Lotus Back in Formula One
09-15-2009, 09:28 AM
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Lotus Back in Formula One
And on a side note, BMW Sauber was sold to a Swiss investment group
Lotus returns to Formula One
15 September 2009
The famous Lotus name will be back on the F1 grid next year, the FIA has confirmed. The governing body revealed on Tuesday that the Lotus F1 Team entry has been accepted to fill the vacant space left by the departing BMW Sauber, which has also submitted what has been described as an 'impressive application'.
With 13 positions currently available on the grid next year and several entries left to select following BMW's July announcement that it will be pulling out of the sport, governing body the FIA confirmed on Tuesday that the Lotus name will be returning to the sport for the first time since 1994.
Jim Clark became the first Lotus World Champion in 1963
The latest version of the Lotus team will be funded by both the Malaysian government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs. The full title of the outfit will be 1Malaysia F1 Team, based at the factory of RTN in Norfolk, England. The building, only ten miles from Lotus Cars, was originally built for Toyota's F1 organisation at the start of the decade before Bentley used the facility for its Le Mans team.
Funding will be provided by the Malaysian Tune Group - the company behind airline Air Asia and headed by Tony Fernandes, who will also be Team Principal - with Mike Gascoyne making his Formula One return as Technical Director, having left Force India last year.
The team will be using Cosworth engines with gearboxes provided by Xtrac and aerodynamics developed by FondTech.
Lotus returns to Formula One
15 September 2009
The famous Lotus name will be back on the F1 grid next year, the FIA has confirmed. The governing body revealed on Tuesday that the Lotus F1 Team entry has been accepted to fill the vacant space left by the departing BMW Sauber, which has also submitted what has been described as an 'impressive application'.
With 13 positions currently available on the grid next year and several entries left to select following BMW's July announcement that it will be pulling out of the sport, governing body the FIA confirmed on Tuesday that the Lotus name will be returning to the sport for the first time since 1994.
Jim Clark became the first Lotus World Champion in 1963
The latest version of the Lotus team will be funded by both the Malaysian government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs. The full title of the outfit will be 1Malaysia F1 Team, based at the factory of RTN in Norfolk, England. The building, only ten miles from Lotus Cars, was originally built for Toyota's F1 organisation at the start of the decade before Bentley used the facility for its Le Mans team.
Funding will be provided by the Malaysian Tune Group - the company behind airline Air Asia and headed by Tony Fernandes, who will also be Team Principal - with Mike Gascoyne making his Formula One return as Technical Director, having left Force India last year.
The team will be using Cosworth engines with gearboxes provided by Xtrac and aerodynamics developed by FondTech.
09-15-2009, 11:59 AM
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Don't know why but I really liked the JPS.
Saw one nearly got clobbered by an early 80's F1 car at Watkins Glen Historics few years back.
Everyone was asking if the JPS made it through the wreck.
Saw one nearly got clobbered by an early 80's F1 car at Watkins Glen Historics few years back.
Everyone was asking if the JPS made it through the wreck.
09-15-2009, 12:51 PM
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Lotus: We have a shortlist of drivers
15 September 2009
Lotus F1 Technical Director Mike Gascoyne has revealed that the team is eyeing several drivers ahead of the legendary name's revisiting of the sport next year. The Malaysian-backed squad, which has been allowed use of the Lotus brand by owners Proton, has been selected by the FIA as Formula One's thirteenth team.
Gascoyne was last employed in F1 as Force India Technical Director last year
With BMW having pulled out of F1 but revealed on Tuesday to have been bought by Swiss firm Qadbak, it was beaten to its place on the grid by Lotus. As the FIA attempts to see the team formerly known as Sauber become a 14th entry, Lotus rejoins F1 for the first time in 15 years.
Heading the team, which will be based in Norfolk but hopes to open a new facility at Malaysia's Sepang Circuit, will be Tony Fernandes as Mike Gascoyne returns from a year's sabbatical to the role of Technical Director. Having explained that the Malaysian Prime Minister revealed the forming of the team on Tuesday, Gascoyne spoke of possible achievements.
