Naomi Campbell and Lotus Cars join forces for Haiti

In response to the horrific natural disaster that has crippled the nation of Haiti, Naomi Campbell together with Lotus Cars will be auctioning eight special edition “Naomi for Haiti” Lotus Evora sports cars, with the proceeds from the auction going to help the relief effort in Haiti.

Naomi for Haiti exterior

The Lotus Evora is a very desirable, multi-award winning, high performance, mid-engined sports car that presents a fantastic piece of design to bid on. The “Naomi for Haiti” Evora sports car has been specially designed by Lotus Design Director Donato Coco and reflects Naomi’s design direction. The bespoke styling combines the flag of Haiti with a dramatic colour scheme and the cars include a full range of options, meaning these cars will all become desirable collectors items.

Naomi for Haiti Interior

The “Naomi for Haiti” Evoras will be auctioned at Naomi Campbell’s Fashion for Relief TM charity fashion show on the 18th of February at the London Fashion Week venue at Somerset House. The remaining “Naomi for Haiti” Evoras will be entered into an auction run on the “Naomi for Haiti” website www.naomiforhaiti.com and bidding will commence at 0800 GMT on the 19th of February and will end at 1200 noon GMT on 28th of February 2010.

The grand total raised for the charity and the highest bidders will be announced by Naomi Campbell at the Geneva Motorshow on the 2nd of March. There will also be a link to the “Naomi for Haiti” website from the Lotus Cars website http://www.grouplotus.com/cars/home.html.

The Fashion For Relief TM event has selected to support the White Ribbon Alliance as it campaigns for the health needs and rights of women and girls around the world, especially supporting its partners in Haiti at this time to rebuild the healthcare system for mothers and babies.

Naomi Campbell - Naomi For Haiti design

Naomi Campbell says, “I am deeply saddened by the recent tragedy in Haiti. So many have been killed and severely affected by the earthquake – women and children in particular are most vulnerable in disasters. Fashion is universal, personal and touches everyone. I am delighted that Lotus Cars is supporting my Fashion for Relief TM charity and I am sure with such generous help we will raise crucial funds to help save the lives of women and children.”

Dany Bahar, CEO of Group Lotus Plc, stated, “It is a very admirable cause and we are proud to be supporting Naomi Campbell with her Fashion For Relief TM event in aid of the women and children affected by the terrible disaster in Haiti. The whole of Lotus is supporting this very deserving charity, with many working in their own time in order to raise money for the women and children affected by the earthquake in Haiti.”

The Red Cross has said that the earthquake in Haiti has affected approximately 3 million people and it is reported that upwards of 200,000 people have died in the disaster. The magnitude of the earthquake combined with the local geography and house building techniques has exacerbated the destruction.

[press release from Lotus]

Lotus F1 videos

Following on from todays official launch, Lotus F1 racing has released some official videos including our first glimpse of the T127 on track for its final shakedown as well as footage from the launch event.

Shakedown:

Launch:

Launch (behind the scene):

Lotus launches 2010 F1 challenger

Lotus T127

Lotus F1 Racing became the latest Formula 1 team to launch its 2010 challenger, as the wraps officially came off the new car in London on Friday. The new car – named T127 – carries the same colours as the original Team Lotus cars from the 60’s and 70’s.

Lotus T127
“The launch of the car is a very proud moment for the design team and the whole team,” said Paul Gascoyne, the technical chief of Lotus F1. “This one is very special for me personally for two reasons – firstly the Lotus name coming back into F1 is something very special. I grew up in Norfolk, went to school five miles down the road from he original factory. I grew up in era when Lotus was winning races and championships, so the opportunity to work with this team is very special. But also it is the challenge of bringing a new team and a new car into F1 in such a short space of time.”

Lotus T157
Added team owner Tony Fernandez: “We know we have a huge burden on our shoulers, standing on the shoulder of giants – Clark, Moss, Hill, and Mansell. We know we have a tremendous journey in front of us, we are honoured and cherished to be a part of history – we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts and we will do our best to return Lotus to its glory days.”

Lotus T127
Lotus T127
Lotus T157

[via Autosport, pictures from Lotus F1]

GGLC is now on Facebook

The Golden Gate Lotus Club is now on Facebook. We are glad to have created another way for our members to keep up with the latest news, photos, events and everything Lotus. Become a fan and meet up with other Lotus enthusiasts from around the world.

Jarno Trulli develops his first Lotus race car

F1 Racing driver Jarno Trulli assists in the development of the Lotus Evora Cup race car during its first test session at Snetterton.

Lotus_Evora_Cup_Driven_by_Jarno_Trulli_at_Snetterton

The Lotus Evora Cup race car is the latest addition to the Lotus Motorsport racing stable. Fresh from its debut at the Autosport International racing car show in Birmingham the Evora Cup race car was given its first shake-down test at a wintery Snetterton circuit in Norfolk, UK on the 10th and 11th of February 2010.

Lotus Motorsport is conducting an extensive development program for the Evora Cup race car, with Jarno Trulli and his Race Engineer, Gianluca Pisanello bringing their vast racing, development and engineering experience to fine tune the latest Lotus mid-engined race car.

Jarno Trulli and Gianluca Pisanello provided specific input into the aerodynamic balance for slow, medium and fast corners, guidance on the racing setup of the suspension geometry and direction on the engine’s calibration.

