Coupe.

You can find out more about the line up on the Evo website, read the full article in Evo Magazine Issue 164, or have your say in our forum thread (although be warned, it may contain spoilers).

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