Lotus back in F1?
Discussion
Vlad. said:
I'm not sure about this. I'd love to support Lotus in F1, but it sounds like the Malaysian government hiding behind the Lotus name, rather than the Malaysian government funding Lotus. BBC says that ultimately the car will be built in Malaysia.
"The team will be initially based in Norfolk, though its future design, research and development, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose built at Malaysia's Sepang International circuit."
Can Gascoigne commute by air to Sepang every day? "The team will be initially based in Norfolk, though its future design, research and development, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose built at Malaysia's Sepang International circuit."
Edited by Vlad. on Tuesday 15th September 10:27
crankedup said:
Either way it brings around 250 local jobs into Norfolk, carries the Lotus name and hopefully will be succesful on track.
It's the name only and to be frank I suspect Lotus won't be pleased by this. No team barring Ferrari has been able to make inroads into F1 outside the teams in the UK. I don't expect this "Faux" Lotus to do so either. Either you do it right and hand it over to Lotus or you name it something else and this is a case of something else!! The jobs are in Malaysia and I don't expect the "local" talent to be able to do the job, Proton cars are nowhere near good enough to sell well in the world market so how they expect to be able to compete in F1 with "local" engineers baffles me.telecat said:
crankedup said:
Either way it brings around 250 local jobs into Norfolk, carries the Lotus name and hopefully will be succesful on track.
It's the name only and to be frank I suspect Lotus won't be pleased by this. No team barring Ferrari has been able to make inroads into F1 outside the teams in the UK. I don't expect this "Faux" Lotus to do so either. Either you do it right and hand it over to Lotus or you name it something else and this is a case of something else!! The jobs are in Malaysia and I don't expect the "local" talent to be able to do the job, Proton cars are nowhere near good enough to sell well in the world market so how they expect to be able to compete in F1 with "local" engineers baffles me.Im not particully happy with the return of the Lotus name, I would reahter they called it "Team Malasia" but I dont care too much.
in press briefing Mike Gascoyne said:
We are aiming to take this team to the very top level in the long term.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juqtcsHlKzstelecat said:
"Faux" Lotus
I was... almost... gonna give that a +1, but in fairness what we have here are people who've happily owned a sports car company for some time that happens to be historic in F1, deciding to re-ignite that- it's not entirely blatant name-robbing on par with one or two recent examples. And, sh!t, if you were the boss of proton group inc. and you wanted to enter F1, as does everyone seemingly today, would enter a proton or a lotus?Oh, and yeah, I'd be suprised if total relocation to malaysia went ahead. There's gonna be enough laughter what with bornintheUSF1.
Edited by hairyben on Tuesday 15th September 17:00
Is the real issue here not that this Lotus team, which appears to be an offical team, given the situation with Proton owning Lotus, is not the completely unofficial Lotus team that originally applied to join F1? How has a team seemingly circumnavigated the 'selection' process?
I notice they appear to have a Cosworth engine.
I notice they appear to have a Cosworth engine.
flemke said:
in press briefing Mike Gascoyne said:
We are aiming to take this team to the very top level in the long term.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juqtcsHlKzs
flemke said:
in press briefing Mike Gascoyne said:
We are aiming to take this team to the very top level in the long term.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juqtcsHlKzsEl Guapo said:
Given his history, I wonder how long it´ll be before Lotus and Gascoyne part company by mutual consent.
From what I gather, this is very much his project, which he has sold to the Malaysians. I therefore imagine he has quite a large stake in it. He may "step back" but it seems less likely that he will "step away".As to parting company, I suspect that he has profited very handsomely over the years from the frequent payoffs (he's a contractor, like the drivers); he may not view it as a failed strategy
hairyben said:
telecat said:
"Faux" Lotus
I was... almost... gonna give that a +1, but in fairness what we have here are people who've happily owned a sports car company for some time that happens to be historic in F1, deciding to re-ignite that- it's not entirely blatant name-robbing on par with one or two recent examples. GKP said:
Back in the day, Team Lotus was Chapman's baby and had nothing to do with Lotus Cars or Engineering,
Can you explain exactly what you mean by that statement? Or am I missing something?flemke said:
in press briefing Mike Gascoyne said:
We are aiming to take this team to the very top level in the long term.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juqtcsHlKzsJust how many teams has Gascoyne worked for?
skeggysteve said:
GKP said:
Back in the day, Team Lotus was Chapman's baby and had nothing to do with Lotus Cars or Engineering,
Can you explain exactly what you mean by that statement? Or am I missing something?This new team is closer to the manufacturing company than Team Lotus ever was.
skwdenyer said:
El Guapo said:
Given his history, I wonder how long it´ll be before Lotus and Gascoyne part company by mutual consent.
From what I gather, this is very much his project, which he has sold to the Malaysians. I therefore imagine he has quite a large stake in it. He may "step back" but it seems less likely that he will "step away".As to parting company, I suspect that he has profited very handsomely over the years from the frequent payoffs (he's a contractor, like the drivers); he may not view it as a failed strategy
Originally, (the 1950s) Chapman manufactured his cars (road and race) and ran the racing team under the one company - Lotus Cars Ltd. As he became more successful, it was decided that the racing team should be split from the road car manufacturing operation - a sensible decision. Oddly enough, some car manufacturing was retained within the racing side of things - notably the manufacturing of the clubman sports cars (Lotus VI, Lotus 7 and Lotus XI, XV etc). Later on, the Lotus Formula Ford cars were manufactured outside of the main Lotus road car outfit too.
In the 1960s, matters got quite a bit more complicated. With Lotus now earning big money through its success in GP racing and with its road cars selling well, off shore companies were set up and quite complicated divisions and links arose between the various elements of the Chapman empire.
After Chapman died in 1982, the road car manufacturing side of things was hived off completely from the motor sport area and eventually left the hands of the Chapman family. Classic Team Lotus is the last remnant of the original Lotus set-up still in Chapman ownership.
In the 1960s, matters got quite a bit more complicated. With Lotus now earning big money through its success in GP racing and with its road cars selling well, off shore companies were set up and quite complicated divisions and links arose between the various elements of the Chapman empire.
After Chapman died in 1982, the road car manufacturing side of things was hived off completely from the motor sport area and eventually left the hands of the Chapman family. Classic Team Lotus is the last remnant of the original Lotus set-up still in Chapman ownership.
paulrockliffe said:
Is the real issue here not that this Lotus team, which appears to be an offical team, given the situation with Proton owning Lotus, is not the completely unofficial Lotus team that originally applied to join F1? How has a team seemingly circumnavigated the 'selection' process?
I notice they appear to have a Cosworth engine.
Anyone any thoughts on this?I notice they appear to have a Cosworth engine.
Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff