Lotus Exos Type 125

[pipex]

I was just reading autoblog and found this interesting new car, the Lotus Exos Type 125. A new halo car for Lotus?
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/09/lotu ... si-f1-car/

[Pandamasque]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXZUMqVm9Zs[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EtrgQzUjDE[/youtube]

[Dukeage]

It'll be interesting if it starts sprouting parts that resemble a 2010/2011 F1 car, won't it ...

[gridwalker]

I don't think it looks too much like this year's Lotus, so the "test-ban avoidance" conspiracy theories should be kept to a minimum ... Kudos to Lotus for making something like this available to the man on the street (well, one with a million bucks anyway).

Still, if those sidepods and that airbox look anything like the ones on next year's Lotus then there will probably be hell to pay!

[Paul]

I wonder if its laptimes would be closer to the new teams than the new teams are to the leaders?

[myurr]

I wonder if its laptimes would be closer to the new teams than the new teams are to the leaders?

I know you're making a joke, but were I to take you seriously then I'd probably reply to say that this car looks like it's quite a bit lower downforce than the current F1 cars. Look at the front wing, looks really quite primitive in comparison. But as you were making I joke I won't say that to you

To me the car looks like they've merely tried to style it close enough to current F1 cars to look the part without aiming for that level of performance. I'd expect it to be a fair bit slower, maybe not even reaching F3 speeds. Front wing is half the width (in terms of downforce generating wing) and not as complex for starters and doesn't seem to follow the outwash wing concept with as much enthusiasm. Diffuser is a lot simpler as is the rear wing. I'd be surprised if it even had half the downforce of current F1 cars, but then again this is aimed at rich play boys who have cash but not necessarily the skill and fitness levels of F1 drivers so is perfectly designed for that role.

[ESPImperium]

Looks more like a Superleague Formula and First Generation A1GP love child.

[gridwalker]

Funnily enough, that airbox/FW main plane combo made me think of A1GP straight off the bat!

[conni]

you do realise that lotus cars has nothing to do with lotus F1

conni

[Giblet]

They are unrelated work wise, but funded by Proton, who is part of the consortium that owns Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering.

Completely independent organizations sharing the same umbrella.

[Saribro]

Well, they're not -entirely- seperate:

I'm off to Lotus Cars in a minute to meet their R&D guys. They already test some stuff for us, but I'm keen to see everything they can do.