Last-modified: Wed May 3 10:31:48 PDT 1995 by esprit@netcom.com Archive-name: autos/lotus-cars-faq/group-lotus Version: 1.07 Posting-Frequency: monthly Lotus Cars FAQ Version 1.07 This is part 2 of the FAQ for Lotus Cars. As with most FAQs, this is a list of questions that are frequently asked, in this case about Lotus Cars. Alan F. Perry (esprit@netcom.com) wrote the first version of this document and is currently maintaining it. Send mail to esprit@netcom.com for questions or updates. Special thanks to Mike Causer, Patrick Peal of Group Lotus, K.C. Babb, Bob Bandera, Bill Castellano, Noel Chiappa, Phil Ethier, Jon Fairhurst, Doug Fraser, Mike Galos, Andrew Huang, Ken Landaiche, John O'Connor, Ian Peters, Michael Sands and Dave Van Horn for their help in preparing this FAQ. NOTE: This document was created and maintained by owners and enthusiasts of Lotus-built or -inspired vehicles and is not in any way connected with Group Lotus Limited, Team Lotus Limited, Lotus Cars USA or any other subsidiaries or related companies. Questions: A. General Questions A1. Who makes Lotuses? A2. Who owns Lotus? A3. What is the history of Lotus? A4. Who was Colin Chapman? A5. What is the relationship between Lotus Cars, the road car company, and Team Lotus, the Formula One racing team? A6. Why are the cars called "Lotus"? A7. Where were/are Lotuses built? A8. What films and television series have featured Lotus cars? A9. What books are available about Lotus? A10.How can I contact a Lotus Car club in my area? A11.What Internet resources are available on Lotus cars? A12.Who has the Lotus Cars Mailing List map of England? A13.What is the plural form of "Lotus"? B. Group Lotus/Lotus Cars Questions B1. How can I contact Lotus Cars? B2. What does Group Lotus currently sell? B3. What kind of Lotus might I see on the street? B4. Why were Lotuses sold as kits? B5. Is the DeLorean a Lotus? B6. Is the Jensen-Healey a Lotus? B7. Is the first-generation Toyota MR2 a Lotus? B8. Is the Corvette ZR-1 a Lotus? B9. Is the [insert car name here] a Lotus? B10.Is Lotus making bicycles? C. Team Lotus Questions C1. How can I contact Team Lotus? C2. How well has Team Lotus done in Formula One? C3. Has Team Lotus won more Constructor's Cups than Ferrari? C4. What famous names are associated with Team Lotus? C5. Were Nigel Mansell and Mario Andretti ever teammates at Team Lotus? C6. Who have been major sponsors of the Team Lotus? C7. Who is currently sponsoring Team Lotus? C8. What is Classic Team Lotus? D. Questions About Owning A Lotus D1. What should I pay for a Lotus/What is my Lotus worth? D2. Where can I get parts for my Lotus? D3. What problems might I expect from a Seven? D4. What problems might I expect from a Type 14 Elite? D5. What problems might I expect from an Elan? D6. What problems might I expect from a Plus 2? D7. What problems might I expect from a Renault-Europa? D8. What problems might I expect from a TwinCam-engined Europa? D9. What problems might I expect from a Elite/Eclat? D10.What problems might I expect from a Esprit S1/S2? D11.What problems might I expect from a Turbo Esprit? D12.What problems might I expect from a Excel? D13.What problems might I expect from a M100 Elan? D14.What Renault engines can be used in a Europa-Renault (S1/S2)? B. Group Lotus/Lotus Cars Questions =================================== B1. How can I contact Lotus Cars? Group Lotus Hethel, Norwich Norfolk NR14 8EZ England United Kingdom +44-953-608000 A good person to start with would be Patrick Peal, Head of Communications. Lotus Cars USA 1655 Lakes Parkway Lawrenceville, GA 30243 USA +1-404-822-4566 This is the U.S. distributor. If you wish to buy a new Lotus and you live outside of the US and you do not know where to buy one, please contact Lotus' Sales and Marketing Department at +44-953-60800 (+44-953-608281 (fax)). B2. What does Group Lotus currently sell? According to Patrick Peal: Lotus Cars sells the Esprit S4 in virtually all major markets worldwide. The Lotus Esprit Sport 300 is the ultra high- performance version from which the LeMans GT cars have been developed, and is on sale across Europe and the Pacific. It is not on sale in the USA. The Elan has just returned to production as the Elan S2, and only 800 will be built, over the next twelve months. It too is not available in the USA. When the 800 are finished, we will prepare to introduce the new small car (Type 111). Lotus Engineering sells mainly engineering contracts (which will include contract-specific hardware, e.g., prototype engines, suspension, styling models, etc.). In addition, we offer certain software and hardware packages for the engineering community, e.g.: Lotus Data Collection and Analysis System Lotus Instrumented Steering Wheel (for vehicle handling analysis) Lotus Active Valve Train (fully computer-controlled inlet/ exhaust valve actuating system, which dispenses with camshafts completely, for research purposes) And, of course, we sell bits for Esprit race cars... right up to fully built race cars. In addition, the Esprit S4S was introduced at the 1994 Birmingham Auto Show. Specifications of the Elan S2, Esprit S4 and Esprit S4S are available in the Lotus Cars Mailing List anonymous FTP area. B3. What kind of Lotus might I see on the street? Seven (Types 