I’ve been invited to this launch next Wednesday, by Team Lotus, so I’ll let you know…
I’m as confused as ever now…
I thought Caterham were in rude health - what’s in this for them?
OK, you’ve all heard by now that Team Lotus Enterprises has bought Caterham Cars as a going concern. Ansar Ali remains as MD of Caterham Cars and the product range does not change either, but I’m sure you can expect some different colour schemes.
They say that, in due course, F1 technology will find its way into the road and track cars. I asked Ali specifically whether the range was to be expanded to include an Elise type road car but there are no plans at present. What’s in it for them? - a direct link to a household/worldwide F1 name and their business is selling cars. They believe the tie up with Team Lotus will bring them more sales, simple as that.
When I asked the same question of Tony Fernandes he said that rather than announce five cars that they might not ever build they’ll tell us when they have a new car for people to buy. Much the same as with this acquisition for which he said, “We didn’t start talking about it in public. We did it and now we are telling you all that we have done it. That’s how we operate.”
The press day also saw the T128 doing runs up and down the Duxford runway and Heikki doing donuts in a Caterham RS500 in Team Lotus colours.
On hand for interview were Jarno, Heikki and all the ‘young driver’ squad, as well as Mike Gascoyne, Fernandes and Ali.
To answer one question, the 7 is guaranteed to continue in production, in fact Ansar Ali said he would like it to go on for another 50 years…
As to the motivation behind the acquisistion, well, no doubt a few senior managers choked on their bagels this morning up at Hethel as they realised that Team Lotus would carry on building light and cheap sports cars after they had stopped doing so. Makes yer think. As Tony Fernandes said to me, “I don’t think they saw this one coming”
On the F1 front, I managed a quick chat with both drivers and with Mike Gascoyne. They all expressed satisfaction with their progress and are confident that they WILL trouble the midfield this season. What was very noticeable was just how well focussed everyone seems to be as well as determined. Not only that, they all appeared to be happy, although Jarno was very quiet for most of the time when not being interviewed.
On the matter of the court case, Tony Fernandes was asked “What happens if you loose the case and the right to use the name Team Lotus?” to which he replied, “I simply can’t say. I’m not a judge so we will simply have to wait a few more weeks and then hear their decision. You might try asking Proton the same question - I wonder how they would answer!”
All in all, a good day out and another interesting chapter in the rapid development of this enterprising business consortium.
F1 kit car 
Great write up, & insight as usual - many thanks Mike 
Cheers Mike
Some of my own photos from today…
Cool man!!
Ok, so for someone who hasn’t kept up to date on all these name changes and buyouts… can someone put into simple sentences who now owns what and how many different ‘Lotus’ marques there are ??!
I’m confused !
OK, this is my article on the subject reproduced from the Lotus Drivers Club Chicane magazine
Many people are confused, and who can blame them. In the bad old days between 1995 and 2009 not a single car wearing a Lotus badge appeared on any championship F1 race and now, in 2011, there are going to be four. How did that happen? Even �died in the wool� Lotus fans are confused about who is running which car and why.
It�s really not very complicated. Last year, 2010, Lotus Racing brought the name back to the grid with the T127, a brand new car in the Lotus type number sequence. The team were licenced by Group Lotus to use the Lotus name and they also had the backing of the Chapman family. Everybody seemed happy. The debut of the team and the performance of the car was just about as good as anyone could reasonably hope for and they were, by far, the best of the new teams last season. The fans looked forward to improvements in 2011. Late in 2010 Fernandes� companies bought the Team Lotus name and announced that they would run as Team Lotus in 2011. Not only that, the car would be all new, with Renault engines, Red Bull transaxle and the benefit of a brand new wind tunnel facility. The driver line-up would remain unchanged with Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli.
Then things got complicated. Group Lotus, who are owned by the Malaysian led car group, Proton, announced ambitious plans for both road cars and a racing programme incorporating Indycar, GP2, GTs, and Grand Prix. They announced that they would buy the remaining 25% share in what was formerly the Renault Team, now mainly owned by Genii Capital. This outfit, based at the former Renault GP HQ at Enstone, will be called Lotus Renault GP (there�s a familiar ring to that isn�t there!) and the cars will be designated R31 and will be painted black and gold (also familiar). The cars were to be driven by Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov but since Kubica has been badly injured in a rallying accident it seems that test driver, Bruno Senna, may well get to drive the black and gold Lotus Renault in Grand Prix. Nostalgic.
Tony Fernandes, a Malaysian entrepreneur who has recently been awarded the CBE in the UK honours list, having bought the Team Lotus name from David Hunt and calling his outfit Team Lotus for 2011 was certain not to please anyone at Group Lotus. They wanted the Team Lotus name very badly, and certainly didn�t want Fernandes to use it so both parties (Group Lotus and Team Lotus) must go to court to find out who has the best claim on the name.
Team Lotus based in Norfolk, further announced that their cars will be green and yellow. A plan to paint the cars black and gold was abandoned when the �other� team announced that they would run in black and gold livery. In a move that is set to further annoy Group Lotus, the chassis is designated the T128, much more Lotus-like than R31!
It�s not surprising to hear that Clive Chapman has positioned the Chapman family behind the Group Lotus led Lotus Renault effort for the 2011 World Championship. Let�s face it, Group Lotus is his father�s true legacy because what we knew as Team Lotus while Colin was alive is long gone and the current battle is over a name, not a team.
