[F1] Lotus F1 Racing

Fauzy roulera à Silverstone

Ainsi qu’à Budapest, Singapour et Abu Dhabi

lundi 5 juillet 2010 - 10h35, par Sandrine Bouchard

L’équipe Lotus a confirmé avoir prévu de faire rouler son pilote de réserve Fairuz Fauzy sur quatre nouveaux Grand Prix cette saison.

Après Sepang, Fauzy sera de retour en piste à Silverstone, puis à Budapest, Singapour et Abu Dhabi.

« A chaque fois que Fauzy a roulé pour nous, il a fait du bon boulot. Participer à quatre autres week-ends est une simple récompense à la contribution qu’il a déjà apportée au développement de notre équipe », expliquait Mike Gascoyne, directeur technique du team.

Fauzy remplacera, alternativement, Heikki Kovalainen et Jarno Trulli au volant de la T127 sur la première séance d’essais libres de chaque GP choisi.

« Je veux d’abord remercier Tony, Mike et l’ensemble de l’équipe de me donner cette chance de remonter dans la voiture. Je suis vraiment impatient de voir à quel point nous avons progressé depuis ma dernière sortie et je suis très fier d’avoir l’opportunité de jouer un rôle actif dans notre développement », confiait-il.

« J’ai fait le shakedown du châssis 04 à Snetterton, il y a quelques semaines, mais je n’ai évidemment pas pu attaquer. Ce sera bien de retrouver la piste et de faire tout ce que je peux pour aider l’équipe à se rapprocher du cœur du peloton », ajoutait-il.

Fauzy est particulièrement content de pouvoir rouler à Silverstone, ce week-end. Installé tout près du circuit, il pourra compter sur le soutien de sa famille, ses amis et ses supporters. Et il se réjouit à l’idée d’être l’un des premiers pilotes à affronter la nouvelle section du circuit au volant d’une Formule Un.

Lotus Racing va encore grandir
Gascoyne envisage de nouvelles embauches
lundi 5 juillet 2010 - 09h46, par Franck Drui

Petit à petit, les pièces du puzzle se mettent en place chez Lotus. Mike Gascoyne, le directeur technique, envisage l’embauche de quinze nouvelles personnes pour la section recherche et développement, afin de préparer la saison 2011 au mieux.

Un employé avait récemment plaisanté sur la taille de l’usine de Norfolk. "Elle est à peu près aussi grande que la cantine de McLaren," avait-il dit. Les locaux commencent à devenir étroits pour les 160 personnes qui y travaillent déjà, voilà également pourquoi Tony Fernandes veut ouvrir un deuxième centre de développement en Malaisie, à Kuala Lumpur, près du circuit de Sepang.

Aux 160 personnes basées à Norfolk, il faut ajouter les 45 personnes dédiées à Lotus chez Aerolab, la société de Gascoyne en Italie. "Nous aimerions recruter 15 personnes de plus, cela ferait 220 au total, ce serait bien," explique Mike Gascoyne.

Il y a 10 mois, à la naissance du projet en septembre 2009 après avoir obtenu le feu vert de la FIA, il n’y avait que 4 employés dont Gascoyne chez Lotus Racing...

lotusien a écrit:

Quelques news de la dernière grosse évo de la T127 qui aura lieu à Silverstone /
- évolution de toute la prtie arrière : carrosserie, diffuseur, radiateurs...
- gain de poids d'une quinzaine de kilos avec amélioration de la répartition en conséquence
- travail avec gain espéré sur la fiabilité
Le gain aéro devrait être de quelques dizièmes d'après Gascoyne (c'est vague!)

