Lotus is back in black

[russd]

RACER magazine is reporting that all Lotus team cars will be in Black and Gold livery in 2012. I've always liked this color scheme but wasn't that because of the JPS sponsorship?

Rusty

[gavkiwi]

Yes, the Black & Gold Lotus livery is a throwback to the JPS lotus of the 70s and 80s. I can see why they have done this, to keep the brand recognition current and distance themselves from the Lotus Renault / Renault Lotus debacle that confused some F1 fans this past year.

But Lotus racing at Indy was always british racing green and yellow, or STP red. So for them to have the Indycars being black & gold, is kinda strange, alteast imho.

[indydog]

I agree, when I think of Lotus, I always picture BRG and Yellow.

[clm1545]

2 F1 teams, 3 Indycars, and now a engine and aero package. Where in the hell does all this Lotus money come from? Lotus builds about as many cars a year, as Ford and GM build in an hour.
Take Care
Craig

[pje]

Dec 13, 2011 20:04:42 GMT -5 clm1545 said:

2 F1 teams, 3 Indycars, and now a engine and aero package. Where in the hell does all this Lotus money come from? Lotus builds about as many cars a year, as Ford and GM build in an hour.
Take Care
Craig

It gets a little confusing, but Lotus Cars is only involved with one F1 team, that being the former Renault team.
Team Lotus (the green and yellow F1 cars from the last two years) got the rights to use the name from the James Hunt family, and that whole mess spent a lot of time in the British courts the last year. Team Lotus will change their name to Caterham for next season as Tony Fernandes purchased the company and the cars will now race under that banner.
Clear as mud? I do agree that Lotus Cars seems to be getting back into racing in a pretty big way and wonder where the money is coming from, but that being said, I certainly enjoy hearing the name again on both F1 and Indycar broadcasts.
As you can see from my present avatar, I will miss the green and yellow Indy cars. My favorite schemes of the last couple of seasons.
Paul Erlendson

[Calvin]

I dont know but I'm just not crazy about Lotus making the Black and Gold into the image of Lotus.

I believe Lotus is more recognizable to the general public in British Racing green and not ex JPS colors.

[clm1545]

Thanks, Paul. I knew most of the story, but did not know about the Hunt connection. That is also confusing. The fact remains, that tons of money is being spent and it seems that nobody knows where it is coming from.
Take Care
Craig

[pje]

Dec 15, 2011 10:56:58 GMT -5 clm1545 said:

Thanks, Paul. I knew most of the story, but did not know about the Hunt connection. That is also confusing. The fact remains, that tons of money is being spent and it seems that nobody knows where it is coming from.
Take Care
Craig

Wikipedia does a better job that me in summing up this whole thing:

"Following the 1994 collapse – but before the end of that season – the rights to the name Team Lotus were purchased by David Hunt, brother of former F1 champion James Hunt. In 2009, when the FIA announced an intention to invite entries for a budget-limited championship in 2010, Litespeed acquired the right to submit an entry under the historic name. Lotus Cars, the sister company of the original Team Lotus, distanced itself from the new entry and announced its willingness to take action to protect its name and reputation if necessary. When the 2010 entry list was released on 12 June 2009, the Litespeed Team Lotus entry was not one of those selected. In September 2009, reports emerged of plans for the Malaysian Government to back a Lotus named entry for the 2010 championship to promote the Malaysian car manufacturer Proton, which owns Lotus Cars. On 15 September 2009 the FIA announced that the Malaysian backed team Lotus Racing had been granted admission into the 2010 season. Group Lotus later terminated the license for future seasons as a result of what it called "flagrant and persistent breaches of the license by the team". A little over 1 year later, on September 24, 2010, it was announced that Tony Fernandes (Lotus Racing) had acquired the name rights of Team Lotus from David Hunt, marking the official re-birth of Team Lotus in Formula One. Then on December 8, 2010, Genii Capital and Group Lotus plc announced the creation of 'Lotus Renault GP', the successor to the Renault F1 Team that will contest the 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship. The announcement comes as part of a 'strategic alliance' between the two companies and at the moment means there will be two teams running as Lotus next season. Although neither has any physical links to the pre 1994 Team Lotus Formula 1 team, just the new 'Team Lotus' have the name, and Lotus-Renault is backed by Group Lotus plc.

On 23 December 2010, the Chapman family released a statement in which they unequivocally backed Group Lotus in the dispute over the use of the Lotus name in Formula One, and made it clear that they would prefer that the Team Lotus name did not return to F1.

On 27 May 2011, Mr Justice Peter Smith finally made his verdict public in High Court, giving permission to Tony Fernandes to naming his F1 team Team Lotus after purchasing the rights to the name from previous owner David Hunt. Added to that, Group Lotus are entitled to race in F1 using the historic black and gold livery and have the right to use the Lotus marque on cars for road use. In summary, F1 will still have two teams running the Lotus name with Group Lotus entitled to use the name 'Lotus' on its own while Fernandes' team can use 'Team Lotus'."

Paul Erlendson

[clm1545]

OK I've got it, I guess.