Many journalists (myself included) are wondering about Lotus' racing strategy because, to tell you the truth, we can't figure it out.
The brand all but disappeared from the map following the death of its brilliant founder, Colin Chapman, in 1982. The F1 team survived for a few years, and then Lotus completely vanished.
Oh yeah, that's right: A couple of GT cars did race in various lower-tier series, but that was nothing to write home about.
Ferrari's Dany Bahar became the new CEO in 2009 and worked to put Lotus (now owned by Malaysian automaker Proton) back on the rails.
After introducing a new family of production models, Lotus decided to make a subtle yet full-scale return to auto racing, which is weird considering that it had been missing for almost two decades.
This year, Lotus is involved in Formula 1, IndyCar, GP2, GP3, endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the British Touring Car Championship, American Le Mans and others. What exactly is the reasoning behind this sudden explosion of black and gold?
For the record, Lotus is having a hard time on the track. Only the F1 team, managed by Genii, enjoys some success.
The automaker's IndyCar effort is shaping up to be an utter disaster. The deal to supply its turbocharged V6 engine came too late, and the entire program suffered as a result. Lotus missed the winter tests and participated in the first race with an unproven, underpowered, and extremely delicate engine.
In fact, three of the four teams powered by Lotus entering the 2012 season have voided their contracts. As for driver Simona de Silvestro, she'll have to spend all of the remaining races behind the wheel of an excessively slow car.
Lotus probably wanted to make waves or at least a splash in North America by competing in IndyCar and at the Indy 500, but it's seriously starting to lose credibility instead. That's not good at all for a company whose overarching goal is to sell expensive production cars.
The brand all but disappeared from the map following the death of its brilliant founder, Colin Chapman, in 1982. The F1 team survived for a few years, and then Lotus completely vanished.
Oh yeah, that's right: A couple of GT cars did race in various lower-tier series, but that was nothing to write home about.
Ferrari's Dany Bahar became the new CEO in 2009 and worked to put Lotus (now owned by Malaysian automaker Proton) back on the rails.
After introducing a new family of production models, Lotus decided to make a subtle yet full-scale return to auto racing, which is weird considering that it had been missing for almost two decades.
This year, Lotus is involved in Formula 1, IndyCar, GP2, GP3, endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the British Touring Car Championship, American Le Mans and others. What exactly is the reasoning behind this sudden explosion of black and gold?
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| Photo: IMS |
For the record, Lotus is having a hard time on the track. Only the F1 team, managed by Genii, enjoys some success.
The automaker's IndyCar effort is shaping up to be an utter disaster. The deal to supply its turbocharged V6 engine came too late, and the entire program suffered as a result. Lotus missed the winter tests and participated in the first race with an unproven, underpowered, and extremely delicate engine.
In fact, three of the four teams powered by Lotus entering the 2012 season have voided their contracts. As for driver Simona de Silvestro, she'll have to spend all of the remaining races behind the wheel of an excessively slow car.
Lotus probably wanted to make waves or at least a splash in North America by competing in IndyCar and at the Indy 500, but it's seriously starting to lose credibility instead. That's not good at all for a company whose overarching goal is to sell expensive production cars.