The British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the next stop in the 2010 Formula OneTM World Championship, will see the iconic green and yellow colours of Lotus Racing make an emotional return to the team's second home, giving British fans their first chance to see the sport's fastest new team in full race action at the revised Silverstone circuit. Lotus Racing are looking forward to a very busy weekend on and off the track, aiming to continue their progress towards the midfield with a host of aerodynamic and mechanical upgrades on the cars, giving their third driver Fairuz Fauzy another stint in the cockpit in the first practice session on Friday, and the official launch of their new motorhome in the paddock, with Hazel Chapman performing the opening ceremony on Sunday morning.
Heikki Kovalainen, Chassis T127-01" The first sector of the circuit is the best sector on the whole F1TM calendar - lots of fast bits that require maximum commitment. I haven't driven the new part yet but I've heard it's going to be great and we have some more updates coming that I hope will keep moving us closer to those ahead and further away from the other new teams.
"The fans are always fantastic at Silverstone. You can see from the campsites all around the area that they are big followers of F1TM and they are always really nice and friendly. The Classic Team Lotus Festival at Snetterton really showed just how much support the British people give us so it's going to be great to race on home soil and see a lot of Lotus Racing flags waving in the grandstands!"
Jarno Trulli, Chassis T127-04: "Silverstone will definitely be another important weekend for us, the first time a Lotus has raced in F1TM in the UK for a long time, and our second home race. I think we'll have a lot of support there, and I hope we'll do well - the British fans are very knowledgeable and there's always a lot of them, so it'll be a great show, whatever happens. There's a new layout, and it'll be very interesting to see how quick that's going to be - we'll be looking at how it affects the tyres and what strategies and setups will be best for us, so all in all I'm looking forward to getting over there."
Fairuz Fauzy: "I know Silverstone very well, both from racing there numerous times in the past, and also because I live right next to the circuit. I'm very excited about getting out on track in front of my friends, family and fans, and it'll be a real honour to not only be one of the first F1TM cars to try out the new layout, but also to be able to bring the Lotus marque back to its spiritual home. The new layout looks very quick, and it'll be very interesting to see how best to attack it, so I'll do the best job I can to help the team maximise the upgrades we've put on the car at one of my favourite tracks in the world."
Mike Gascoyne: "We're looking to take another step forward this weekend, with an update package that will give us another chance to take the fight to the teams ahead. We have a number of lightweight parts across the car that, among other benefits, will help us use the ballast more effectively, giving our drivers a better chance to optimise balance and setup. We also have the last major aero modifications of the season, including a new floor and various bodywork updates, and then the design team's attention turns to next year's car. It's a very exciting time for Lotus Racing, and our second home race of the season will be a great occasion for everyone associated with our team, and a great chance for the fans to see us in competitive action for the first time in the UK."
Tony Fernandes: "Silverstone is obviously an important race for us, and it's going to be very busy for everyone in the team. A lot of the guys at the factory will be in the stands, alongside our growing army of fans, and it's great that we're giving them the chance to see our green and yellow cars taking the fight to the established midfield teams at the home of motor racing. It's a great honour for us to welcome Hazel Chapman in on Sunday - she's going to officially open our new motorhome, and that'll be a great occasion for all of us - I hope we can continue to do justice to Colin's legacy as we find more pace, lighten the car and grow as a team, and with Hazel and Clive Chapman at Silverstone with us I think we're in very good company at our second home race."

Venom a écrit:MikeGascoyne (twitter)

Just fitted the new radiator, diffuser and rear bodywork package for the first time. Really big step forward and looks so much nicer at rear

Venom a écrit:

Venom a écrit:MikeGascoyne (twitter)
Just fitted the new radiator, diffuser and rear bodywork package for the first time. Really big step forward and looks so much nicer at rear

sexy

Silverstone, UK 8th July 2010

Halfway through Lotus Racing’s first Formula One season and the team keeps making significant progress in its efforts to close the gap to the established midfield teams. Now, approaching the 2010 Formula One Santander British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Lotus Racing is comfortably the fastest of the new teams on the 2010 grid. A number of factors are contributing to the team’s quick development, including the burgeoning relationship with LG, the global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics who became a Technical Partner of the team early in the season.

LG, the Korean electronics giant which is now in its second year as an active supporter of F1, is now very visible both on and off track with Lotus Racing. At the team’s UK factory, as well as the garages at each race, and the motorhome taken to every European race, LG screens play an integral role in the communication of data and moving image content to team members and guests, providing state of the art images that both inform and entertain throughout all aspects of the team’s development.

Andrew Barrett, VP Global Sponsorship for LG Electronics commented on the successful start to the relationship with Lotus Racing, saying: “Just a few races into our partnership with Lotus Racing and we were already enjoying the benefits of a team association. With Lotus Racing’s help, we have significantly enhanced our Formula 1 online programs, our at-track guest experiences, and our away from track promotions and events. If the speed and impact of these programs are any indication, we can expect even greater benefits to flow LG’s way in the months to come.”