Malaysian Alex Yoong drove for Minardi in 2002
"I think we will be launching the car late, and that has reliability aspects, but I still think, with the work we've done, that we will target being the best of the new cars on the grid," he told the BBC. "That's a very clear initial target, and realistic, and I would hope by mid-season that we are challenging the bottom rung of the current teams and I think that's achievable."
No drivers have yet been selected although Norwich-born Gascoyne admits that several are being viewed as candidates. "Obviously the driver market's fairly volatile, teams not confirming drivers and a lot of uncertainty, so we have a shortlist of drivers," he revealed.
"Now we've got our entry confirmed - because it's always this chicken and egg thing, you can't talk to people until you've definitely got an entry, they won't take you seriously - we have a target list of drivers, so we'll start talking to them and we hope we'll be able to announce something in a reasonably sensible time frame.
"I think the whole package ought to attract drivers because I think that everyone will be able to see that what we have is something very substantial moving forward; I think we're very confident with the group, with Tony Fernandes leading the team, that we'll be able to put in place a package that will allow us to be very competitive."
15 September 2009
Lotus F1 Technical Director Mike Gascoyne has revealed that the team is eyeing several drivers ahead of the legendary name's revisiting of the sport next year. The Malaysian-backed squad, which has been allowed use of the Lotus brand by owners Proton, has been selected by the FIA as Formula One's thirteenth team.
Gascoyne was last employed in F1 as Force India Technical Director last year
With BMW having pulled out of F1 but revealed on Tuesday to have been bought by Swiss firm Qadbak, it was beaten to its place on the grid by Lotus. As the FIA attempts to see the team formerly known as Sauber become a 14th entry, Lotus rejoins F1 for the first time in 15 years.
Heading the team, which will be based in Norfolk but hopes to open a new facility at Malaysia's Sepang Circuit, will be Tony Fernandes as Mike Gascoyne returns from a year's sabbatical to the role of Technical Director. Having explained that the Malaysian Prime Minister revealed the forming of the team on Tuesday, Gascoyne spoke of possible achievements.
Malaysian Alex Yoong drove for Minardi in 2002
"I think we will be launching the car late, and that has reliability aspects, but I still think, with the work we've done, that we will target being the best of the new cars on the grid," he told the BBC. "That's a very clear initial target, and realistic, and I would hope by mid-season that we are challenging the bottom rung of the current teams and I think that's achievable."
No drivers have yet been selected although Norwich-born Gascoyne admits that several are being viewed as candidates. "Obviously the driver market's fairly volatile, teams not confirming drivers and a lot of uncertainty, so we have a shortlist of drivers," he revealed.
"Now we've got our entry confirmed - because it's always this chicken and egg thing, you can't talk to people until you've definitely got an entry, they won't take you seriously - we have a target list of drivers, so we'll start talking to them and we hope we'll be able to announce something in a reasonably sensible time frame.
"I think the whole package ought to attract drivers because I think that everyone will be able to see that what we have is something very substantial moving forward; I think we're very confident with the group, with Tony Fernandes leading the team, that we'll be able to put in place a package that will allow us to be very competitive."
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09-15-2009, 01:42 PM
#8
Drifting
I'm sure the new "BMW team" will get a spot on the grid - but it was a pretty stupid move to announce they were quitting F1 before finding a buyer. With BMW completely out of F1 I wonder what engine they will use, same with "Lotus". Mercedes might be powering half the grid..
09-15-2009, 02:07 PM
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Larry Herman
2016 Ford Transit Connect Titanium LWB
2018 Tesla Model 3 - Electricity can be fun!
Retired Club Racer & National PCA Instructor
Past Flames:
1994 RS America Club Racer
2004 GT3 Track Car
1984 911 Carrera Club Racer
1974 914/4 2.0 Track Car
CLICK HERE to see some of my ancient racing videos.
09-15-2009, 03:41 PM
#12
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09-15-2009, 04:31 PM
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http://www.worldcarfans.com/10906111...-2010-f1-entry
Apparently this is the F3 team 'Litespeed.' Shrewd marketing move but nothing to do with the legacy team.
I suspect 'Vanwall' is available for the asking but there aren't too many octogenarian F1 fans left to impress...
