racing – Page 2 – Chapman Report Online

May 22, 2010

A piece of Lotus F1 History

The mailman just brought me this amazing piece of Lotus F1 history: a piston from the Cosworth DFV engine #339 used in the Lotus 81 Formula 1 car.

In the 70s and 80s, Team Lotus was in the habit of keeping the pistons from rebuilds to use as VIP gifts. Each engine’s pistons were labeled and stored but not all were presented. With reference to the team’s archives, Classic Team Lotus is able to identify the detailed competition history for the engines in which the pistons ran. A great deal of polishing, then mounting on a wooden plinth, complete with presentation plaque, makes a rather special item of memorabilia.

Now while a piston from an F1 engine is amazing in itself (Ferrari charges >$600 for a 2000 piston), this particular engine has some additional history that makes it even more unique. The DFV 339 was used by not one but two F1 world Champions: Mario Andretti used it in his final season at Lotus while Nigel Mansell used it during his first two seasons in F1.

The piston comes with documentation of the engines usage and you can see that while it was used primarily in practice and testing, it was also used by Andretti in the 1980 USA GP West where he retired after a first corner accident.

If you’d like to get your hands on some original Team Lotus history, head on over to the Classic Team Lotus webstore and be prepared to fight the temptation to buy out the entire store.

[via The Racing Geek]

May 21, 2010

Lotus Challenge Series @ Laguna Seca

The Lotus Challenge Series will be having a 2 day event at Laguna Seca on July 10 and 11th. They will have their own LOTUS-only run group both days. There will be a Time Trial competition and wheel-to-wheel race on Sunday. This LCS event (and run group) will be capped at 23 participants. The 92 db sound limit be enforced by the track for this event.

New members are welcome to run as long as safety/driving experience requirements are met. The LCS organizers have extended a special invitation to GGLC members and Northern California Lotus owners to participate in the event. Please visit the Lotus Challenge Series website for more information.

Spectators are cordially invited and there may even be some VIP surprise guests in attendance. The LCS participants had a blast last year at this historic venue, so don’t wait too long to sign up — based upon preliminary indications of interest, this event looks to be a sell-out.

Click here to sign up for the event. Garages will also be available to the competitors for renting.

[via Lotus Challenge Series and British Speed]

May 17, 2010

Lotus Exige fire from the 24 Hours at Nurburgring

Gavan Kershaw, Matt Cummings and Roger Green had moved up to 11th in class at this weekends 24 Hours of Nurburgring when their race was ended by this fire. In the teams own words:

It appeared that Roger hadn’t seen the flames which were gaining in their momentum with flares from the rear of the car and wheel arch until they reached closer to the cabin. The heat ruptured a tyre and Roger slowed to the edge of the track and bailed out rolling to safety.

[via Lotus forums]

May 8, 2010

Lotus Racing Barcelona Qualifying Report

Saturday’s Spanish Grand Prix qualifying session started with bright sunshine, and Lotus Racing enjoyed an excellent session, closing the gap to the midfield they’ve now set their sights on, and moving further away from the new teams they’ve led throughout the 2010 Championship. The team’s in their performance was reflected in the comments made by all the key team figures.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03: Qualified 19th, 1.24.674, 10 laps)

“A pretty good qualifying session today. The result itself hasn’t changed, but we have significantly reduced the gap to the cars in front. Yesterday I had better pace, so I’m not that happy with my performance today, but we now have a good gap to our direct competitors, and can start thinking about taking on those in front, which is thanks to the guys in the team. We still have a lot of work to do, and I think there’s even more to come from the car, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01: Qualified 20th, 1.24.748, 10 laps)

