Lotus Cars

Lotus Cars is a British manufacturer of sports cars and racing cars based in Hethel, Norfolk, formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by the engineer Colin Chapman in 1952. Lotus was active and competitive in Formula One racing from 1958 to 1994.

Chapman died in 1982, leaving behind the messy financial scandal of the De Lorean project, for which it is likely he would have been convicted.

In 1986 the company was bought by General Motors. On August 27, 1993, GM sold the company for £30 million to ACBN Holdings S.A. of Luxembourg, a company controlled by Italian businessman Romano Artioli who also owned Bugatti Automobili SpA. In 1996 a majority share in Lotus was sold to Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton), the state-owned Malaysian car company.

The company also acts as an engineering consultancy, performing development, particularly of suspension, for other car manufacturers.

As of 2005, the Malaysian company Proton organized Lotus as Group Lotus divided into Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. A Formula One team is in the works according to rumour.

Contents

1 Formula One 2 Lotus models 2.1 Previous 2.2 Current 2.3 Collaborations 3 Further reading 4 External links

Formula One

The company encouraged its customers to race its cars, and itself entered Formula One as a team in 1958. Major success came in 1963 with the Lotus 25, which - with Jim Clark driving - won Lotus its first World Championship. Clark's early death - he crashed driving a Formula Two Lotus 48 in March 1968 - was a severe blow to the team and to Formula One. He was the dominant driver in the dominant car, and remains inseparable from Lotus's early years. That year's championship was won by Clark's team-mate, Graham Hill.

Several drivers were to perish in Lotus cars, partially due to Chapman's concept of the perfect race car being one which fell to pieces immediately after crossing the finishing line. Light weight was the be all and end all, earning Chapman the nickname of Chunky - his design genius was such that he would see a drawing of a part, and note that 'we could have a chunk out here, and a chunk out there', in order to save an extra pound or two.

Until the mid-1980s, Lotus was still a major player in Formula One. Ayrton Senna drove for the Lotus team from 1985 to 1987, winning twice in each year and achieving 17 pole positions. By the company's last Formula One race in 1994 the cars were very uncompetitive. Lotus won a total of 79 Grand Prix races.

Formula One driver's world championships:

• 1963: Jim Clark
• 1965: Jim Clark
• 1968: Graham Hill
• 1970: Jochen Rindt - the only posthumous world champion
• 1972: Emerson Fittipaldi
• 1978: Mario Andretti

Lotus models

Previous

• Lotus Mk1 - 1948-1948
• Lotus Mk2 - 1949-1950 trials car
• Lotus Mk3 - 1951-1951
• Lotus Mk4 - 1952-1952
• Lotus Mk5 - 1952-1952
• Lotus 6 - the model just before the classic 7 (1953-1956)
• Lotus Seven (and Super Seven) - The Lotus Seven is a classic open sports car, a minimalist machine designed to maneuver around a race track - and do nothing else. Amazingly, this 1957 design is still widely produced by a number of small British specialty firms, including Caterham Cars.
• Lotus Eight - 1954-1954 sportscar
• Lotus Nine - 1955-1955 sportscar, based on Eight
• Lotus Ten - 1955-1955 sportscar, a more powerful Eight
• Lotus Eleven - 1956-1956 sportscar
• Lotus Twelve - Formula 2 and Formula 1 racecar (1956-1957)
• Lotus 15 - 1958-1958
• Lotus 16 - 1958-1959, an improved Twelve
• Lotus 17 - 1959-1959
• Lotus 18 - 1960-1961
• Lotus 19 - 1960-1962
• Lotus 20 - 1961-1961
• Lotus 21 - 1961-1961
• Lotus 22 - 1962-1965
• Lotus 23 - 1962-1966
• Lotus 24 - 1962-1962
• Lotus 25 - 1962-1964
• Lotus 26 - 1964-1966
• Lotus 27 - 1963-1963
• Lotus 29 - 1963-1963
• Lotus 30 - 1964-1964
• Lotus 31 - 1964-1966
• Lotus 32 - 1964-1965
• Lotus 33 - 1964-1965
• Lotus 34 - 1964-1964
• Lotus 35 - 1965-1965
• Lotus 37 - 1965-1965
• Lotus 38 - 1965-1965
• Lotus 39 - 1965-1966
• Lotus 40 - 1965-1965
• Lotus 41 - 1965-1968
• Lotus 42 - 1967-1967
• Lotus 43 - 1966-1966
• Lotus 44 - 1967-1967
• Lotus 47 - 1967-1969, a racing verion of Europa
• Lotus 48 - 1967-1967
• Lotus 49 - 1967-1969
• Lotus 51 - 1967-1969
• Lotus 55 - 1968-1968
• Lotus 56 - 1968-1971
• Lotus 57 - 1968-1968
• Lotus 58 - 1968-1968
• Lotus 59 - 1969-1969
• Lotus 61 - 1969-1969
• Lotus 62 - 1969-1969
• Lotus 63 - 1969-1969
• Lotus 64 - 1969-1969
• Lotus 65 - 1969-1970
• Lotus 67 - 1970-1970
• Lotus 68 -
• Lotus 69 - 1970-1970
• Lotus 70 - 1970-1970
• Lotus 72 - 1970-1970
• Lotus 73 - 1973-1973
• Lotus 74 - 1973-1973
• Lotus 76 - 1974-1974
• Lotus 77 - 1976-1976
• Lotus 78 - 1977-1977
• Lotus 79 - 1978-1979
• Lotus 80 - 1979-1979
• Lotus 81 - 1980-1981
• Lotus 83 - 1983-1983
• Lotus 86 - 1980-1980
• Lotus 87 - 1980-1982
• Lotus 88 - 1981-1981
• Lotus 90 - 1981-1983
• Lotus 91 - 1982-1982
• Lotus 92 - 1983-1983
• Lotus 94 - 1983-1983
• Lotus 95 - 1984-1984
• Lotus 96 - 1984-1984
• Lotus 97 - 1985-1985
• Lotus 98 - 1986-1986
• Lotus 99 - 1987-1987
• Lotus 100 - 1988-1988
• Lotus 101 - 1989-1989
• Lotus 102 - 1990-1991
• Lotus 103 - 1990-1990
• Lotus 105 - 1990-1990
• Lotus 106 - 1991-1991
• Lotus 107 - 1992-1992
• Lotus 108 - a bicycle (1992-1992)
• Lotus 109 - 1994-1994
• Lotus 112 - 1995-1995
• Lotus 114 - 1995-1995
• Lotus 115 - 1997-1997

