[letmelogin]

They fired up their cosworth engine for the first time yesterday and will conduct a "shakedown" on Tuesday before Friday's official launch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/8502812.stm

The articles also inculdes a soundbite of the car being started up for the first time, which is sweet.

[GueseVekdet]

YES YES YES YES YES!

Go team.....ahem......Lotus F1! Sooooo excited.

[Usendyduexy]

While I'm prepared for them to suck worse than Jaguar F1, I can't wait to get some team gear.

[Draftcasino.com]

While I'm prepared for them to suck worse than Jaguar F1, I can't wait to get some team gear.

I disagree with that Jaguar run by a bunched of idiots who know nothing about f1, after red bull all smiles, but this not a jag thread, good luck for lotus, cosworth sound like a wolf.

[exeftWabreava]

I hope the Silverstone run is published - the Virgin time seems to have been entirely ignored by the media.

Still only three studio pictures available and nought else!

[letmelogin]

I disagree with that Jaguar run by a bunched of idiots who know nothing about f1, after red bull all smiles, but this not a jag thread, good luck for lotus, cosworth sound like a wolf.

The dreadful mis-management at boardroom level screwed them over completely, so i felt sorry for the likes of Niki Lauda and Bobby Rahal who were broguth in to "run the team", in reality, they and TBF the whole team did not know one iota about what was going on.

Lotus is very different in my view, Proton have allowed them to use the Lotus name (presumably in return for some advert space on the car) and thats their only involvement, so no BS boardroom bureaucracy. Just Tony Fernendes and his team he set up the way he sees fit. And so far I cannot fault them. a top-notch designer, 2 solid and experienced drivers signed up and a state of the art facility next door to the Sepang circuit already in the works.

They've done everything right so far, long may it continue.

[GueseVekdet]

I hope the Silverstone run is published - the Virgin time seems to have been entirely ignored by the media.

Still only three studio pictures available and nought else!

There are a few extra pics on the virgin launch thread St.D - although it was pouring with rain. Besides 44 laps round the stowe circuit which takes, what, 30 seconds to complete isn't exactly headline news.

Hopefully the Lotus will be as beautiful as all the others have been.

[bobibnoxx]

I also hope that Lotus can build on the decent management they have had so far. I think the Lotus F1 Racing period will be quite a career-defining for Mr Gascoyne himself. There have been really some varying opinions about him throughout years, some say he is overrated, etc. So far it looks like the team might gel together really well, because unlike in the past teams Gascoyne has been given free hands to gather together the right people. For instance several former Toyota employees have already joined Lotus, including Trulli's race engineer. I read somewhere that Trulli has seen even some familiar faces in the team from his Jordan and Renault days. Gascoyne has worked in so many teams already that he should have loads of contacts and also quite thorough understanding of more efficient working methods from different teams.

[FliveGell]

Lotus trucks and motorhome have now appeared in Spain at the test and it seems from the branding on their trucks that:



1) Team name has changed from 'Lotus F1 Racing' to just 'Lotus Racing'

2) Seems team logo has changed to a nice homage to Colin Chapman of the traditional Lotus badge shape and which inside this badge includes a likely representation of

3) the new classic green/gold Lotus livery - Yay!









Loving the lines of the motorhome - old school, classic Lotus retro - Love it! This is likely only an intermin livery for the trucks until they have a fully branded version with all the team sponsors etc however hope the retro lines remain

Cant wait to see the team launch this week and what sponsor portfolio they have been able to line up etc - also whether the team will have a title sponsor which they had of course hoped would have been Petronas - I still thought Petronas may have done a deal ala Marlboro/Santander have done in the past and supported 2 teams but alas it seems not.

The teams website will also be re-launched on the 12th which is very welcome as their current version looks like something a first year IT college student may have put together for a class project - especially when viewed against the slick new website of Virgin Racing and so looking forward to Friday.



Any spy shots released of the Lotus shakedown today at all? Anyone even know at which track the shakedown is happening at? Silverstone??

[GueseVekdet]

OMG just messed my pants! The livery (badge esp) is awesome!

I would hazard a guess at stowe. The GP layout is a muddy hole and the south circuit is being revised for the arena track.

[letmelogin]

Oh I love it already, cant wait to see what the car looks like now

And yes, the shakedown is at Silverstone but it'll be the test/reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy who gets the privilege of being the first man in 16 years to drive a Lotus Formula 1 car

[arindiruppya]

I like the fact that we may have the old British racing green and yellow back in F1. All the signs are there.

[arindiruppya]

Surely that's now Malaysian Racing Green?

You're quite correct. Its like the British Racing Silver used on the Mercedes.

[paydayus]

If they are ready to shakedown today, then why aren't they trying to get in a couple days of testing with the rest of the gang?

[letmelogin]

If they are ready to shakedown today, then why aren't they trying to get in a couple days of testing with the rest of the gang?

Thats because they have an official launch on Friday, plus they wont be able to ship the car there in time for the first Jerez test

[FliveGell]

Some guys over at the Autosport.com forum have said they find this new Lotus logo an insult to Colin Chapman - in how 'new Lotus' have kept the iconic Lotus badge shape yet removed the Colin Chapman initials from inside it and replacing with the new livery graphic - likening this approach to to taking the Ferrari badge and removing the Prancing Horse from it and replacing with some other graphic....


.... I personally like to think of the new Lotus logo as being a nice modern, well not modern 'take', but a modern, sympathetic homage to the traditional one - but what do the guys here think?.....

..... Do the guys over at the Autosport forum have a point? Is it sacrilege to mess around with such traditional, iconic logos or is it instead a nice 'tip of the hat' to honour the past?

[Anteneprorid]

[aparneioninny]

That's my new favourite livery. Awesome

[MpNelQTU]

This... is getting better than ever!!!

Cars (I know there´s another thread) look the best since... I don´t know when. We´ll see how it performs, but the livery is in tune with the rest of the field.

[FliveGell]

Does the green look that dark beacuse of the lighting or is it really that dark?

I know the traditional BRG IS rather dark but just thinking how the colour will read in press and on TV and if it could look too dark?

I remember watching a behind the scenes 1 hour documenmtary of Jaguars entry to F1 in 2000 and there was a lot of boardroom discussion with Stewart and Nasser on which shade of green to use to compensate for the effect of TV etc and in the ned they went with a lighter green than traditional BRG to compensate