Lotus Racing has announced recently that they will be using gearboxes and hydraulic systems from Red Bull technology from 2011 onwards. The agreement has been said to be a multi-year contract, without giving a specific time line.
“The gearbox / hydraulics package obviously plays a critical role in the performance of the car, not just on track but in design and packaging terms, and this deal gives our design and aero teams a very exciting platform to work with. The removal of the double diffusers in 2011 will allow the whole grid to tighten up the rear bodywork and mechanical structures around the gearbox, and this supply deal will allow us to capitalise on that with our 2011 car. Exciting times lie ahead!” said Mike Gascoyne, Lotus Racing Chief Technical Officer.
Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team principal was also pleased about the decision stating, “The fact that Red Bull Technology has been chosen to be a supplier to another team despite its short history demonstrates how much we have achieved since our first season. We very much look forward to working with Lotus Racing from 2011 onwards.”
Gone are the days where the promise of potentially good race results are wiped out by bad hydraulics?
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
wondering if they still can use the ‘Lotus’ name in the next season..
about the name & rights issue…i guess their should be no problem for team lotus to win over group in British high court…
“Gone are the days where the promise of potentially good race results are wiped out by bad hydraulics?”
it juz might be…LoLz
aerodynamics??
So does this mean Lotus Racing without Lotus Technology?
Just rename Lotus Racing to Red Bull 2 Racing…….
no they will be called the “Apaname F1 Racing Team”. LOl!
you can take and use any system be it mclaren or ferrari…. but if u do not know how to utilize and maintain it properly it will have a lot of problem eventually….
Lotus Racing or Team Lotus? Tony oh tony..Maybe they will try using Airbus hydraulic system. :-)
Is TF playing deaf ears? Or he’s so confident that British court will grant him a favor over Lotus Group since he bought Team Lotus Venture from David Hunt that never actively used the brand since 1994?
Or he still trying to “sell” the Lotus name to proton to Lotus Group/Proton and become champion for successfully make profit after 1 year in operation? He bought TLV for c.1 million pound and easily can sell for c.70 million pound?
-i wonder why only jarno trulli have hydraulics problems in his F1 car and heiki doesn’t once got this problem?
That’s an interesting observation and not unlike other scenarios where one driver seemed to get all the bad luck like in Ferrari with Barrichello against Schumi. Same with any top level competitive sport. Some athletes seemed to make all the good luck while another, the opposite. It’s actually about mindset and ability to be ‘in the zone’.
In Jarno’s case team built a 4th chassis in June and gave that to him instead of Heikki. So Jarno’s got the newest chassis but still he had issues. Heikki on the other hand used chassis no 1 until he burnt it in Singapore. Probably now has to use Jarno’s old chassis which according to Jarno was lousy.
Jarno just needs to ‘mandi bunga’ in my view.
Gone are the days when proprietary cars win the races for their manufacturers. Doesn’t sound like it will a 100% Lotus car to the purists.
It’s about the man, man. Think Ross Brawn. Winning F1 does not need own tech for everything, the man behind it matters more.
Question shouldn’t be about Lotus making own tech to win. It should be if Mikey is up to the task, like how Brawn and Newey did.
When was Lotus ever 100% pure? In their championship winning days, their engines were from Ford Cosworth & their gearbox from Hewland.
I thought they only made energy drinks, that will go well with the banana leaf rice from Lotus restaurant… :)
Nice one midnite.
definitely comment of the day = COTD
Lotus Racing will be not using 100% Red Bull design.
http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/analysis-lotus-to-use-bespoke-red-bull-gearbox-and-hydraulics-from-2011/
Rojak gearbox will be made…next year 2011 Red Bull racing hold advantage over all team based on their 2009 car…2011 will banned double diffuser…
fantastic….
same condition with Savvy, loaded with outsiders technology, but using malaysian brand.
I just wondering how much Tony & co really spent using their own money (definery not our taxpayers since gov funding is via Proton and they only gave 1.5% to their funding…duh) to obtain supply of Renault engines, gearbox & hydraulics from red bull and termination of contract to Cosworth. Not to mention how many millions in pounds Tony paid David Hunt for the team lotus name & rights.
The lotus debate between group lotus n team lotus still not resolved, but hopefully it will end well.
tony is definitely under pressure to deliver some success next season. if the team still mingles among the tails of the pack then he cant blame the engine and gearbox.
Most of the lack in sheer pace came mainly from the aero anyway, less from the engine and gearbox. The hydraulic system was the culprit for many of the mechanical failures. The Cosworth’s actual pace was reflected by Williams.
The team has had a head start on aero work compared to last year.