“I think it was a good session today and I’m happy. We achieved all the targets we set ourselves and we can see the gaps growing in the right direction – nearer those in front, and further away from the other new teams. We won’t have these kind of upgrades every weekend, but I think the car will get quicker and quicker and we’ll keep improving all the time. For the race tomorrow I think we can do well and I’m looking forward to being out there and seeing what we’re like on a long run.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It was an excellent session for the team today, and a very good job by both drivers. Jarno has been a bit less happy with the balance of his car today than in practice yesterday, but still put in a great performance, whereas Heikki felt the balance had improved. Overall, our times today show how the package we’ve brought to Barcelona has helped us move ahead, so we can all be very pleased. Now we’re all looking to close the gap to the teams ahead, and take the race to them.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “I’m really very happy. We’ve talked a lot about Barcelona, so turning that talk into results has been important and we have clearly made a big step forward. I think we’re about a second and a half away from the established teams, and obviously pulling away from the other new boys, so hopefully that speed, with consistent reliability, will see us able to challenge higher up the grid. It’s obviously good to see the results of the efforts that have been put in, and when you think where we’ve come from, about nine seconds off the pace when we first went out on track in testing in Jerez, it’s a huge accomplishment to the whole Lotus Racing team.

“It’s also great to see our profile continuing to rise across the world. We’ve launched our first range of merchandise here, and it’s good to see flags in the stands, and shirts in the crowd, so we’ll do our best to give the fans something to cheer for tomorrow.”

[press release from Lotus Racing]

April 21, 2010

Tyler McQuarrie Pole-Setting Lap from Long Beach

As we posted a few days ago, Tyler McQuarrie qualified on pole and won the GTS class at the SCCA World Challenge Event at Long Beach. He has just posted this video of his qualifying lap online – enjoy!

Tyler McQuarrie Qualifying Lotus for World Challenge from tyler@tylermcquarrie.com on Vimeo.

April 19, 2010

Lotus wins the Long Beach SCCA World Challenge Event

Tyler McQuarrie, of Walnut Creek, Calif., won the GTS class race of the Toyo Tires World Challenge at Long Beach. Making his World Challenge debut, McQuarrie took the GTS pole before cruising to a 49.535-second flag-to-flag victory in his No. 19 LPL/DRS/Switcars/LCS/Dayco/M&T Lotus Exige S.

The GTS win was the first time a Lotus had won a race of any kind at Long Beach since Mario Andretti won the 1977 Formula One event in a John Player Lotus.

“I had a great start and actually got by a couple of GT cars,” McQuarrie said. “I didn’t have a working radio in the race, so I didn’t actually realize who was behind me. I looked up at the screen on the second lap and saw one of the Acuras head to the pits with the hood up. I dialed it back just a little bit when I felt I could.”

“I have to really thank the LPL and DRS team. They only got this car about five weeks ago and really did a fantastic job with it. To be able to run it here at Long Beach—to run both weekends, is really awesome. I think April in Long Beach is a little bit like May in Indy. It’s a special time and to win here is just awesome.”

The race from Long Beach will be broadcast May 1 at 4:30 p.m. (EDT) on Versus.

The World Challenge Championships return to action with a doubleheader at Mosport International Raceway, May 21-23.

[via SCCA World Challenge]

April 1, 2010

Old School Rallying video

Compilation of old school rallying videos from the time when men were men and safety was was for wimps.

For some extra Lotus content check out this video of Henri Toivonen in the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus. Toivonen and Guy Fréquelin drove the car to the 1981 World Rally Constructors Championship. Incidentally their co-drivers during the 1981 season were Jean Todt (current FIA president) and Claudio Berro (current head of Lotus Motorsports)

[via Jalopnik]

March 27, 2010

Caterham Motorsports Crash Reel

Fantastic highlight reel from Caterham Cars showing some spectacular crashes from the Caterham Racing series.

[via Caterham Cars]

March 14, 2010

Eighteen F1 World Champions

Eighteen of the living F1 World Champions attended the 2010 F1 Championship opener this weekend. The only missing ones being Kimi Raikkonen and Nelson Piquet. See how many you can recognize in this picture

Back row: Fernando Alonso (2005, 2006); Sir Jack Brabham (1959, 1960, 1966); Michael Schumacher (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004); Emerson Fittipaldi (1972, 1974); Lewis Hamilton (2008); Mika Hakkinen (1998, 1999); Damon Hill (1996).
Middle row: Niki Lauda (1975, 1977, 1984); Keke Rosberg (1982); Mario Andretti (1978); Sir Jackie Stewart (1969, 1971, 1973); Alain Prost (1985, 1986, 1989, 1993); Jacques Villeneuve (1997); John Surtees (1964).
Front row: Alan Jones (1980); Nigel Mansell (1992); His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Bernie Ecclestone, Jody Scheckter (1979); Jenson Button (2009).

