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Powersliding a Seven

As the proud owner of a Seven clone I have been keeping an eye out for Seven related videos and this one is perfect advertisement for the car. Track4Fun, who are track day organizers and the official Caterham importers for Italy posted this wonderful in-car video of some Caterham owners powersliding their cars around a European racetrack. Hit play to see just how much fun it is to drift a Caterham R500 on a cold winter morning. The second video shows what occasionally happens when you get a little too ambitious with the throttle

[via Axis of Oversteer]

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GGLC Laguna Seca Open Track Day, March 23, Reg is Open

Traffic jam at the Corkscrew

Registration for the Golden Gate Lotus Club’s first track day of the year at Laguna Seca is now open. This event will be Tuesday, March 23. We will have only two run groups to maximize your track time, those groups will be Intermediate and Advanced – run every 30 minutes. There will be **NO** Novice Group. Cost is $270 for non-members and $250 for members. Both groups are limited to only 30 cars each (Laguna rule, not ours), and as usual at this venue, sound is an issue. So, start working on your exhaust system now and sign-up early.

Click here to register for the event. See you at Laguna Seca.

Brought to you by your Golden Gate Lotus Club Track Day junkies, John & Scott

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New executive at Lotus Cars

Press release from Lotus:

A new decade begins with considerable changes at Group Lotus and CEO Dany Bahar is strengthening his executive team in order to take the Lotus brand to the next phase of its evolution and realise his ambitious plans for 2010 and beyond.

Paul Newsome

Lotus is pleased to announce Paul Newsome’s appointment to Director of Product Engineering for Lotus Cars. Currently Managing Director of Lotus Engineering, Paul becomes Director of Product Engineering, responsible for the engineering behind all future Lotus cars and for ensuring that they drive and perform in the way that only a Lotus can.

On taking up the challenge of Director of Product Engineering, Paul Newsome said, “Lotus has, through its launch of the all new multi-award winning Lotus Evora, again demonstrated the capability of its engineering. I look forward to building on this tremendous success with the team and delivering the exciting next generation of products we have planned. These will continue to demonstrate Lotus’ world leading attributes of performance and dynamics through light weight and take the Lotus brand into more segments of the sports car market.”

Dany Bahar commented, “This year will see some very exciting developments to the Lotus product line-up and I have set the Lotus workforce quite a challenge! The success of the changes that I and my executive team look to make relies upon their support and I thank them for their dedication and commitment in joining us on this journey.

“The executive team I am building around me represent some of the industry’s most innovative and passionate professionals and I look forward to working with Paul and the rest of the team to make Lotus the brand it has the potential to be.”

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New appointment and contracts at Lotus Engineering

Press release from Lotus Engineering

Lotus Engineering starts the New Year strongly, announcing significant new contracts and welcoming a new Director of Lotus Engineering.
Robert Hentschel

Major new projects with three Chinese clients ensure an excellent start to 2010 for Lotus Engineering, the automotive consultancy and technology division of Lotus Cars Limited. These projects result in a fourth consecutive year of growth in new orders for Lotus Engineering’s global third party consultancy work, with a quarter of the financial year still to go.

To continue to build on the success of both the Lotus Engineering and Lotus Cars divisions, Lotus has also made changes to the senior management structure. Dr Robert Hentschel joins Lotus as Director of Lotus Engineering. Dr Hentschel’s task will be to lead the expansion of Lotus Engineering’s third party consultancy work and to further develop its position of technology leadership in lightweight architectures, driving dynamics, efficient performance and electrical/electronics. Dr Hentschel will have full responsibility for Lotus Engineering worldwide, reporting to Dany Bahar, CEO of Group Lotus plc. Dr Hentschel brings a wealth of experience from the automotive industry and engineering services sector, most recently from positions at EDAG as Chief Operating Officer for North American operations and previously as Head of the Electrical/Electronics Business Unit.

Paul Newsome, previously Managing Director of Lotus Engineering, takes up a new role as Director of Product Engineering for Lotus Cars to develop an exciting range of new Lotus cars.

Dr Hentschel commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to contribute to the continued success of this outstanding business which boasts talented engineers and an iconic brand. Lotus Engineering has an exceptional heritage with an exciting array of future products, technologies and services that will further enhance its position as a pioneer in the new automotive era. Our key areas of expertise allow us to deliver exciting vehicles and sustainable transport solutions that are exactly aligned to the needs of the global automotive industry.”

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All-Lotus Historics Race

ZIONSVILLE, IN (December 21, 2009) — Legends of Motorsports, has announced an additional event to its premium historic automobile race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park on May 20-23, 2010. The special race will solely include Lotus racing cars, featuring a variety of the marque’s most popular models.

“Few brands of race cars have more racing mystique than Lotus,” observed Legends of Motorsports co-founder and partner Bobby Rahal. “For anyone who loves these great cars, and there are many, it will be very exciting to see a sea of Lotus racers battling it out on the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park circuit.”

