Lotus Racing has announced that the team will soon be starting work on the design and build of a dedicated wind-tunnel facility at its Hingham base in the UK. In addition, Lotus Racing and Team AirAsia (the latter will compete in the 2011 GP2 series) will take over a further two units at the existing factory site, giving Team AirAsia a permanent home alongside the F1 team.
“To compete at the highest level in Formula 1 it is important to have all of the key elements involved in the design, manufacturing, testing and development of our cars under our direct control and on the same site. Today’s announcement about the wind tunnel, which will be combined with additional production, office and administrative elements, gives us both the facility we need to lay the foundations for long-term success and is a clear sign that we are very serious about competing at the sharp end of the grid as quickly as we can,” said Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer.
“We have already achieved a phenomenal rate of growth for the team, and now have all the main functions in place to take the next step up, but I think it is important to also see that we are using our budget effectively, and focusing expenditure where it counts.
“Investing in our own wind-tunnel, to work alongside our substantial in-house CFD facility, is a key element in establishing complete control of one of the most important aspects of the design and manufacturing process in our sport, and it is clear to see that this sort of investment points towards a very bright future for the team,” he added.
Team Principal Tony Fernandes had this to say. “Just over a year ago there were four people in the factory in Hingham, a team working in Cologne on the design of this year’s car, and a third group working in Italy on our aero programme. Now it is about the future, and today’s announcement shows just how serious we are about taking the next crucial step in the continuing development of both Lotus Racing and Team AirAsia.
“One day very soon, we see our cars in Formula 1 and GP2 being designed, built and raced by teams of people from Malaysia, Europe, South East Asia and from around the world. This is a very exciting time for our teams, and the dream is growing bigger every single day.”
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tot Tony wanna built the wind tunnel in Sepang? flip flop?
it was najib’s that said it will be based on sepang. Not Tony if i not wrong.
Everyone can fly. i thought they mooted the idea of this wind tunnel at Sepang. What happen then? Team Lotus saga at the UK Court?
bina la kat m’sia.. adoi beli syarikat bela org putih.. ak cni blajar pakai air compressor ja nk sukat air velocity kat keta…
I hope this really produce some result. With the engine supply from renault, gearbox and hydraulics from red bull and self wind tunnel, if they can’t produce even a mid grid result or worse, consider their team to close shop. Hope not!
Well at the first place tony said the team will have a satelite office/factory in uk….the team headquarters will be based in sepang with it’s windtunnel facility and all.
Guess what??habis basah we all kena kencing dengan tony tembam
What happened to petronas-sauber wind tunnel at Hinwill, Switzerland. Or the facility not owned by petronas after they break up with sauber. Such a waste of investment. Thats why better to built the modern facility at Malaysia.
If anything happened, or Lotus being acquired by another party, then it facility in Malaysia could be used by local engineers in Malaysia ar any IPTA and IPTS.
PETRONAS-SAUBER wind tunnel tu dah dijual kepada BMW masa BMW take over sauber team dan SPE (Sauber Petronas Engineering) dulu; so sekarang ni selepas peter sauber ambil alih semula team sauber; that wind tunnel facility is now belong sauber team only lah sebab petronas dah takde lagi apa-apa share dalam team Sauber
it doesn’t matter if that wind tunnel build in UK or sepang..
but I prefer it to build in UK… if that wind tunnel build in malaysia
there’ll some butthurt who will flooded paultan website with “duit rakyat” “duit rakyat” comment
so much marneee ahh? boycott airasia!!!!
go fly ur MAS….we malaysian love Air Asia….
tony use his own money la…who care!!!
Now, everyone can lie
“One day very soon, we see our cars in Formula 1 and GP2 being designed, built and raced by teams of people from Malaysia, Europe, South East Asia and from around the world…”
Wonder if Tony is aware that GP2 is a single make series where all teams get their car parts from common suppliers to the series and thus teams cannot design and build their own cars.
Dallara supplies to all teams the chassis/ aero bodywaork while Renault/Mecachrome supplies the same 4L V8 engine to all teams. Same arrangement with gearbox etc etc