UPDATE: F1 Fanatic just posted a much nicer official photograph

Back: Alain Prost, Alan Jones, Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinen, Jacques Villeneuve, Keke Rosberg, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill.
Front: Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Niki Lauda, Bernie Ecclestone, Mario Andretti, Jeat Todt, Michelle Yeoh, Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Emerson Fittipaldi, Lewis Hamilton

[via Joe Saward]

March 14, 2010

A dream start for Lotus Racing in Bahrain

Six months of very hard work finally came to as successful a conclusion as the team could have hoped for on Sunday afternoon in Bahrain, with both Lotus Racing cars finishing the race, Heikki in 15th and Jarno in 17th (provisional positions) in the opening round of the 2010 Formula One™ World Championship.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Racing chassis T127/3) “I made a good start and avoided the accident at the second corner but found myself in the gravel so at this stage I was nearly last, but then I started picking up pace and catching the people in front. The car was understeering quite a lot and I couldn’t really predict the balance so at the pitstop the team, who did a really good job, changed the front wing setting and I started pushing again and putting in some good laps. At the end of the race I had a hydraulic problem so I just had to get it to the end of the race. I’m really happy and proud for the team because in six months every single target we have fixed we have met so it’s really good, and, as Tony said, one day Lotus will win and I hope to be here when we do.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Racing chassis T127/1) “It was a good race for our team – to get both cars to the finish is a great achievement. My car didn’t have a single problem, I know Jarno did and managed to nurse his car to the end, but the primary goal was to get both cars to the end and we achieved that. So far the team has reached every goal we set ourselves so that is fantastic. In terms of my race, I had a good start and was battling with a lot of guys we didn’t think we’d be fighting with. My tyres were fine, and the pitstop was good, but I lost a bit of time whilst letting cars past, and we’ll look at the strategy for Australia to work around that better. I really enjoyed driving the car, it felt really good and it was good to push. Everybody in the team should be really happy but now the honeymoon is over and we need to start working on better results.”

Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne said “I’m very very proud of the whole team. Everyone here, and back in Hingham. Firstly I have to say thank you to both drivers. They drove great races – Jarno struggling early on but when he changed to the soft tyre he was much more competitive. Apologies to Heikki because he may have suffered from the strategy, and apologies to Jarno because he had a hydraulics problem and he had to slow down to get the car to the finish, but overall a great result.”

Happiest man of all was Team Principal who said “I’m completely over the moon! I cannot describe the feeling. Six months of work and to have both cars finish is just unbelievable. We’re thrilled, we’re happy and the spirit in the team is fantastic. I’m really proud of Jarno and of Heikki and everyone here. It’s a great start and better than I could have dreamt of. We wanted to finish the race and to do so ahead of established teams is fantastic.

“From here we keep going. Before the race Clive Chapman gave me Colin Chapman’s old Lotus cap and said ‘when you win the first race you’ll be the man to throw this up in the air like my Dad used to.’ That meant a lot to me, it was a wonderful gesture and it’s like handing over the mantle of one of motor racing’s great dynasties”

Visitors to the Lotus Racing garage before the race included FIA President Jean Todt and Michelle Yeoh, but the day began with Tony Fernandes giving the team a stirring speech to thank everyone for the hard work so far, and lay out the challenge ahead, saying “The last six months have shown that if you dream you can achieve, but now it’s not about being the best of the new teams, it’s about making a serious challenge for the very top.” With a start like this, who could blame him for pushing for something truly amazing.

[press release from Lotus Racing]