The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum at the Barber Motorsports Park includes more than 1000 vintage and modern motorcycles and a substantial collection of 43 vintage Lotus cars, the largest collection in North America.

Consequently, the Lotus-exclusive race will be open to a raft of years and models of the famed British sports cars including Lotus 7, Lotus Super 7, Lotus 9, Louts 11, Lotus 15, Lotus 17, Lotus 19, Lotus 23, Lotus 26, Lotus 47 and Lotus 62.

Rahal, a revered international racing champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner, is one of three Legends of Motorsports primary partners through the brand’s Historic Motorsports Productions (HMP) parent company. He is joined in the venture by Just Marketing International (JMI) founder and CEO, Zak Brown and noted business
executive Peter Stoneberg, who serves as CEO for HMP. All three men are active participants in historic racing in their own right.

Legends of Motorsports events typically include a variety of the most popular historic racing classes and cars. These include GTP/Group C; 3.0 Liter era Formula One; F.I.A. Championship of Makes; 2.0 Liter Sports Racers; Trans-Am; Can-Am; IMSA GT/Production Cars; and Formula Libre. In addition, at certain events individual automobile manufacturers and classes will be celebrated through special programming. Beyond vintage racing, HMP event weekends feature a variety of entertainment diversions such as fashion shows, race car parades, car shows and rallies.

“The owners of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, founder George Barber and the museum staff are truly great stewards of racing history,” said Rahal. “They appreciate the legacy of legendary racing marques and certainly Lotus is high on that list. Their stellar facility will be a perfect venue for guests to appreciate the best of this historic racing brand.”

Tickets for the Legends of Motorsports at Barber Motorsports Park are on sale to the public beginning January 15, 2010.

About Historic Motorsports Productions
Historic Motorsports Productions LLC (HMP) is a business partnership dedicated to staging the Legends of Motorsports, a Bobby Rahal Signature Event, which is an annual series of premium vintage racing events and related lifestyle experiences at historic North American venues. Based in Zionsville, Indiana, HMP’s principal owners are racers and businessmen Bobby Rahal, Peter Stoneberg and Zak Brown. Additional equity investors in HMP include Spire Capital Partners and Just Marketing International, which provides comprehensive strategy, marketing, public relations and event logistics services to the venture. For more information, please visit HMP on the worldwide web at www.hmpseries.com or by calling (317) 344-1998. ?

About Barber Motorsports Park and Zoom Motorsports:

Barber Motorsports Park opened in the spring of 2003. Since its inception, Zoom Motorsports, LLC has been the exclusive event promoter for the events at the Park. The 2.38 mile racing circuit is 45 feet wide, with 17 turns and elevation changes of more than 80 feet. The Barber Motorsports Park has been considered one of North America’s finest road courses for car and motorcycle racing, and has served as the venue for several international product launches. The Barber Motorsports Park also features the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. This 144,000 square-foot facility houses more than 1,000 vintage and modern motorcycles from 17 different nations and more than 125 manufacturers. For more information, please visit www.barbermotorsports.com.

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Qvale Auto Group acquires Lotus of Los Gatos

Family-owned business Qvale Auto Group said Wednesday it purchased Silicon Valley Auto Group and its franchises, which includes the Lotus of Los Gatos dealership. The SVAG group is to be renamed Los Gatos Luxury Cars and its franchises will remain at shared locations in Los Gatos: 66 East Main Street and 620 Blossom Hill Road. The Qvale Auto Group also owns Lotus of San Francisco dealership which is part of the British Motor Car Distributors located on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

Silicon Valley Auto Group has been a long time supporter and sponsor of the GGLC and we wish them all the best for the future.

[via the San Jose Business Journal]

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F1 Driver Jarno Trulli Sits In His First Lotus

F1 driver Jarno Trulli straight from being announced as driver for Lotus F1 Racing in Malaysia made the trip to the home of Lotus at Hethel in England, visiting where Lotus history was made.

trulli
It was an exciting day, with Jarno enjoying a visit to the production facilities, meeting Lotus staff and driving the new Lotus Evora – the first Lotus he has ever driven!

Jarno was also given a special tour of the Classic Team Lotus workshops by Clive Chapman, son of Lotus founder Colin Chapman. During the visit to Classic Team Lotus Jarno viewed some of the most successful and iconic F1 racing cars of all time. The tour was steeped in Lotus heritage and included some of the F1 cars that helped Lotus to achieve 79 GP wins, seven constructor’s titles and 6 drivers’ championships, including, Emerson Fittipaldi’s Type 72, Graham Hill’s Type 49 and Jim Clark’s Type 25.

