Canadian Grand Prix Preview

The Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal is one of the highlights of the Grand Prix season, a race everyone in the pitlane looks forward to, both for the challenges the temporary circuit presents, and the amazing nightlife in one of the world’s great cities. Lotus Racing will be competing in their first Canadian race, and are looking to keep closing the gap to the midfield, calling on the experience Jarno and Heikki bring on the demanding Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve to continue their progress in the 2010 FIA Formula One™ World Championship.

Heikki Kovalainen: “I’m really looking forward to Canada. Montreal is an amazing city and everyone there really loves the fact they have a race on their doorsteps. It’s pretty impressive how the whole place almost becomes like a festival – some streets are closed for parties, events and all sorts of things, and everyone really gets behind the whole race. With the circuit being practically in the city it’s hard to escape the noise and goings on, but I love it.

“The circuit itself is a real challenge, for the cars and the drivers. Braking is very important because there are long straights and it’s the second hardest circuit on the brakes in the whole season – cooling them is a priority and getting your braking points right is the key to a good lap. There’s always a lot of action in the braking zones, so we’ll see how we get on in the race. Riding the kerbs well is also critical, so it’s important to set up the car for them, and we’ll focus on that on Friday.”

Jarno Trulli: “Canada’s a funny one for me – even though I love Canada – the track, the people and the city – the race itself has never loved me! It’s a great challenge, and I’ve always performed pretty well there, but I’ve never had much luck there, so maybe that will change this year.

“As it’s a temporary circuit it’s a major challenge the whole way round. There’s the constant threat of the walls and it’s critical not to make any mistakes. You have to have confidence in the car and a good setup gives you the chance to push, but you’ve got to be perfect the whole time, otherwise it will bite you. It’s also very quick, and hard on brakes, so the cooling and the stability under braking are both important, and I think we’re pretty good in both areas, so we should be ok. Our car has been performing better and better over the last few races, so we’ll see what happens when we get out there, but I think we’ll continue to move away from the other new guys, and towards those ahead.”

Mike Gascoyne: “Canada’s a race we all look forward to. It’s a great city and a great race and we’re all glad to be going back to Montreal. It’s a temporary circuit where you often see quite a few people hit the wall, bringing out the safety car more than it’s usually seen. It’s one of those races where it’s possible to pick up points, and we’ve got to put ourselves in a position to do that. We’ve got two very experienced drivers in the car which will help us be there at the finish and that’s the primary goal. It’s going to be hard on brakes, but we’ve had no problems in that area. We’re also bringing a few more new parts, including a low downforce package specifically for Canada, so overall we want to build on the performances we’ve been putting in, aim for bullet-proof reliability, and have two cars see the flag.”

Tony Fernandes: “It’s been a busy couple of weeks since Turkey for the team and they’ve been working very hard in the factory, particularly focusing on our reliability. We have to aim to get two cars home whenever we can and consistent reliability is the key to doing that. We have developed well in a number of important areas, but so far reliability is one where we need to work harder – I hope Canada’s where we can turn that around.

“It’s one of the great races on the calendar, and we’re all looking forward to getting out there. North America’s an important area for us, particularly bearing in mind CNN is one of our partners and the heritage Lotus has on the continent, so I hope we put on a good show in Montreal. The steps we’ve taken so far this season should help us do that, and we’ve also just announced how we’ve strengthened the senior technical team, so the building blocks for the future are in place for us to keep moving forward.”

GGLC Meeting, Drive & BBQ (19-June-10)

We all know how difficult it is to get to the East Bay for a club meeting on a Friday night, so for June the club meeting will be Saturday, June 19, in Danville with the extra added attractions of Mel’s fabulous BBQ and an optional fun run to Danville from Santana Row. The fun run will start around 10 AM, and the BBQ will begin around 1 PM (and who knows when the meeting will begin!). A contribution of a salad or dessert for the BBQ would be nice, but is not required. RSVP for the BBQ is required. Email for RSVP, address, questions, etc…

When: 19th-June-2010, 10 am (drive), 1pm (BBQ)
Where: Meet at Santana Row for the drive or directly come to the BBQ at Mel and Darlene’ place (Danville, CA)

Elliot Moss drives a Lotus 18

It seems appropriate that on the day Elliot Moss, Stirling’s son, drives a Lotus 18 for the first time, courtesy of Classic Team Lotus, Stirling was winning the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix, the first Formula 1 win for Lotus, exactly 50 years ago. This was also the first time Elliot had ever driven a single seater let alone a race car on a race track, so the timing and type of car driven was very fitting.

The reason for Elliot driving is to demonstrate the Lotus 18 at the Classic Team Lotus Festival on 20th June 2010 at the Snetterton Race Circuit, along with 33 Formula 1 cars from the Lotus’s Formula 1 history. The festival will also feature the newest Lotus Formula 1 car on track, the T127, and its drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli.

As Stirling is still recovering from the injuries he sustained from his accident back in March, Elliot will drive the Lotus 18 in a demonstration run, alongside a other Lotus Formula 1 cars around the Snetterton track. Stirling’s son did not follow his fathers professional career path, he is a trained chef and now run’s the family’s property business with his wife Helen who was present at Hethel to witness a little bit of Lotus and Moss history being made.

