Taku Heads Down Memory Lane 29th May

This Sunday (30th May) will see Lotus IndyCar rookie, Takuma Sato, take on one of his biggest challenges to date, the 2010 Indy 500, also known as the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. No pressure there then.
After qualifying in 31st place Lotus are pulling out all the stops to make sure Taku has everything he needs to get him through the 500 mile super race. Keeping Taku’s head firmly screwed on during the race will be a unique specially designed helmet featuring images of Lotus cars past and present. Encapsulating the evolutionary vibe at Lotus, the helmet features Jim Clark’s Indy 500 winning Lotus 38 on one side and an image of Sato’s current IndyCar, the one he’ll be piloting in the race on Sunday on the other. Let’s hope that having an Indy 500 winner on his head will help inspire Taku to try and emulate his predecessors hard won success.
Hats (or helmets) off to Lotus designer Jason Fowler who put in 45 hours of hard graft creating the one-off piece, there’s a whole lot more to helmet design that meets the eye. Can’t wait until Sunday to have a look at Taku’s new piece of kit? Just take a look at the images below for an exclusive preview of Taku’s special head gear.

Back To The Future - Lotus Aims For Ultimate SATISFACTION In IndyCar 29th March

The Sixties – What an era! A time of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys – and when Lotus put some noise to the roaring sixties with their sensational IndyCar innovations with more than a little HELP from the legendary Jim Clark. Proving that vintage isn’t a bad thing as our music heroes get older, the classic racing green and yellow Lotus makes a welcome return to IndyCar this weekend in St. Petersburg/USA.

The more mature IndyCar fan out there CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE and may remember these colours when Lotus competed for a number of years, winning the Indy 500 outright in 1965 with the ground-breaking Lotus Type 38 driven by Jim Clark and his talented GOLDFINGER(S).

Takuma Sato and the 2010 IndyCar

Now in St. Petersburg Lotus is back in the original colours for the first time and Taku, as he’s known to fans, and Lotus aim to make their mark on IndyCar. Commenting on his appointment Sato said: “Someone said to me “YOU’VE LOST THAT LOVING FEELING” but that’s not true. It is very exciting for me to drive for such an iconic car manufacturer. Lotus has enjoyed great success over the years, and I hope I can reward the team’s faith in me with success on track.”

The new Lotus Elise for 201116th February

The new Lotus Elise probably has the lowest CO2 for its performance for any gasoline high performance sportscar in the world

The Lotus Elise revolutionised the sportscar market 14 years ago when the small lightweight agile 2-seat mid engine sportscar was introduced. By ensuring that the Elise stuck rigidly to Lotus’ core values of performance through light weight, the Elise was able to produce supercar performance with city car economy.
Making its debut at the 80th International Geneva Motorshow, the 2011 model year Lotus Elise introduces a number of changes and improvements to maintain its class leading position.

For the 2011 model year, the Elise range will consist of the following variants:
• Lotus Elise – 136 PS, less than 155 g of CO2 /km – new 1.6 litre engine *
• Lotus Elise R - 192 PS, 196 g of CO2 /km - 1.8 litre engine
• Lotus Elise SC – 220 PS, 199 g of CO2 /km - 1.8 litre supercharged engine
• New high technology 1ZR-FAE 1.6 litre engine with Valvematic and Dual VVT-I technology to optimise the performance and efficiency of the engine
• Less than 155 g of CO2 per km (an improvement of over 13% compared to the 2010 Elise S)*
• Combined fuel consumption 6.14 litres / 100 km (46 mpg)*
• New 6 speed close ratio gearbox
• Cruise control available as part of the Touring pack