Lotus In Formula One

[Lowtus]

Err... presuming they cost nothing to make, require no labour and are made from air and dust ...then yes!

Just in case anyone else is struggling with English and Maths here's a fuller version,

"If Lotus are indeed committing

[Kimbers]

So at, say,

[f1karting]

.......... unless they mutually form a team with ....ohhh I don't know.....Aguri or ermmm.....Spyker (these two would be obvious choices due private ownership requiring engineering skills and money that advertising would get them from the Lotus brand),.......

Exactly! Now there's mileage!

[Evil_Dr_Fish]

Ok Mr Consistently-Argumentative and rude, I think it is you who needs a lesson in English and Maths as you are so very wrong in your reply to what was blatantly just a glib, joke post anyway...

"So at, say,

[Paul C]

Hey! lets start up our own F1 team!!!

[esprit350]

Great idea, can I be the one who chooses the pit lane babes please?

[Paul C]

Great idea, can I be the one who chooses the pit lane babes please?

If only it were that easy mate. But we've got to wait until everyones having a bad

day at work, and then we can tear each other to bits about the height, hair colour,

cost, and sponsorship that appears on the girls, how much each sponsor pays, and

if thats for all season, etc, etc...

I'm guessing the real F1 guys argue about that stuff too.

Hey! We should start our own F1 team!

:yes

[wiseraven]

Just wondering - how much of the

[Kimbers]

No comment.............Sorry. Not really in the know when it comes to that.

[BusaNostra]

No comment.............Sorry. Not really in the know when it comes to that.

Kimbers, by the way how many team in F1 who don't sell cars and made it through using sponsorship? Can the Lotus survive in the F1 group by selling a few cars, the rest are through advertising investor or sponsorship?

[Kimbers]

No, they couldn't survive as they were. Just too much money. Even the sponsorship etc isn't anywhere near enough to run a team for a season. You have to have other revenue streams. However! if 2 companies were to use their own expertise together it makes it much more viable, as long as the other one has the money input!!

[Evil_Dr_Fish]

[hasuSan]

No, they couldn't survive as they were. Just too much money. Even the sponsorship etc isn't anywhere near enough to run a team for a season. You have to have other revenue streams. However! if 2 companies were to use their own expertise together it makes it much more viable, as long as the other one has the money input!!

Kimbers,

According to ESPN, a successful Nascar team spent approx 50.mil in 36 races (per season). Majority of the money came from sponsorship, how much money do you think an F1 car needed for a season?

Edited April 13, 2007 by HASUsan

[esprit350]

small teams like super aguri have small budgets

[proracer]

I was just watching the qualifying for the next Formula one race and heard the amount that some teams are paying out to race.......Can you believe over a Billion Dollars for some teams? How can this be? Is it true? I know that it is expensive......but a billion dollars........Well I was considering writing a check??? but now, I may have to reconsider...........Jim

[Feffman]

Jim:

What I think you heard (at elast what I heard) was the comment about the combined budgets of Toyota and Honda are over $1 Billion and were outpaced by Williams.

Feff

Edited April 14, 2007 by Feffman

[proracer]

Jim:

What I think you heard (at elast what I heard) was the comment about the combined budgets of Toyota and Honda are over $1 Billion and were outpaced by Williams.

Feff

Now that I think about it, you are right.....Thanks, Jim

[Evil_Dr_Fish]

Ah so merely Half a BILLION dollars each!!!!!

[Feffman]

Ah so merely Half a BILLION dollars each!!!!!

I actually think the $1 Billion number is low. I've heard consistent figures of Toyota spending upwards of $750Million alone and I'd think Honda probably isn't to far aft of Toyota's contribution. Real combined number is probably closer to $1.2-$1.3 Billion.

Feff

Edited April 15, 2007 by Feffman

[sandwer]

<snippage>I was privy to a conversation recently where you and other Lotus owners were mentioned by MJK. It was regarding the Brands meet and he told them "Lotus creates a passion like no other either I or anyone else has ever seen. At Brands there were thousands of owners from Lotus 7's to Elises and clubs from LEF to SELOC (I choked at this point) and LEC. All these guys have one thing in common, they all love Lotus and their cars". I can't say who he was talking to but it's nice to know that you are all appreciated.

<end snippage...>

I remember the hackles on the back of my neck going when I sat in a friend's uncle's Elan, aged 9. The dials, the switches, the patina (sorry, sound like a practical classics reader here) all overwhelmed me to the point that I always swore 'one day I would own a Lotus, but for now, I'd follow them as my Top Trump manufacturer of choice'.

Somewhere in Italy at the same time, I expect an Italian 9 year old was having much the same experience over whatever Ferrari was around then - and there, you have the roots of the Tifosi.

"Lotus creates a passion like no other". Wow, wise words indeed. TVR, Jaguar, maybe get halfway there, but your Dad is right.

I did end up with an Excel, an Elise and an Esprit. I remember the night I drove my first Lotus home from Norwich, I remember the first roundabout and I remember the feeling of 'Oh, I get it'. I shed a small tear driving up to the gates at Donington the first time and seeing so many other Lotuses, at the 50th birthday celebration, at seeing the electric elise (Tesla, never forget your heritage...) and at seeing a JPS F1 car go around brands hatch. That sound alone as it flew down paddock hill bend and up towards druids affirmed for me exactly why I am a Lotus owner.

Lotus in F1 again? Only as a manufacturer/badge-engineered exercise. Would I support them? Hell, yes. I'd even be there waving a Lotus flag. As would most of you....

Rich

[Paul C]

have just merged the 'Lotus in formula one' thread with the identically named 'Lotus

in formula one' thread. So now we have just the one 'Lotus in formula one' thread.

Saves multiple posts and confusion.

[BusaNostra]

Good, no reason to have two identical.

[Lowtus]

As regards racing there's nothing kills an F1 team quicker than painting its cars a daft colour ........

Honda's blue/green "earth" colour scheme assures Jenson and Rubens of 15th and 16th place on the grid.

And guess what? Barrichello and Button qualified 15th and 16th on the grid in Bahrain this weekend!

[islandbloke]

So, to summarise...

Lots of us got into Lotus as a proposition, before we ever got near Lotus as a car!

I'm the same as a lot of you guys - my early teenage years were spent drawing Lotus F1 cars in Jim Clark colours on my school exercise books.

My first Lotus was around 1983 - an orange Seven (series 4 - the plastic pig). I had it resprayed BRG with the yellow stripe and lived the dream - and eventually raced it at Oulton Park once!

Then Lottie in 1990 when I had a few quid. A few years ago I made the 'Best of British - Lotus' video programme and the feeling of history I got in meeting Clive at Kett Hall (I assume he has Colin's office) and looking through what I also assume was once the F1 workshop, was overpowering. Clive kindly gave me a CTL 'Lotus in F1' framed print which has pride of place at home.

I don't think Lotus has any place in F1 these days. But national racing - sure thing. The Elise is a great race car, and an even more radically stripped out version (maybe more 340R than Elise) could find a home in all the race schools around the country these days.

Or how about a return to Formula Ford (or equivalent). I can't see the company ever making the investment to knock out Nascar/CART chassis, but I bet the Elise chassis technology could be narrowed to single seat dimensions...

Edited April 16, 2007 by islandbloke

[Lowtus]

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