Lotus T127 Cosworth

[roost89]

One thing I noticed at this race in the BBC Forum. Was that Heikki seemed to be more "at home" in Lotus. He appeared happier and more willing to chat.
Reckon this could be down to less pressure?

I think Mike Gascoyne was a bit open in the forum too. He was talking about how he'd love to just stop development now and work on next years car. Spending more time in the tunnel and getting more money from Tony (that remark was my favourite)
But he did add it was a balancing act between developing this years car and designing next years one and even more important as they were a new team.

He also stated that from this race, he wants to end the season at a level that Sauber and Toro Rosso are at now. i.e. 2 seconds off the pace.
There're alot of parts to come as well, he listed alot of parts however I can't recall what they are or when they'll appear. I'm guessing soon.

[ESPImperium]

One thing I noticed at this race in the BBC Forum. Was that Heikki seemed to be more "at home" in Lotus. He appeared happier and more willing to chat.
Reckon this could be down to less pressure?

I think Mike Gascoyne was a bit open in the forum too. He was talking about how he'd love to just stop development now and work on next years car. Spending more time in the tunnel and getting more money from Tony (that remark was my favourite)
But he did add it was a balancing act between developing this years car and designing next years one and even more important as they were a new team.

He also stated that from this race, he wants to end the season at a level that Sauber and Toro Rosso are at now. i.e. 2 seconds off the pace.
There're alot of parts to come as well, he listed alot of parts however I can't recall what they are or when they'll appear. I'm guessing soon.

I enjoyed that forum today, Lotus are one of the small and smaller teams i follow closly. I loved the comment about posibly buying a Norfolk football club from Jake.

When it comes to the new parts, i think they will pretty much come from the four or five races from Barcelona. I know they have their own gearbox and hydromic system coming from Barcelona as they have taken on 25 of the gearbox guys from Toyota to design, build and maintain a gearbox for the Lotus T127, whitch will be a much better solution to the spec Xtrac system that they are currently running.

As for suspension updates, i think this will come soon enough for the T127, most probably coming arround Canada or Silverstone. Their new front and rear wings and aerodynamic updates will come between Barcelona and Canada/Silverstone. With this this will probably be the apex of their development and then they will just concentrate on honing their skills as a team for 2011, most probably they will introduce a small update arround Spa/Monza for the end of season fly-aways.

Personally, i can see many of the teams finish updates arround Spa/Monza so to get their new cars ready for 2011 if we are gonna have some pretty big technical upheavals for 2011 from the Diffuser and Wheel size and new tyre supplier and posible re introduction of KERS.

[roost89]

I'm guessing with the new Gearbox and suspension (updated at the same time I'd imagine) there'll be some new, improved, aerodynamics to come as well.

From the sounds of it, teams want rid of that xtrac gearbox and fast. Is it under development or just a one-off gearbox?

Cheers for the probable dates for the updates ESP, they sound pretty plausible and ring bells as to when Mike said they'd get them out.

The new tyre supplier, I can imagine that'd cause alot of trouble to the teams, especially if one isn't found pretty soon. I think this'll cause more trouble for the new teams, as opposed to the older ones (with more resources) unless Tony fronts the cash.
KERS will be another stumbling block unless they can buy one, I'd assume the Williams one as they'd have to optimised for use with the Cosworth engine, also it'll be more reliable and less expensive. Won't need to buy and deal with batteries and the like.

[ringo]

Lotus say they are going cut a second off lap times with the new upgrades. Heiki is optimistic.

"We hope to get a time gain of more than a second," he told Auto Moto und Sport. "But then perhaps we have more space in which to improve."

Kovalainen's belief in that second is echoed by tech boss Mike Gascoyne.

"The Barcelona package has been in the wind tunnel for six months," he said. "The rear will be narrower, the sidepod entries more extreme, the wheel base long.

"Our car will be faster by at least one second."

Wonder how much different it will look. Rectangular side pods, exhaust gills, new floor and diffuser?

[noname]

Reckon this could be down to less pressure?

maybe the pressure is not much smaller (it's formula 1, the amount of pressure there is enormous) but it could be down to the fact now it's a matter of "we have to succeed" rather than "you have to". to make things worst in his previous team he was fully aware he is, and will be, no. 2 with all of the consequences of that (like waiting for the upgrades longer than his teammate).

back to lotus it looks like they know what, and how, to do. start with the reliable and stable base, build the understanding and confidence within the team and then move one. good luck to them.

[bar555]

Lotus is planning to have major developments at Spain , aiming to save even more than a second per lap . The rear end would be narrower, the sidepod entries more extreme and the car would have a longer wheelbase .

[Belatti]

I hope that happens.

I dont like the designer nor the drivers, but damn I do like the name

[bar555]

I hope that happens.

I dont like the designer nor the drivers, but damn I do like the name

who doesn't ?

[conni]

Lotus is planning to have major developments at Spain , aiming to save even more than a second per lap . The rear end would be narrower, the sidepod entries more extreme and the car would have a longer wheelbase .

is this your wish list or can you back it up

conni

[mx_tifoso]

Conni and Bar555, Ringo posted that information just a few posts above yours. With comments from Kovalainen and Gascoyne. Please read at least a few posts before yours so that you actually have an idea of what's being discussed.

[bar555]

sorry , i was to rush to post it that i missed to read the previous posts . Sorry again . Nevertheless these are encouraging news for Lotus as Virgin's pace is very close to them

[ESPImperium]

From my calculations, the Lotus car will be the fastest of the newcomers by the end of the season. I recon that they will be on the pace of the slowest of the existing teams by arround 2-thirds of the way thru the season.

Virgin will be closer, but not as close as Lotus to the existing teams. Hispania will be arround where Virgin will be pace wise at about half way thru.

The only thing im looking for is a Lotus team t-shirt to accompany the Brawn one i have from last year and the McLaren one i have for this year. Its different seeing the looks people give you in this city when you are wearing F1 apparel and not a football top.

[Tim.Wright]

How do you calculate that???????

[ESPImperium]

How do you calculate that???????

:wtf:

Kinda guesstimation im affraid, but bassed on results from my data sheets.

[thedutchguy]

The new Lotus team is a very open and fan-friendly, which is great for technical geeks like us . For those who don't already, you might want to foloow Mike Gascoyne (http://twitter.com/MikeGascoyne) and Head of Vehicle Dynamics Elliot Dason Barber (http://twitter.com/edb_lotusracing) on twitter. Lot's of good stuff from them.

Elliot posted a pic of the Lotus on the 7 post rig from Multimatic yesterday. The car is tripped down but the floor and rear wing appear to be the same as in china.:

http://twitpic.com/1jbl9f/full