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Very Disappointed with Lotus at Indy 500

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tr7andtvr

tr7andtvr

Jedi Hopeful
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They lost 2/3 of there drivers in the past few weeks and the 2 cars they did get in were dead last.... They will be black flagged within a few laps for to low of speed..... Sad for this once great and historical marque. I don't want to hear a bunch of crap about how much money Chevy and Honda has.... Lotus put themselves into this, how are they going to make a show of it?
 
Lotus doesn't build the engines, John Judd does. Judd has not built a current tech Indy or F1 motor for some time. Besides that, I am sure he wasn't given proper funding for a serious effort.

Lotus management didn't have enough real money to finance this from the start, and with the sale of parent company (Proton), expenditures have been frozen pending analysis by the new owners.

I saw this as doomed from the outset, the sooner the plug is pulled, the better.
 
Yeah, it was a shadow effort IMO. Live on the name and the history, hope for the best. Silly without funding adequate to the task. Think: Don Qixote here.
 
Did not know the background, but I agree there is no reason to start something knowing that the funding is not there.... Judd did not seem like a good option either. I would have rather seen cosworth. (Who’s do they use in F1?)There have been a good number of Lotus fans at the 500 the last couple of years. I hate that they are disappointed. I do feel that if Lotus stays in it for a couple more years the development of the Aero Packages will more there cup of tea.
 
As it was with the S-1 Europa. Chapman was a clever opportunist. What's wrong with that?

Costin was willin'... to paraphrase an old Dickens story. :smirk:
 
DrEntropy said:
As it was with the S-1 Europa. Chapman was a clever opportunist. What's wrong with that?

Costin was willin'... to paraphrase an old Dickens story. :smirk:
Click to expand...


I'll bet its bit more complicated than pulling an engine and transaxle from a Fuego now days. Innovative creation the Europa!!

Kurt.
 
Lotus has used so many different engines over the years it makes your head spin. Some that come to mind are:
Renault, Austin, MG, BMC, BRM, Honda, Toyota, Isuzu, BMW, Coventry Climax, Ford, Rover, Lotus, Cosworth. Many variations were used of some these manufactures like Ford and Coventry. What did I miss? I know there must be many others.
 
The Lotus type 56 was powered by Pratt & Whitney.

The Lotus type 108 was powered by a dude named Chris.
 
PC said:
<span style="font-size: 11pt"><span style="color: #FF0000">The Lotus type 56 was powered by Pratt & Whitney.</span>
</span>
The Lotus type 108 was powered by a dude named Chris.
Click to expand...

Where did that piece of info come from??
 
I totally forgot about the Type 56. Nice catch, any others unique engines used that anyone can remember?
 
The Mark 10 was built for a Bristol engine, they used Lamborghini in the F1 type 102. THe 19B had a Buick engine, and the type 62 used the LV220, with a Vauxhall cylinder block. Off the top of my head I can't think of any others the works used, but private owners fitted all sorts back in the early days. There was, for example, a GP Vanwall engine fitted into an 18 for evaluation, but there were lots of others.
 
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