Lotus Racing’s Head of IT, Bill Peters, is also delighted with the contribution LG have already made to the team’s growth: “As soon as LG came on board we started working together to identify the areas that would give us immediate benefits, and quickly had screens integrated into the garages, motorhome and factory. We obviously need to focus our budget wherever we can on making our car as fast as possible, and our partnership with LG immediately solved a logistical challenge, and integrated class-leading technology into the very heart of the team, both at our permanent base, and away at races – frankly it couldn’t have started any better!”

lotusien a écrit:



sexy

nono20 a écrit:elle est devenu bien belle.
Mais elle largue toujours pas la Virgin et est même à 2 secondes de la + lentes des anciennes équipe!!!
Ils ont pas réussi à la régler ou quoi?

BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Silverstone, UK 11th July 2010

VIP guest Hazel Chapman brought a touch of the luck that had been missing in recent races back to Lotus Racing as the team recorded a double car finish at today’s British Grand Prix. Jarno Trulli made a great start and then put in a strong race to finish 16th, Heikki crossing the line just behind him in 17th. The day began with Hazel officially opening the team’s new motorhome alongside Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun, Bette Hill and former World Champion Nigel Mansell, the official FIA Steward for the British Grand Prix.

Jarno Trulli (Chassis T127-04) 16th “I finished the Grand Prix and managed to fight with the other teams after a pretty difficult weekend, so I’m very happy. It’s just great for the whole team as they worked really hard with some difficult problems, but the work paid off. My pace felt very good, especially when you consider that I didn’t have a chance to work on any set up changes, and I had to get used to the new section of the track in qualifying and during the first part of the race, so I think we all did a pretty good job!”

Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-01) 17th “I think my pace was good all the way through the race, but there was constant traffic in front of me. I lost my position on the first lap, which was frustrating, as I then got held up quite a bit. I don’t mind being a lap down, but it’s just a shame I couldn’t really push. Overall I’m very pleased that we managed to finish where we did and it has been a good day for the team here at Silverstone.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer “Today’s been good - a strong two car finish is a great return on the all the hard work that’s been put in, so well done to the whole team for that, and once again we’re best of the news teams. Apologies to Heikki as we had a problem in his pitstop which dropped him behind the Virgin, but he drove a great race in the second half and managed to regain his place.

“Jarno had a very solid race to make sure we had a two car finish and keep ourselves best of the new teams. The only negative was the safety car which came at the wrong time for us, because we’d just pitted and it meant we dropped a lap down. But other than that it was a good strong Sunday, so well done to everyone in the team.”

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal “I’m absolutely delighted. This has been a great day - a two car finish is just what I’ve been wanting for the last few races, so I’m very very happy! Obviously the pitstops didn’t go to plan, but we recovered well and everything played out for us in the end. I think Heikki's pace was very good and he raced really well, despite the unfortunate pitstop, and we got two cars home which really was the main thing. It was also a real honour for Hazel Chapman to come today and she’s brought us something very special – our motorhome is a very welcoming place for everyone in the team, and all our guests, so I’d like to thank her for coming along and instilling a bit of that old-school Team Lotus spirit in our home.”

La nouvelle équipe Lotus Racing pourrait changer de nom pour l’an prochain. Une évolution intéressante et importante qui la fera entrer dans l’histoire de la Formule 1 comme étant l’héritière directe des machines de Colin Chapman.

En effet, selon BBC Sport, que Ton Fernandes et la famille Chapman finalise un tournant important de la vie de l’équipe. Un accord permettrait au team de changer de nom, passant de Lotus Racing au célèbre Team Lotus.

Ce changement serait important car il permettrait à l’équipe d’être en continuité direct de son ancêtre crée par Colin Chapman en 1953 et ayant mis la clé sous la porte durant l’hiver 1994/1995.

Dernièrement, Fernandes avait indiqué qu’après une discussion avec Clive Chapman, le fils de Colin, sur les futures performances de l’équipe, ce dernier avait avoué que la prochaine victoire d’une Lotus ne serait pas la première, mais la 80ème…