Lotus and Cosworth will partner established IndyCar competitors KV Racing Technology to run in the 2010 IndyCar Series. Behind this deal is the “real Lotus”, unlike Formula 1’s Malaysian owned Lotus Racing, which has little to do with Lotus Cars or Lotus Engineering. The American based series is where hottie Danica Patrick races in.
The Lotus-Cosworth IndyCar will use the classic green and yellow livery used on the firm’s race cars in the 50s and 60s. The man behind the wheel will be former F1 driver Takuma Sato, and the car will make its debut at St. Petersburg, Florida, the second race of the 2010 season. We suspect that, for this season at least, the Lotus-Cosworth will be a reskin of KV Racing’s existing car. All IndyCars run on Honda V8s, and so will this.
Lotus competed in the IndyCar Series in the 1960s, winning the Indianapolis 500 race outright in 1965 with the pioneering Lotus Type 38 driven by Jim Clark, and narrowly missing victory to come second in 1963. The return to the IndyCar Series follows the recent announcement by Lotus and Cosworth to form a strategic partnership to develop engines for Lotus cars.
“Racing has always defined Lotus and on many occasions in motorsports history Lotus’ numerous innovations have re-defined racing. It’s only fitting that as the Lotus Racing name re-enters Formula 1, we will also race and innovate again in IndyCar. The Lotus name will, once again compete in the top two open-wheel racing series for the passion and enthusiasm of car fans around the globe,” said Dany Bahar, CEO of Group Lotus.
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Lotus making profit now? Joining lots of racing calenders
Another nostalgic return to Indy for Lotus then. =) The title of the post kinda mislead me to think that lotus Racing was behind this as well…since they're also known as Lotus Cosworth in F1.
thats more like it.a proper lotus racing team with a proper colin chapman logo!!..probably they want to laid a new foundation before jumping to a bigger pond(F1)
Danny,
how would you say that it has nothing to do with Lotus Cars/Engineering when Dany Bahar himself mentioned "The Lotus name will, once again compete in the top two open-wheel racing series".
I assume Bahar meant the "top two open wheel racing" would be F1 and Indy..
They might not "directly involved" but they sure do have come connection. Lotus's F1 engine is also being supplied by Cosworth.
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C'mon En. Bahar, now its time for Lotus to enter Rally and Le Mans.
WRC – Lotus Elan
Le Mans – Lotus Esprit
danica patrick..jay-z also want u >show me what u got lil mama,show me what u got pretty baby..auww;)
Lotus is trying to tap the vast American market, thus joining the IndyCar is a logical thing to do. Perhaps with much persuasion by Proton, they might get involve directly in F1 too. Pray hope.
A bit peculiar because the KV Racing is calling it Lotus-Cosworth when the engine is actually a Honda. Then again, the Honda V8 Indycar engine is designed and built by Ilmor.. so.. hmm.. no big deal i guess?
But the good thing is, from the pics above we see that the REAL traditional Lotus branding is used instead of a 'butchered' version like Lotus Racing
I wonder lotus will eventually be allowed to build their own car in the series.
Branding… FTW!
keep it on.
RT: The keyword is Lotus NAME I suppose? Not Lotus.
Ferruccio said,
March 15, 2010 @ 10:05 am
A bit peculiar because the KV Racing is calling it Lotus-Cosworth when the engine is actually a Honda. Then again, the Honda V8 Indycar engine is designed and built by Ilmor.. so.. hmm.. no big deal i guess?
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You think that's weird? Try explain this name, BMW-Sauber Ferrari?!
even the engine was made by honda they still need somebody to tune and prep. the engine for them..that's what cosworth doing…
So this is the real Lotus team. The other one is just the 'spirit' of Lotus. :-) Kinda embarrassing if you think about it. One has the proper company and team backing, the other doesn't really.
BMW Sauber Ferrari is due to technicality and bureaucracy. But it still sounds funny.
what's going in my mind is…why lotus didn't back-up malaysian-proton own f1 team…after all proton is lotus parent company…
any children who not obey his/her father what would u do????
*just to keep us thinking….
Lotus is biting more than it can chew !!
Go easy …yes opportunities are plenty but
better concerntrate and give the best on F1 or maybe another event.
Don't be a jack of all trades but master of NONE !!
Dany Bahar, this is Lotus and not Ferrari with deep pockets !!!
f1 fail so they join this
oww.. oval track? that's just plain sad. don't take too long for Team Lotus to replace Lotus Racing. get out of the oval track ASAP!