• Lotus Excel - 1985-1992

• Lotus Eclat - (1975-1982) Fastback version of the Elite. The rear roof line of the Elite was sloped down into a sporty fastback.

• Lotus Elite - The Lotus Elite was an ultra-light 2-seater coupe, produced from 1958 to 1963. Its most unusual feature was its fiberglass unibody construction. Unlike the Corvette, which used fiberglass for exterior bodywork, the Elite actually used this glass-reinforced plastic material for the entire load-bearing structure of the car.

• Lotus Elan - Two generations of Elan were produced, both extremely innovative for their time. The first, in the 1960s, was a small light roadster that made use of the Lotus-trademark steel backbone frame, coupled with a fiberglass body. This car was the design inspiration for the 1990 Mazda Miata.

• Lotus Europa - 1970s mid-engine sports car, one of the first mid-engined cars ever produced.

• Lotus Elan - The second Elan, released in 1989, was a technical tour de force but one that also defied Lotus 'performance through light weight' tradition, to its detriment. The idea of a front-drive Lotus, powered by a turbocharged engine, was a brave concept and its cornering performance was undeniable. But the handling was negatively compared to the original Elan by some Lotus loyalists, and its relatively high price (vs. e.g. the Mazda Miata) meant it was not a sales success.

• Lotus Esprit - A mid-engined sports car, launched in the early 1970s. The Esprit shocked many at its launch - its geometric, laser-cut lines seemed far more futuristic than anything on the road - or on the movie screen, for that matter (the car prominently featured in the 1977 Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me and briefly in For Your Eyes Only; it also appeared in the 1990 movie Pretty Woman; two Esprit's raced each other in Basic Instinct). The styling was by Italian designer Giugiaro. The Esprit started with a light, high-strung 4-cylinder design, which went through several iterations of turbocharging and electronic upgrades, before finally being replaced by a highly advanced V8. The last Lotus Esprit rolled off the line on 20 February, 2004 after 28 years in production. A total of 10,675 Esprits were built since production began in 1976.

Current

• Lotus Elise - The Elise incorporates many engineering innovations, such as an aluminum extrusion frame and a composite body shell. The Elise has also spawned several racing variants, including an exotic limited series called the 340R, which had an open-body design echoing the famed Seven. Recently introduced into the US with a Toyota engine to pass emissions specifications

• Lotus Exige - A road-legal version of the Lotus Sport Elise racing car.

Collaborations

• Opel Lotus Omega/Vauxhall Lotus Carlton (Lotus Type 104) - At the time (mid-1990s) this was one of the fastest and most powerful saloon cars available, with a top speed of over 180 mph.

• Lotus Talbot Sunbeam - Talbot's hot hatch rally car of the '70s.

• Lotus Cortina

Lotus also produces the Vauxhall VX220 / Opel Speedster for General Motors, based on the same aluminium chassis design as the Lotus Elise.

Many classic Lotus cars feature the 2.2 L 16-valve engine which was closely based on Vauxhall's Slant Four.

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Further reading

• Gerard ('Jabby') Crombac, Colin Chapman: The Man and His Cars (Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough, 1986)
• Ian H. Smith, The Story of Lotus: 1947-1960 Birth of a Legend (republished Motor Racing Publications, Chiswick, 1972)
• Doug Nye, The Story of Lotus: 1961-1971 Growth of a Legend (Motor Racing Publications, Chiswick, 1972)
• Robin Read, Colin Chapman's Lotus: The early years, the Elite and the origins of the Elan (Haynes, Sparkford, 1989)
• Anthony Pritchard, Lotus: All The Cars (Aston Publications, Bourne End, 1990)
• Doug Nye, Theme Lotus: 1956-1986 (Motor Racing Publications, Croydon, 1986)
• Peter Ross, Lotus - The Early Years 1951-54 (Coterie Press, Luton, 2004)

External links

• Group Lotus Official Site (http://www.grouplotus.com/)
• Lotus Cars (http://www.lotuscars.co.uk/)
• Lotus Cars USA (http://www.lotuscars.com/)
• Colin Chapman biography by Dennis David (http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/chap_bio.htm)

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