love to see LOTUS back in F1

[hachigo]

I'd love to see Lotus back in F1. They made some pretty spectacular cars before (Types 49,72,78,79...).

I doubt they have the budget for it independently but maybe if they hook up with Jag(Ford)...who knows

[graywolf624]

The same people that own bugatti, some milasian investors.

[deth]

proton used to own lotus...i'm not too sure what their status is now tho

[crispy]

well at least they'll be racing at the 12 hours of Sebring. it's good to see a diverse line up.

[levensnevel]

Dream on hachigo,

those days are left behind us a long ago and will never return..
But you're right, the genius of someone like Colin Chapman is greatly missed in F1 nowadays :cry:



Those were the days:
April 7th 1985; Estoril Portugal; Rain; Lotus 97T and Ayton Senna: equals Pole and 1st GP win for Ayton

[hachigo]

"Dream on hachigo"--> hehe, i know, i was only dreaming but a guy can hope

[gto625]

For info about what Lotus is up to now (under David Hunt's control) check out this thread:

http://forums.atlasf1.com/showthread...threadid=64342

AH746 is a member of Team Lotus (but has somehow had most of his posts deleted). There are some really interesting documents from the last days of Lotus in that thread.

[firdausasri]

As far as I know and been informed, Proton is still in control over Lotus and but
don't expect them to return to F1 so early. Anyway, I'm still impressed by their r&d facility and knowledge beyond my expectation. Porsche vario cams is part of their invention .... ^

[The359]

Lotus is owned by a Malaysian business conglomerate.

Bugatti is owned by VW-Audi Group.

[SPEEDCORE]

Wasnt Lotus divided in 2 and the racing side wasnt acutally sold to Proton only the roadcars side of the business.

[firdausasri]

Yes, the racing motorsport is owned by Ford or something if not mistaken but in order to get it running it must be consented by the lotus group.

[bmwfreak]

It would be nice to see Lotus back. But since Proton have to get their act together themselves, it would be unlikely in the least. Proton could spare the cash to try and set up an F1 racing team, but they're on a model blitz right now, to try and improve their image and QC.

To see those green and yellow cars again, blitzing down a track...

[firdausasri]

Bmwfreak,

If not for 1997 downturn, Proton would have compete in WRC with its own car. IMHO, Gen2 (WRM) is their first step for quality. Let's wait for WRM GTi, should be a real hothatch with 2.0 litre porsche alike vario cams and forced induction unit pumping at 200bhp on tap.