After driving the Lotus Evora Cup for the first time, Jarno Trulli said, “I have enjoyed driving the road going Lotus Evora very much and I believe that the Evora Cup will be a very competitive race car package. It was very rewarding to be the first to drive the Evora Cup race car even though the snowy conditions at Snetterton were fairly challenging at times!”

Jarno continued, “The car will continue to be developed with new updates coming soon, but even after the initial drive it is obvious that the car has huge potential. I look forward to working with Lotus Motorsport in developing the car further and I know that my years of motorsport experience will help make the Evora Cup race car even better.”

Claudio Berro, Director of Motorsport at Group Lotus plc stated, “It is a privilege to work on the development of the Evora Cup race car with such an experienced driver and engineering team as Jarno Trulli and Gianluca Pisanello and I believe that this collaboration will produce a great race car for a range of motorsport applications. It is a very exciting time for Lotus and I am honoured to be leading the motorsport programmes at Lotus, starting with the Lotus Evora Cup racing car and race series.

Gianluca Pisanello, Race Engineer for Jarno Trulli said, “I am impressed with the whole Evora Cup race car package, which demonstrates that the road going Lotus Evora is such a competent sports car in the first place and an excellent basis to develop a competitive race car.”

In the past a number of Lotus F1 drivers have successfully raced or assisted in the development of Lotus Cars including F1 World Champions Jim Clark and Nigel Mansell. Jim Clark was a great exponent of the three wheel drift in his Lotus Cortina, campaigning the Lotus to win the British Touring Car Championship in 1964. Whilst Nigel Mansell raced for Lotus he was involved in the development of the prototype Active Suspension Lotus Esprit.

The Evora Cup race car is an evocative sports car that will offer a great platform to race in high level motor sport. The GT4 race car will go on sale starting at £120,000 excluding taxes for the sprint racing version, with the endurance specification race car £150,000 excluding taxes.

The final design, aero’ package and techincal specifications will be presented at the Geneva Motorshow in March 2010.

For more information please check out http://www.lotusevoracup.com

[press release from Lotus]

GGLC Lotus Corral @ 2010 Monterey Motorsports Reunion (13-15 August 2010)

The GGLC is once again arranging for a Lotus Corral at the 2010 Monterey Motorsports Reunion (nee: Monterey Historic Races) at Laguna Seca Raceway on August 13-15, 2010. Purchase your Monterey Motorsports Reunion ticket and Lotus corral pass from the GGLC and for a discount. The GGLC must sell at least 25 tickets. Please order early and reserve your spot in the corral. GGLC membership is NOT required, but you must drive your Lotus to the event to park in the GGLC Lotus Corral.

# A few things have changed since last year. The GGLC/Lotus Corral is available all 3 days!
# A corral pass is $10 and is good for all 3 days.
# You must purchase a ticket from the GGLC to be able to purchase a GGLC/Lotus Corral Pass
These new “rules” are based upon the new policies from the Monterey Motorsports Reunion organizers.

Click here to buy your Monterey Historic tickets. Typically the tickets are sent to the GGLC 2-3 weeks prior and we will then immediately distribute them to you. Expect your ticket(s) and corral passes approximate one week prior to the event.

DEADLINE TO BUY TICKETS & CORRAL PASS: MAY 25, 2009! We will not be able get tickets and corral passes after this deadline!

[Buy GGLC Corral Pass + tickets]

Recreating your track day laps in GT5

Polyphony Digital has announced a new feature in Gran Turismo 5 which will allow you to upload data from an automotive data logger and recreate your laps within GT5. While technology currently requires the use of the CANBUS data along with a Denso GPS controller we can only hope that one day we might be able to use this technology with regular track day dataloggers. In the meantime check out this video of a Lexus IS-F lapping the Fuji circuit with its virtual recreation side-by-side.

First Anniversary of the Chapman Report Online

We are glad to announce that today is the 1 year anniversary of the Chapman Report Online and we are celebrating it with our 100th blog post. CRO was started on Feb 8th 2009 with a simple charter:

Through this blog we plan to share with you what we’re up to: club events, track days, autocrosses, drives, etc… We also hope to introduce to some of our members doing the things they love the most. Additionally we will keep you up-to-date with all the latest Lotus news, stories, videos and articles.

The last year has been an eventful year for Lotus with the universal acclaim for the Evora, the design of the Omnivore engine, the appointment of Dany Bahar and the return of Lotus to Formula 1. We have also had the retirements of Mike Kimberley and Roger Becker to whom we wish all the best for their future endeavors.

The GGLC has had another successful year with several autocrosses, track days, meetups, meetings, the WCLM, etc… We’ve also had our members win several trophies at the SCCA nationals and the 24 Hours of Lemons.

Chapman Report Online has been around to chronicle this eventful year and share this information with the GGLC members, the Lotus community and the world at large. Our thanks go to the GGLC executives for supporting the the creation of GGLC blog and to all our members and friends that have given us content to post.

Chapman Remort Monthly Traffic

As the graph above shows, we have steadily grown in traffic (the final drop-off is because February hasn’t ended yet) both to the website and via RSS. All in all its been a fantastic year and we hope to have many more years like it. In closing, we’d like to leave you with the 5 most popular blog posts over the last year – enjoy!

1) Fantastic Lotus Exige Wallpapers
2) Jim Clark: The Quiet Champion
3) Lotus Omnivore Research Engine Unveiled
4) The most beautiful cars of all time
5) The history of a race car (Lotus 49 R5/R10)