This latest incident occurred to Alex von Ehrheim while driving his Locost racer, which is a home-built clone of the open-top Lotus Seven sports car, at the Donington Park circuit in the UK.
Read more »
Lotus issued the following statement on the matter:
Read more »
Another landmark in the Esprit's lifespan was the presentation of a V8-powered model in 1996, the first of its kind for Lotus. Aptly named the Esprit V8, the British sports car was powered by an in-house developed, all-aluminum, twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V8 rated at 350hp (355PS) and 400Nm (295 lb-ft).
And it is this model that has fallen into the tuning hands of Germany's Cam-Shaft, which has introduced a new package with both styling and performance modifications.
A series of under-the-hood upgrades that include a software optimization, racing exhaust system, modified turbos and a new intercooler sourced from the Lotus Omega (Vauxhall Lotus Carlton), bump output to 485-horses (492PS). The tuner also replaced the stock 5-speed manual with a new 6-speed transmission.
Read more »Another landmark in the Esprit's lifespan was the presentation of a V8-powered model in 1996, the first of its kind for Lotus. Aptly named the Esprit V8, the British sports car was powered by an in-house developed, all-aluminum, twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V8 rated at 350hp (355PS) and 400Nm (295 lb-ft).
And it is this model that has fallen into the tuning hands of Germany's Cam-Shaft, which has introduced a new package with both styling and performance modifications.
A series of under-the-hood upgrades that include a software optimization, racing exhaust system, modified turbos and a new intercooler sourced from the Lotus Omega (Vauxhall Lotus Carlton), bump output to 485-horses (492PS). The tuner also replaced the stock 5-speed manual with a new 6-speed transmission.
Read more »
Nicknames, however, are not only reserved for automobiles that offend us, they are also applied to a handful of iconic vehicles that dominated, dazzled and awed us with their speed and beauty. Just like some famous athletes, movie stars or glamorous supermodels, the following five cars are known by their nicknames alone.
Read more »Nicknames, however, are not only reserved for automobiles that offend us, they are also applied to a handful of iconic vehicles that dominated, dazzled and awed us with their speed and beauty. Just like some famous athletes, movie stars or glamorous supermodels, the following five cars are known by their nicknames alone.
Read more »
The German tuning house also worked on the Evora GTE and other special Lotus versions such as the carbon fiber-bodied Evora GTE that was unveiled last month in Geneva.
Today, Lotus announced that from now on, Mansory will be its official customization studio. The German company will work closely with Lotus’ engineers on special editions of the Elise, the Exige and the Evora and the first samples of this collaboration will appear at the Paris Motor Show in September.
Read more »
Judging both from the first grand prix of the year, as well as Saturday’s qualifying practice at Sepang, the prime contenders for the top spot were the two McLarens, followed by Michal Schumacher in his Mercedes and, perhaps, Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus.
Of course, no one in his right mind would not count Red Bull Racing's duo – or bet a dime on Ferrari winning the race. Well, if anyone had that inspiration, he must have quite a lot of cash right now, because Fernando Alonso won the 2012 Malaysian Formula 1 grand prix.
Read more »
In contrast to Albert Park, which uses public roads that are closed in order for the Grand Prix to take place and is a relatively easy track, the Sepang Circuit features an unusual layout, with a tight hairpin leading from the very long back straight to the pits.
In Australia, we got a first taste of each team’s pace during tge race. Apparently, the Malaysian GP qualifying session proved that the picture it painted was an accurate one.
Read more »
But not for one Lotus owner who wasn't content with his stock Lotus Exige. Enter the world of Frank Profera from California.
After six years of constant development and numerous upgrades, Profera and his team have tweaked the British sports car's 1.8-liter twin-turbocharged engine to the point that it currently pushes 680-horsepower at the wheels (which means 700hp or more at the crankshaft).
Read more »
Despite FIA’s efforts to increase competition even more, F1 is far from becoming something akin to a one-make series. Some teams always make a better job than others do, but we have to wait until each year’s first race before drawing any conclusions.
At the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, the Saturday qualifying session showed us certain things like that the McLaren is currently the fastest car out there, while Red Bull Racing seems to have lost some of its pace due to the rule changes that affected the design of the RB8.
Read more »
Well, the qualifying race of the Australian Grand Prix that kicked off this year's F1 season certainly had all of the above. But not necessarily in the way most seasoned F1 fans might have expected.
Lewis Hamilton claimed the 20th pole position of his career and Jenson Button lined up right beside him, making it an all-McLaren front row. Not too surprising, as despite the fact that Sebastian Vettel took most pole positions last year, the McLarens had proved to be very fast during testing.
Read more »
It will also mark the first time in the 62-year history of the sport that six world champions line up on the same grid: Michael Schumacher (7 titles), Fernando Alonso (2 titles), Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen (1 title each) and, of course, the reigning champion, Sebastian Vettel, who also won the 2010 world title.
In Formula 1, things can change dramatically from one year to another. And FIA is certainly trying hard to make any advantage held by a single team evaporate: thus it made the standard ECUs even simpler, compelled all teams to use “periscope”-style exhausts eliminating their aerodynamic effect on the diffuser, made changes to the front wing’s minimal strength and height and outlawed ride-height suspension systems.
Despite all these changes, some of which were clearly aimed at Red Bull (and made most cars sport an ugly face), the 25-year old German and the all-conquering these past two seasons RBR team are starting out as the ones to beat.
Read more »
The first was the open-top version of the Exige S. The Roadster is the first Exige ever to be fitted with a soft-top roof, which Lotus claims, is both lightweight and easily removable.
Read more »
Yet, the Hethel-based sports car maker has another world title to show for itself in a completely different form of racing: it won the 1982 World Rally Championship with the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus.
Confirming previous reports, Lotus is returning to special stages in partnership with the Italian team United Business, which won the 2011 title. It will enter the FIA European Rally Championship with the Exige R-GT painted in its iconic black and gold colors.
Read more »
The company's invitation noted that the car would be an F1-inspired version of the limited-edition Lotus Evora GTE first shown at the Frankfurt auto show last year. This
"We're launching a special edition of a special edition, and to make things extra special our Lotus F1 Team driver Kimi Raikkonen will be there to field questions. Now, it doesn’t get more special than that…," read the British automaker's invitation.
Lotus did not release any photos of the car leaving us more or less in the dark, but today, Patrick Garcia from French auto site Caradisiac, sent us these photos of an F1-themed Evora that he discovered at a parking lot during a trip to Jerez to cover the F1 pre-season testing earlier this month.
Moreover, if you multiply that tenth by 50 times or more, i.e. the number of laps in a Grand Prix, it is the difference between spraying the champagne on the podium and heading to the pits with your head down in disappointment.
That valuable split-second is what hundreds of people strive for months each year. Shortly after the new season starts, the designers back at the factory start working on next year’s car.
Read more »
The Proton-owned company said at the time that the concepts previewed its all-new range that is under development. The new Elise, Esprit, Elan and Eterne saloon, as well as a city car, were impressive indeed.
However, the company has been bleeding cash ever since it was acquired by the Malaysian carmaker in 1996. With Proton facing a few problems of its own, such as seeing its share in the local market reduced by almost 50 percent, selling Lotus was a logical option.
Read more »