09-15-2009, 06:37 PM
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Another story
SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
Malaysians get the 12th slotIt will be announced later today that the Malaysian government will be funding a Formula 1 team in 2010 and that the entry has been granted. It is believed to be a joint venture between the government and Tony Fernandes, the owner of the no-frills Malaysian airline AirAsia, which has been a Williams sponsor in recent years. It is believed that the team will be funded by the automobile company Proton and will probably be called Team Lotus and be backed by Petronas money. The 45-year-old entrepreneur was educated in England and worked as an auditor with Richard Branson's Virgin Records in the late 1980s. He returned to Malaysia in the 1990s and became the managing director of Warner Music (Malaysia) but left after the Time-Warner merger with AOL and bought the troubled AirAsia from the government and set about rebuilding it. The airline is competition with Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines. The company is now on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange. He has since gone on to establish his own Tune Hotels chain, which follows the same no-frills policy.
The team will almost certainly be buying the Sauber operation in Hinwil and it is anticipated that the engines will be Ferraris. It remains to be seen whether or not Peter Sauber is involved. There were many rumours about the team at Monza with two other names being mentioned: Nicolas Todt, the son of FIA Presidential candidate Jean Todt, who is a partner in ART Grand Prix, the GP2 team that won the title last weekend with Nico Hulkenberg. Todt has the ambition to run an F1 but only in the right circumstances. His father in well connected in Malaysia thanks to his partner Michelle Yeoh. His is also close to the new boss of Group Lotus Dany Bahar, a former Red Bull executive who was hired by Ferrari to help develop the brand. There has also been talk that a Luxembourg-born venture capitalist called Gerard Lopez, a partner in the venture capital company Mangrove Capital Partners, may be involved. Lopez was an early investor in the Internet in the 1990s and set up the investment business in 1999. Lopez made his fortune by being an early investor in Skype, the voice-over-Internet protocol telephony service. The company is doing well with 400m users and revenues expected to rise to $1bn by 2011. The original investors are believed to still hold 35% of the business, while also continuing to provide seed capital for new European technology businesses, trying to emulate the success of the Silicon Valley cluster of venture capitalists in the United States. Lopez is a big Lotus fan.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
Malaysians get the 12th slotIt will be announced later today that the Malaysian government will be funding a Formula 1 team in 2010 and that the entry has been granted. It is believed to be a joint venture between the government and Tony Fernandes, the owner of the no-frills Malaysian airline AirAsia, which has been a Williams sponsor in recent years. It is believed that the team will be funded by the automobile company Proton and will probably be called Team Lotus and be backed by Petronas money. The 45-year-old entrepreneur was educated in England and worked as an auditor with Richard Branson's Virgin Records in the late 1980s. He returned to Malaysia in the 1990s and became the managing director of Warner Music (Malaysia) but left after the Time-Warner merger with AOL and bought the troubled AirAsia from the government and set about rebuilding it. The airline is competition with Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines. The company is now on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange. He has since gone on to establish his own Tune Hotels chain, which follows the same no-frills policy.
The team will almost certainly be buying the Sauber operation in Hinwil and it is anticipated that the engines will be Ferraris. It remains to be seen whether or not Peter Sauber is involved. There were many rumours about the team at Monza with two other names being mentioned: Nicolas Todt, the son of FIA Presidential candidate Jean Todt, who is a partner in ART Grand Prix, the GP2 team that won the title last weekend with Nico Hulkenberg. Todt has the ambition to run an F1 but only in the right circumstances. His father in well connected in Malaysia thanks to his partner Michelle Yeoh. His is also close to the new boss of Group Lotus Dany Bahar, a former Red Bull executive who was hired by Ferrari to help develop the brand. There has also been talk that a Luxembourg-born venture capitalist called Gerard Lopez, a partner in the venture capital company Mangrove Capital Partners, may be involved. Lopez was an early investor in the Internet in the 1990s and set up the investment business in 1999. Lopez made his fortune by being an early investor in Skype, the voice-over-Internet protocol telephony service. The company is doing well with 400m users and revenues expected to rise to $1bn by 2011. The original investors are believed to still hold 35% of the business, while also continuing to provide seed capital for new European technology businesses, trying to emulate the success of the Silicon Valley cluster of venture capitalists in the United States. Lopez is a big Lotus fan.