Lotus T127 Cosworth

[WhiteBlue]

"Now it is about where are you mid-season, where are you end of season, and I want to end the season beating Force Indias and Toro Rossos and whoever is struggling – maybe Saubers. I want to be picking them off."

I think that Gascoyne will find it difficult to beat BMW Sauber in 2010. This kind of talk is not very wise. You can be bitten in the ass by it pretty quickly.

[Richard]

do they lose whatever test days that they miss or can they conduct their own test solo on other tracks?

The only limitation on track testing is the mileage and the dates from 1 Jan to the first race. Must be at an approved track. FIA must have notice in order to provide observers, if necessary. An aero test is NOT a track test. So the answer is that they can do extra mileage at the other tracks.

Odd that the observers are only "if necessary", I'd have thought it mandatory.

Interestingly there is no indication of when the FIA have to be told. I guess in theory you could say "tomorrow". In reality, testing wouldn't be possible at short notice because you need track personnel and medical support to get ready. Oh, and to transport the car/garage equipment/team to the track! Finally I'd have thought cost would prohibit a team going it alone.

Out of interest, why are Ferrari no longer using their private track? Is it not a licensed track, or is it cost, or a FIA/FOTA agreement?

22.1 b) No competitor may carry out more than 15,000km of track testing during a calendar year.
c) No track testing may take place between the start of the week preceding the first Event of the Championship and 31 December of the same year.
e) No track testing is permitted at sites which are not currently approved for use by Formula 1 cars. In order to ensure that venue licence conditions are respected at all times during track testing, competitors are required to inform the FIA of their test schedule in order that an observer may be appointed if deemed necessary.

[WhiteBlue]

Out of interest, why are Ferarri no longer using their private track? Is it not a licenced track, or is it cost, or a FOTA agreement?

I would think that meteoric conditions are somewhat inferior in northern Italy compared to Spain and Portugal where the general winter tests are usually run. So they have ceased to use the tracks in winter.

[Richard]

I would think that meteoric conditions are somewhat inferior in northern Italy .

silly me

Looking forward to a Ferrari snow plough to join the umbrella we saw in Jerez this December



viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7693&p=135218&hilit ... la#p135218

[sesku]

heikki seat fitting at lotus f1 hq.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez3nhk1YLOQ[/youtube]

[mx_tifoso]

Q: There must have been many times during 2009 when you doubted you’d be able to stay in Formula One racing. How did your deal with Lotus come about? When did it all happen?

HK: The deal was eventually signed quite late, but the team first contacted me directly during the season, asking me what my situation was. At that point I didn't know anything really about Lotus. I was concentrating on finishing the season well. I had a number of options, but with rumours going around about some teams struggling for money, I was interested in talking to Mike (Gascoyne) and Tony, as I knew they had a stable budget for the next three years and a strong technical team joining later. In the end it was an easy decision to make and the best choice available for me.

Formula1.com - Kovalainen Q&A

[Richard]

I was interested in talking to Mike (Gascoyne) and Tony, as I knew they had a stable budget for the next three years

Formula1.com - Kovalainen Q&A

Seems like they are the only team with robust funding already in place. Virgin have sacked the chap who was supposed to be bringing in their sponsors, Campos seem to be hunting for anyone with any cash, USF1 promise the best of America ... but have nothing so far.

I know that the teams like to control the sponsorship announcement, but usually there are enough rumours that something is about to happen. Of course we'll know the sponsorship situation when the cars are unveiled in the next few weeks.

[imightbewrong]

Engine fired up. 3 months to build a formula onw car. Well done mike gasgoyne. Sure Colin chapman would have been proud.

http://twitter.com/tonyfernandes

[horse]

Here's the BBC news story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/8502821.stm

Sounds like it took them a couple of tries to get it going. Sounded like it stopped a bit suddenly too, but what do I know?! (Nothing)

[raymondu999]

Engine fired up. 3 months to build a formula onw car. Well done mike gasgoyne. Sure Colin chapman would have been proud.

http://twitter.com/tonyfernandes

Has a lot of typos doesn't he? The other day I heard about him hiring a mistery driver that I've never even heard of. "Heike Kovaleninen" wonder who could that be?

[raceman]

Has a lot of typos doesn't he? The other day I heard about him hiring a mistery driver that I've never even heard of. "Heike Kovaleninen" wonder who could that be?

+1

[nacho]

I don't know if it has been written here, but I read on a Finnish site that the first Lotus is actually build in Cologne with a lot of ex-Toyota guys hired, the next ones will be made in UK. They are going to have a big upgrade for Barcelona.

[conni]

exactly true

conni

[Tim.Wright]

exactly true

conni

Cool, I read this somewhere too but do you know exactly where? I'm living not far from Cologne now. I think they are also building the tub here too?

tim

[Pandamasque]

I don't know if it has been written here, but I read on a Finnish site that the first Lotus is actually build in Cologne with a lot of ex-Toyota guys hired, the next ones will be made in UK. They are going to have a big upgrade for Barcelona.

In Cologne at Toyota facilities? Can it be the same car that Zoran Stefanovic called S-01?