Dany Bahar, CEO of Group Lotus plc said, “The family gets bigger with the arrival of Jarno. It was very special to host Jarno at Group Lotus, he is an exceptional driving talent and we wish him and Lotus F1 Racing every success for the 2010 F1 season.”

Dany Bahar continued, “We take great pride in the sports cars that we produce at Hethel and Jarno’s visit provided a great opportunity to show off the multi-award winning cars that we produce and the advanced niche production facilities at Hethel.”

Jarno had a fantastic time driving the Lotus Evora and visiting the home of the iconic Lotus marque, commenting, “Gino Rosato and I come from the same region of Italy, Abruzzo, we have been close friends for years and it was always a dream of ours to work together. Claudio Berro and Dany Bahar are also old friends and I honestly never thought that I would get the opportunity to work with these great people.”

He went on to say,” It was a great occasion and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the fantastic Classic Lotus F1 cars and new Lotus models. The facilities at Group Lotus are very impressive and I was amazed at the dedication and craftsmanship that goes into the production of Lotus cars. The Lotus Evora lived up to all my expectations of what a Lotus would be like to drive. It is clearly a very well engineered car that provides an exceptionally rewarding drive and I am looking forward to Lotus’ exciting future.”

[press release from Lotus]

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2010 GGLC Track Days

The Golden Gate Lotus Club is pleased to announce another full season of Lotus Open Track Days in 2010! There are currently 4 GGLC Open Tracks Days are on the calendar and there’s more to come! Join the fun!

March 23 – Laguna Seca
May 18 – Thunderhill
July 13 – Thunderhill
Sept 28 – Thunderhill

GGLC Open Track Days are designed to allow the Lotus and sports car enthusiast enjoy driving in controlled conditions without random traffic and law enforcement. GGLC Open Track Days are not races, but allow the driver to run at their pace and enjoy the capability of the car. Click here for more info.

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Lotus Appoints New Director of Design

Press release from Lotus

Group Lotus is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr. Donato Coco as Director of Design for Group Lotus starting 04 January 2010. In this newly created role, Donato will lead all Lotus Design activities for Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering.

Donato Coco- Director of Design for Group Lotus

Head of Lotus Design, Russell Carr will continue to work on both Lotus products and third party design work, an area which is growing rapidly especially in the emerging Asian markets.

Dany Bahar, Chief Executive Officer of Group Lotus plc said, “The appointment of Donato Coco as the new Director of Design for Lotus puts even more prominence on design within Lotus and strengthens the already talented team. We have a very busy few years ahead of us as we are working on a new strategic business plan which will include the introduction of an all new range of Lotus cars and expansion of our third party design work.”

Donato Coco is looking forward to the new challenge, “Lotus has a reputation for designing evocative sportscars and it is a great honour to take on these responsibilities and challenges. Russell Carr and the rest of the Lotus Design team have already elevated Lotus Design to a globally recognised level and the increase in our third party design work for clients around the world is proof of our capabilities. I am looking forward to building on these foundations to deliver beautiful and relevant Lotus cars designs whilst at the same time acknowledging the peerless heritage and core values of this wonderful British brand.”

Donato Coco was previously Director of Design and Development – Ferrari where he worked on the Ferrari F430 Scuderia coupé and Spider 16M, Ferrari California, 599XX and the F458 Italia. Prior to Ferrari, Donato worked for Automobiles Citroën rising to the position of Chief Designer and was responsible for, amongst others, the Xsara, Picasso, C3, C3 Pluriel, C2, C1, ZX Paris Dakar and the Xsara WRC.

Donato Coco holds an MA in Automotive Design from the Royal College of Art, London, England. Whilst at the RCA, he was awarded first prize in a design competition, which was presented to him by Margaret Thatcher when she was Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Donato Coco is an Italian national. He will be based at the Lotus Headquarters in Hethel, England.

About Lotus Design
Lotus Design has developed a unique understanding of what makes beautiful, iconic vehicles. A passion for design and breadth of experience allows Lotus to influence the whole product development process from the first mood boards and sketches through to production release. Working from a purpose built design studio since 2000, an ever-increasing global client base has seen design work delivered out of the USA, China and Malaysia. Lotus designers have a unique blend of passion and commercial pragmatism having worked on 23 major programmes including 5 production cars for Lotus and 8 production cars for clients, some of which are high volume cars in just 11 years. In each case, Lotus Design has worked closely with the client to deliver a product that fits their brand DNA and is commercially viable.

In addition to highly successful production programmes, Lotus Design also offers concept cars and show car build services presenting an enthralling blend of exterior and interior design that stimulates the customer on a practical, tactile and emotional level. Strong proportion, emotional form, dynamic line, innovative material choice and distinctive graphics are what, subconsciously; create a first and often lasting impression with a customer. In an increasingly competitive market, innovative and exciting design is relevant to all vehicle types and volumes and this is where Lotus Design excels.