Lotus

“Simplify, then add lightness.” Defined by the mantra of founder Colin Chapman, Lotus have a long and proud heritage stretching back to 1952. Innovative engineering, cutting-edge technologies and advanced materials have ensured that Lotus proved the value of achieving performance through light weight time and time again throughout motoring history. Reducing mass remains the most effective means of achieving a true connection between driver, car and road; a quality shared by every car to proudly wear the Lotus badge. Each Lotus is hand-built with the very best of British craftsmanship with bold, distinctive, inspirational design and is tested around the famous test track at the factory in Hethel. Lotus have a strong and successful motorsport pedigree, and Chapman’s innovative designs oversaw a period of domination during the 1960s and 1970s. Stirling Moss recorded the first Lotus victory in Formula One at Monaco in 1960 whilst racing for the independent Rob Walker Racing Team. Team Lotus’ maiden Formula One victory came at the US Grand Prix in 1961 as Innes Ireland took the chequered flag. After that, success in Formula One, Formula Two and Formula Junior was commonplace for Lotus cars. Over the two decades, Lotus won seven Constructors’ Championships and six Drivers’ Championships. This period of dominance cannot be understated. Lotus’ lineage in motorsport is undoubted and was hugely respected by the most famous of drivers: Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, Ronnie Peterson, Carlos Reutemann, Nigel Mansell, Elio de Angelis, Ayrton Senna, Johnny Dumfries, Satoru Nakajima, Nelson Piquet, Mika Häkkinen, Johnny Herbert, Alessandro Zanardi and Jacky Ickx all raced for Lotus at some point in their careers. More recently, the Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2012. Despite never hitting the heights of the 1960s and 70s, the Lotus F1 team achieved ‘best of the rest’ status in 2012 and 2013, after challenging the dominant leaders in Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull. With drivers such as one-time World Champion Kimi Räikkönen, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, the team earned two wins, twenty-three podiums and scored 706 points in four seasons before the team was sold back to Renault.