[via stirlingmoss.com]

Mark Smith appointed at Lotus Racing Technical Director

Lotus Racing has today confirmed the appointment of Mark Smith to the role of Technical Director, completing the senior technical structure and giving the team an excellent platform from which to achieve its goals of long-term success in the FIA Formula One™ World Championship.

Reporting to Chief Technical Officer Mike Gascoyne, Mark will start at the end of his Force India notice period, and joins Lewis Butler (Chief Designer) and Marianne Hinson (Head of Aerodynamics), also from Force India, at the Anglo-Asian squad. These appointments, alongside Keith Saunt (Chief Operating Officer), Dieter Gass (Deputy Technical Director), Elliot Dason-Barber (Head of Vehicle Dynamics), Frank Ramowsky (Head of R&D), Rob Reeve (Head of Electronics) and Jody Egginton (Chief Engineer), complete the technical senior management structure.

Mike Gascoyne: “I’m exceptionally pleased to welcome Marianne and Lewis to Lotus Racing, and I’m very excited to once again be teaming up with Mark Smith who I have previously worked with at Jordan, Renault and Force India. Lewis and I were together at Force India, and Lewis also worked with Mark Smith at Red Bull, and Marianne and I have known each other since 1999 when I gave her her first job in F1™ at Jordan, so we all know each other very well.

“Mark Smith and I were first at Jordan together where our first car was the 199, Jordan’s most successful F1™ entrant, and then he came with me to Renault where we helped put them back on the top step of the podium, and put in place the team that went on to win two world championships. Most recently we were together at Force India, and I’m delighted he sees the potential we have here, and has seized the opportunity to work with me, Tony and the whole team on helping Lotus Racing reach the front of the grid.

“For me, it’s not just about the proven technical ability of the team we now have in place, it’s also the fact we’ve all worked together before, know how to achieve the goals we’ve set out, and know how to have fun together. We all work together extremely well, and that gives us the perfect base from which to build for long-term success.”

Renowned for his belief in the power of the people he works with, Team Principal and Group CEO of AirAsia Tony Fernandes echoed Mike’s comments “I am delighted to welcome Mark, Lewis and Marianne to the team, and they join a group of extremely talented people at Lotus Racing.

“I am honoured that these fantastic talents have put their careers and their faith in Lotus Racing, and see the very bright future we all have together here. Formula One™ is a small world and the fact that they are coming to our team shows what we have already achieved in a very short period. Nothing will stop us from bringing in the best people we can, and we will give them the best working environment, and create the perfect atmosphere for them to fulfil their own potential, and help us in our quest to reach the top.”

Lotus Racing Turkish Grand Prix

Lotus Racing 2010 Turkish Grand Prix

Lotus Racing were having one of their best days of the season at the Turkish Grand Prix until a double hydraulics failure brought both Jarno and Heikki’s races to an end on laps 32 and 33 respectively, Jarno coming to a halt on track and Heikki retiring in the pit.

Jarno Trulli (Lotus Cosworth T127-03) Started 19th, DNF: “It was difficult at the beginning with the hard tyres, and the team were telling me Heikki was quicker on the options, and as he was on a different strategy he got past. Afterwards, I was pulling away from our competitors comfortably, but the failure put an end to the good race I was having. “

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus Cosworth T127-01) Started 20th, DNF: “What a shame. I lost power steering in turn eight and it looks like it was a hydraulics failure. At first I thought I had a puncture as the steering suddenly felt really strange, but then I lost the gearbox, the clutch, and throttle. It’s so unfortunate as this was our strongest race so far. I was on the softer tyre and although I wasn’t sure how they would run at the beginning of the race, they did in fact hang on really well. I can’t help but feel disappointed, but as I’ve said before these things happen, and we will work through this, and come out stronger as a result.

“We’re only a few tenths off the other teams per kilometre, and we know the areas to work on to improve this car. I’m confident we can make a very big step for next year and for now, we’ll move on and put this behind us.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “Obviously very disappointing to have two cars go out on the same lap when we were having such a strong race, our strongest performance all year. We started the cars with Jarno on the harder tyre, and Heikki on the soft – Heikki was slightly quicker on the option to start with, but towards the end of the stint Jarno was catching him. We were hanging on for the pitstops, monitoring the rain situation, but then had sudden hydraulic failures on both cars. Heikki’s was a leak from the power steering, and with Jarno we don’t know as yet what the specific issue was. Despite that we have to keep our chins up after what was a really strong weekend from the whole team, fix these problems and move on. ”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “This looked like it was going to be a great weekend for us so it’s obviously very disappointing to have it all brought to an end in such a fashion, after what was probably our best race so far. Jarno and Heikki should be very proud of the times they put in, and the whole team should be pleased with how far we’ve come. This is a low but to be champions we have to deal with the lows, learn from them and move on. It all reminds me of the early days of AirAsia, but we have just been awarded the title of world’s best low cost airline for the second year running, so I know we can repeat that with this team, and one day be victorious. Onwards and upwards, and now we’ll focus on Montreal.”

[press release from Lotus Racing]