Dernières News LOTUS en Sport Auto

[LD 001]

En Français (lien avec photos) :

Après Dany Bahar subtilisé à Ferrari pour prendre les rênes de Lotus, c'est maintenant un autre illustre sociétaire de la Scuderia qui arrive à la Gestion Sportive et qui confirme les grosses ambitions de la firme anglaise : Claudio Berro.

Lotus qui va (re)débarquer en F1 l'an prochain possède un patrimoine sportif conséquent dans plusieurs disciplines allant du GT à au Tourisme en passant par le rallye ou l'Endurance.

Claudio Berro : "Il n'existe pas d'autres compagnies au monde qui puissent se prévaloir d'autant de succès dans autant de disciplines différentes et je vais m'attacher à ramener Lotus vers le haut niveau du sport automobile pas seulement pour vaincre mais aussi pour démontrer notre savoir faire et pour montrer les liens existants entre autos de série et voitures de course. Je suis impatient de remplir cette fonction chez Lotus dans le sport automobile de haut niveau. Ce pour non seulement gagner mais aussi pour démontrer les liens et technologie partagées entre les voitures de sport et voitures de série"

La F1 Lotus 2010 conçue sous la direction de Mike Gascoyne est déjà en soufflerie.

http://news.caradisiac.com/Claudio-Berr ... -Lotus-198

En Anglais (lien avec photos) :

The man responsible for running the now defunct Speedcar Middle-East championship has been hired by Lotus to lead its motorsport operations.

Claudio Berro has a high profile motorsport management profile, having cut his teeth in the business as sporting director at Peugeot Italy - following a stint co-driving a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus for Peugeot Talbot Italia and twice becoming Italian Group 2 Rally Champion in 1981 and 1982.

He subsequently served as team manager of Ferrari F1, and more recently as General Manager of Maserati Corse and Racing Director for Fiat-Abarth.

"Lotus has a peerless motorsport heritage, not just in Formula One, but we have also won in sportscar racing, saloon car racing, world rally championships, Le Mans and the Indy 500," says Berro in an official statement.

Berro's the one on the left (We think!)
Berro's the one on the left (We think!)
"There is no other car company in the world which can lay claim to so many accolades and championships in such a wide variety of motorsport fields, and I am looking forward to re-introducing Lotus to high level motorsport to not only compete and win but also to demonstrate the shared technology between Lotus sportscars and future racing cars."

New Lotus CEO - and former Ferrari director - Dany Bahar is the man responsible for the appointment:

"Claudio has a proven track record of not only setting up and managing the motorsport's divisions within sportscar brands but also winning championships in GT racing and rallying. His skills will be very valuable as we look to return Lotus to high level motorsport around the world," he says.

http://www.pistonheads.com/lotus/defaul ... ryId=20882

Et enfin en Anglais (lien avec photos) :

Motorsport was the big news on the Lotus stand at Frankfurt, with the formal announcement of the company's return to F1 in 2010 and the motor show debut of the Lotus Evora Type 124 endurance racer.

Lotus wasn't exactly saying much about its F1 plans, though. All a Lotus spokesman would tell us was this: "Lotus will be in F1 in 2010, and the project is being Malaysian-led, but the details are still being finalised."

The Lotus chaps were much more keen to talk about their new Type 124 endurance racer, however. PH even managed to collar Lotus development engineer extraordinaire and Type 124 project boss Gavan Kershaw to show us around the car.

The first thing you notice in the metal about the Type 24 is how well finished it is. "We didn't want to be half-hearted with this project" he told me. "We were going to do it properly or not at all." As a result the carbon fibre door cards are properly finished, the rear diffuser follows the styling line of the rear bumper, and the whole car has the well-finished aura of a road car rather than the hurriedly bolted-on feel of some racers.

The plan eventually is that the Evora Type 124 will be homologated for either FIA or GT3-spec racing, but until the technical regulations for those series are finalised - and until Lotus knows exactly how quick the Evora Type 124 is - the two factory-supported cars will run broadly to VLN Nurburgring endurance championship regs.

"We haven't even finalisd on the engine yet," says Gavan. "We could run it with a supercharger, but that would put us into a higher class, so we're also looking at a bored-out 3.7 or 3.8-litre naturally aspirated version.

So could any of the features of the racer - particularly the supercharger - make it to roadgoing Evoras? "Some of the aero bits and carbon fibre trim could theoretically make it onto roadgoing Evoras, but we want to to maintain the Evora's road-car focus, so it's pretty unlikely. As for a supercharged road car? A faster Evora is obviously a given if you look at Lotus's past, but it won't necessarily be supercharged. It depends on the race programme really. If we don't end up using the supercharger on the race car, it might not find its way to a road car, either."

There was plenty of road-car product on display, too. As well as the Evora and the supercharged Elise, Lotus displayed two new models for the first time - the Exige Cup 260 and the Elise Club Racer.

The Exige Cup 260 is Lotus's most focused Exige yet, and features a host of handling upgrades and weight-saving tricks, while its 257bhp supercharged Toyota motor will catapult it to 60mph in 4.0secs and to 100mph in 9.9 secs. The Cup 260 also features a restyled front end with larger air intakes and a new rear wing from the 2007 Geneva show Exige GT road car concept.

The Elise Club Racer is less of a track-focused weapon and is really more a cosmetic makeover of the 134bhp Elise S, with body colour interior trim panels, lightweight seats with exposed shell elements and a choice of four colours used by Lotus in the 1960s.

Along with the presence of Lotus Engineering's clever new off-the-shelf hybrid Range Extender engine, it was an impressive and varied display of technology and new metal. This was Lotus's first Frankfurt show for over a decade and to see the boys and girls from Hethel with so much to show on their comeback is clearly a sign that Lotus is in pretty rude health.

http://www.pistonheads.com/lotus/defaul ... ryId=20638

[fred2602]

A l'heure de la mode des BUZs, cela ferait plaisir de voire notre marque sur le petit écran..

[jojo]

Je vais certainement me mettre à regarder la F1 moi. Voilà qui va faire un bon coup de pub à nos bestioles !

[nikko01]

[Johan]

Je vais me mettre à aimer la F1 ... ou au contraire me désintéresser de Lotus

[Domino]

D'aprés blickr.ch et le site Inautonews.com ,
Jean Alesi va participer aux 500 Miles Indy 2012 avec le concours de Lotus Cars, encore faut il se qualifier car les places sont chères et limitées à 33 monoplaces ...

les topos:
http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/vette ... nso-182508
http://www.inautonews.com/lotus-to-conf ... 2-indy-500

wait & see

[El_Loco]

Comment il va faire le Jeannot, il y a pas de bacs a gravier la bas ^^

[Domino]

comme Sato .... droit au mur

sinon le topo officiel de Lotus Cars à ce sujet:
http://www.lotuscars.com/news/en/alesi-indy500