7, 60) 1953 - 1973 Elite (Type 14) 1958 - 1964 Elan (Types 26, 36, 45) S1 1962 - 1964 S2 1964 - 1966 S3 1965 - 1968 S4 1968 - 1971 Sprint 1971 - 1973 Cortina (Type 28) Mk 1 1963 - 1966 Europa (Types 46, 54, 65, 74) S1 1966 - 1967 S1A 1967 - 1968 S2 1968 - 1971 S2 Fed 1969 - 1971 Twin Cam 1971 - 1972 Special 1972 - 1975 Elan +2 (Type 50) +2 1967 - 1969 +2S 1969 - 1974 Elite (Type 75) 1974 - 1982 Eclat (Type 76) 1975 - 1982 Esprit (Types 79, 85) S1 1976 - 1978 S2 1978 - 1981 S2.2 1981 S3 1981 - 1990 Turbo Esprit (Type 82) 1980 - current Excel (Type 89) 1982 - 1992 Elan (Type M100) 1989 - 1992, 1994 A complete list of Lotus cars (by Type or Mark) can be found in the Lotus Cars Mailing List FTP area. B4. Why were Lotuses sold as kits? From John O'Connor (jpoc@strat-sys.bt.co.uk): In the UK, for most of the post war years, one of the main forms of tax used by the government was purchase tax. This was a sales tax levied at various percentages on a wide range of goods. In this environment, cars were considered to be a luxury item and thus a high level of purchase tax was levied against them. For some reason, along with food, childrens clothing and books, kit cars were not taxed with the purchase tax. Thus, in the UK, kit cars were a lot cheaper than fully assembled cars and the market flourished. In the early 1970s, the UK joined what was then called the European Economic Community (now known as the European Union). One membership condition of the EEC was the imposition of a tax known as Value Added Tax or VAT. This is another sales tax and is used by the EEC/EU as a revenue gathering instrument for it's own purpose. To gain equity across the organisation, each country must levy a similar rate of VAT on a similar range of items and a proportion of that tax is then taken by the EEC/EU to fund its activities. One thing that happened in this process was the the tax rate on kit cars was made the same as the tax rate on assembled cars. Thus, assembled cars cost less and kits cost more, narrowing the price gap between them. This had a major impact on the sales of kit cars in the UK. many kit car manufacturers disappeared at this time. B5. Is the DeLorean a Lotus? The DeLorean (also known as the DMC-12) was designed by DeLorean. John DeLorean contracted with a specialist U.S. subcontractor to design and build a prototype based on some ideas that he had. He then contracted Lotus to develop and certify the production car and set up the manufacturing system. The final chassis design looks very much like the Esprit chassis. The cars were actually built at the DeLorean factory in Dunmurry, south of Belfast, Northern Ireland. If you chose to believe the British Government and others, John DeLorean, Colin Chapman and Fred Bushell (Chapman's financial man) took the British Government for a lot of money in loans and assistance that were given because the DeLorean was built in Northern Ireland. B6. Is the Jensen-Healey a Lotus? The Jensen-Healey was the first production car to use the Lotus 907 engine (developed by Lotus and later used in the Esprit, Elite, Eclat and Excel). Some say that Lotus used Jensen-Healey to pay for the engineering costs of the 907 engine and to work the problems out of the engine before using it in their own cars. B7. Is the first-generation Toyota MR2 a Lotus? The first-generation MR2 was introduced during a period of close cooperation between Lotus and Toyota. The Lotus Eclat was reworked with some Toyota parts to make the Excel during this period. Toyota was also involved in design and specifcation of the M90/X100 prototype. There are two rumors about Lotus' involvement with the MR2. The "official" rumor is that the MR2 was designed "in-house" at Toyota by Lotus suspension engineer Roger Becker. The other rumor is that the MR2 was an abandoned Lotus design (possibly the M90/X100). According to Doc Bundy, Lotusport Esprit driver, the MR2 is the X100. B8. Is the Corvette ZR-1 a Lotus? Lotus designed the LT5 engine used in the Corvette ZR-1 in cooperation with engineers at Chevrolet and Mercury Marine (a manufacturer of marine (boat) engines). Lotus still has "ongoing design responsibilities" for the engine. According to Patrick Peal at Group Lotus, Lotus Engineering did not do any suspension work on the Corvette. B9. Is the [insert car name here] a Lotus? Many people have asked about a variety of other cars that Lotus may have done some work on, including, for example, the Saturn. The official statement from Lotus on this subject is: "Lotus Engineering operates a policy of total client confidentiality, and does not discuss its client base. It is the client's prerogative to disclose its links with Lotus Engineering if it so wishes." Do I really need to explain the implications here? B10.Is Lotus making bicycles? Lotus is responsible for the LotusSport Olympic Pursuit bicycle that Chris Boardman rode to win the Gold medal in the Individual Pursuit at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Also, he went on to set two world records (4000m and 5000m). This bicycle was assigned Lotus Type 108. The Lotus Type 110 is a road-going production bicycle from LotusSport featuring an aerodynamic carbon-fiber monocoque frame. -- Alan F. Perry Internet Lotus Cars Mailing List esprit@netcom.com