Just found out today the dates for the LF1 Lotus F1 Factory Tour dates 10th Feb and the 12th Feb any owners on here going and which day have you booked.
All places gone for the 10th so I will be going on the 12th.
Not too happy about the lack of time given to organise… and I know for a fact the other two Scottish LF1 owners havent picked up their pack yet!
Anyway, am doing my upmost to get to 12th. I did ask what would happen for future LF1 owners but nothing has been confirmed.
Hi David
Regarding the LF1 pack I contacted Lotus customer services and they sent mine out to the dealer a couple of days later. I know that they had been waiting for the boxes to come through.
I hope you are able to make it on the 12th.
On another note are you going to Murrays for the LEGS event on the 1st of February?
OK… that’s me confirmed for visit on 12th Feb. Stopping off at Liverpool after to fly over to house in France on way back! Its gonna be a good week.
As for MMC… sorry, am working that day so unless I come up with a cunning plan, I wont be able to make it.
Had an e-mail from Rob Borrett this afternoon regarding the F1 Factory Tour. So 12th Feb and we need to be there for 2pm ready for the tour, sounds as though they are looking forward to seeing the LF1’s parked up in a row in the car park 
There is also another group going on the 10th too I presume their tour will be the same.
Should be a good day and hoping we see the new F1 car. The season will be starting soon 
Car is washed.
Mrs has her bag packed already.
See you on Thursday!
I’m going on Thursday too so will see you there. I had an email from Rob the other day asking us to be there for 13:45
Sounds as though the first group that went to Enstone had a great day at the Factory and have posted some nice pics on TLF.
Yup what a fantastic sight all those LF1s lined up 
Have a great time, Pete. Full report next time we meet, Keswick on date discussed?
& Bring Grosjean’s hemet so we can all hold it in our palms and maybe have a lick 
First of all I would like to say a big thank you to Francois for a very informative tour of the Enstone Lotus facility. Francois is part of the marking team at Enstone and if I remember correctly has been with them since 2008. As we arrived near to Enstone we sited a couple of LF1’s, at the Fox Inn car park (no sign of jonny fox though). We decided to carry on the extra few miles first to find the factory, as we arrived at the factory gates, LF1 number one was already there, owned by David who lives near Edinburgh.
Because we had arrived about an hour early, it was decided to go back to the Fox Inn, where funnily enough we met Guy and Steve who we had met a few months ago, during the Hethel factory tour.
In total, five LF1’s turned up at the Enstone car park and 16 people in all went on the tour. It was really nice to meet everybody on the day.
The tour started at 2pm, first of all to have a short introductory talk in the entrance foyer, where the trophies are situated. Francois told us that the Enstone team had started off as Toleman, then Benetton, Renault F1 and now Lotus F1 and that our LF1 cars had been conceived as a joint venture between Enstone and Hethel (obviously as a marketing venture for both parties), but is still nice to have that link.
What did surprise me is the size of the facility just to run a couple of cars per season. There is also a large car park to accommodate the large workforce. It is hard to believe how many staff it takes to run a business like this.
Next part of the tour was an underground visit where the super computer is housed, in a constant temperature controlled room. It was quiet surprising how much noise was created by this immense machine. Apparently only a few F1 teams have a computer of a similar capacity as this one. I am sure Francois said that the smaller teams can rent time with the larger team’s computers, and that the FIA restrict the time usage for the larger teams, to give the smaller teams a better chance. Also it works on a percentage basis between time allowed on the computer and time spent on wind tunnel development. This can be split up as a variable percentage between the two. The data is monitored by the FIA, to make sure that it is not exceeded.
We visited the display area, showing some more trophies won by the team and a selection of Benetton cars and Lotus Renault cars. In the same room there are also display cabinets, showing team overalls and various other items of clothing.
The next part of the tour was a look at the 3D printer machines which there are a handful of these, which make model parts. These machines use polymer and laser technology that builds up these parts in layers over a period of time. One of the parts started its build process the morning before we arrived and was due to finish that afternoon, at 4:30pm. It’s amazing how these machines work. We were allowed to hold some parts that had been previously made. Very few of these scale model parts find their way to full scale and fitted on to cars.
Back outside we got to see the eight articulated Lorries that are used to transport all of the equipment to the Gran Prix circuits. This just shows you the backup needed to run two cars for the F1 season.
On to the next part of the tour, we got to see where the cars are put together which also has an area for the team to practice changing wheels as a pit stop simulation. Whilst here we were lucky enough to meet Jolyon Palmer, who was having his seating session, he was kind enough to sign my LF1 brochure. Around the corner from this, was a display of a selection of steering wheels, one of the being Kimi Raikkonen’s, which we could hold to get the feeling of how many buttons etc. are on these wheels (much more complicated than my premium steering wheel lol).
Following on from this is a designated area for making the carbon fibre parts for forming the tubs, which are made up of two separate parts. The carbon fibre starts off from very thin plastic looking sheets, which are layered up with the high stress areas being thicker. The smaller carbon fibre components are put into vacuum bags with the air drawn out and then baked in large ovens.
After the carbon fibre manufacturing area, we were guided up stairs to the large design area where seventeen thousand drawings per season are made, with the vast majority of these not being used on the final car. Fifty people work on this floor alone, this just gives you an idea of the amount of development that’s needed.
We finally made it back to the main entrance and the end of the tour, the total tour time being 1 and a half hours. If you ever get the chance to go round, it is certainly worth it, I am glad I had the opportunity to do this.
Fantastic Pete 
Nice write up Pete, looks like you had a good day out and nice to see all the LF1’s lined up
Great stuff Pete! Great to see the cars all together.
I’m really looking forwards to seeing your LF1 at Anglesey.
Thanks chaps I hope you didn’t find the write up too boring. 
Benja I am looking forward to Anglesey and having a nosey around your badger motor. 
Looks as though my old car found a new owner at last this weekend too. Would be great if that came back to Anglesey too 
I saw it driving away fromthe dealers yestday when i nipped over…
Great write up, looks like evryone had a fantastic time.
Great write up and pics mate
Great write up Pierre - the LF1s are absolutely stunning, & I would sure like to own one
PS Did your daughter enjoy the tour too?
Nice write up Pete. It was a great day that I think I will remember for a long time.