The Lotus �empire� has many facets. From Lotus Engineering at Hornsey in 1952, Group Lotus was founded in 1958 at Cheshunt and included at least two new and separate companies, Lotus Cars and Lotus Components, along with Lotus Engineering. Group Lotus moved to Hethel in 1966, was taken over by GM in 1986 who then passed it to Romano Artioli�s ACBN Holdings concern. This was when the car production business was saved by the Elise. Proton took over the group in 1996.
However, the simple truth is that it was Team Lotus, founded as a separate company in 1954, that won all those World Drivers� and Constructors� championships. The team continued to enjoy success even after Colin Chapman�s death but they were never as great as they had been while he was alive. The team was sold to the Team Lotus employees, Peter Wright and Peter Collins in 1990. They battled on in F1 with limited finances but with promising drivers, like Alex Zanardi and Johnnie Herbert, as well as promising cars like the 107 but it never really came together so that they ran out of money at the end on 1994 and shelved the Type 112 project. Zanardi claimed that he was never paid money owed to him. The team name was sold to James Hunt�s brother, David who teamed up with Keith Wiggins�s Pacific Racing outfit to form Pacific Team Lotus and the Pacific PR02 Grand Prix car carried the Lotus logo proudly on its flanks for the early part of the 1995 season. After virtually no success, Hunt pulled out and took the Team Lotus name with him. Team Lotus�s last race entry was at Australia in 1994 and Pacific�s last race entry was at Australia in 1995.
Lotus was no longer a name in Grand Prix racing. Until last year. And now look what has happened.
So, who should you support and who will do best? Well, I�ve said it before and I�ll say it again; there are only two teams in modern (post 1950) Grand Prix racing that have a fan base loyal to the team rather than the drivers and these are Ferrari and Lotus. The Lotus mob have been starved for a long time and what Fernandes, Gascoyne and all at Lotus Racing did last year was very much appreciated by so many loyal fans. These same fans do not now understand why two Malaysian owned companies couldn�t work together with Group Lotus giving their money to Fernadnes�s team rather than some complete stranger. There�s nothing worse than split loyalties and there will be split loyalties. Such a shame. But, for most fans, I am sure that they will be pleased when either team does well.
As to which one will do best, well, you would have to be brave to make a punt or place a bet. That said there are some facts that can help us to speculate. From asking around component suppliers at the Autosport Show in January, it seems that the Lotus Renault car is basically last year�s car with some new bodywork and paint. That said, they finished consistently ahead of the Lotus Racing cars last year and on that basis alone might expect to be the more successful of the two teams.
The Team Lotus car is an all new design, started early last year and now well developed using the same engine as their rivals and the well proven Red Bull bits to eradicate what was an apparent weakness in the T127. It should do well and can certainly expect to be off the bottom of the grid and higher in the results. Can they beat what was the well-established world championship winning Renault team? I honestly think they can. The team has done brilliantly at developing a huge following through innovative PR and web-based information systems. They have huge respect, huge ability, good drivers, all new cars and a good cause to fight for.
It�s difficult to judge the true depth of the division between the two teams but most of the people I know believe that Group Lotus are acting like the school playground bully. The courts will decide who gets to use the name Team Lotus. Even if Group Lotus win that one they may still have some work to do on the fans������
(Of course, we now know that the driver line-up at Lotus Renault (Black and Gold) is different to that speculated in the article. Annoyingly and confusingly, both FOM and the BBC refer to the Black and Gold cars as “Renault” and the Green and Yellow cars as “Lotus-Renault” so no wonder people are confused!
Maybe this aspect will change once the court has made its ruling…
Great information & write up as usual Mike, thanks 
Cheers Mike
Just to confuse Dave…
[quote=The83man]
It�s not surprising to hear that Clive Chapman has positioned the Chapman family behind the Group Lotus led Lotus Renault effort for the 2011 World Championship. Let�s face it, Group Lotus is his father�s true legacy… [/quote]
Except it’s not now is it, as Team Lotus now owns the rights to the original Lotus 7 through Caterham, the makers of light-weight handling enthusiasts cars. Whilst Group Lotus…
Am I wrong in thinking Chapman sold to Team Lotus then has sided with Group Lotus?
No, I don’t believe you are.
Clive Chapman didn’t sell anything to Team Lotus - they bought the name from David Hunt not the Chapman family. Clive and the whole Chapman family did support them (the current Team Lotus) last year when they ran as “Lotus Racing” and with the blessing of Group Lotus. It would be wrong to suggest that he has swapped sides in that he has always been ‘on side’ with Group Lotus.
Clive does a wonderful job with Classic Team Lotus and is probably very fed up with the current situation. I was at the launch of the T127 in 2010 and there was no doubt that, at that time and with the blessing of Group Lotus, the Chapman family were passionate about the Lotus name returning to F1.
I can’t imagine how fed up they are that it has gone a bit weird.
[quote=The83man]Clive Chapman didn’t sell anything to Team Lotus - they bought the name from David Hunt not the Chapman family. Clive and the whole Chapman family did support them (the current Team Lotus) last year when they ran as “Lotus Racing” and with the blessing of Group Lotus. It would be wrong to suggest that he has swapped sides in that he has always been ‘on side’ with Group Lotus.
Clive does a wonderful job with Classic Team Lotus and is probably very fed up with the current situation…
I can’t imagine how fed up they are that it has gone a bit weird. [/quote]
Absolutely spot on Mike, that’s my new favourite assessment of the whole situation!