Lotus to run in black and gold in 2011
- Published on Nov 11th, 2010 by Jack LamureLotus Racing has announced that its cars will be running in a black and gold colour scheme for the 2011 championship.
Tony Fernandes' squad has run in the legendary team's classic green and yellow livery in 2010 after the Malaysian businessman returned the Lotus name to F1 after a 16-year absence.
But for 2011 they will switch to a livery inspired by the famous John Player Special-sponsored cars of the 1970s and '80s, though they obviously won’t be returning the tobacco company’s logos to F1.
Heikki Kovalainen and Fairuz Fauzy try out a pair of black and gold Lotus cars earlier this year. Credit: Classic Team Lotus
The team's head of marketing, Silvi Schaumloeffel, explained that fans will be able to get involved with the design of the 2011 livery.
“We are all very excited about the move to a black and gold paint scheme for next season," said Schaumloeffel, "and we want our fans to help us design the livery that will be racing around the world next year.
"We will shortly be announcing exactly how the fans can take part in our design process, so keep an eye on our website www.lotusracing.my for more details.
"The person who designs the livery we finally choose will be joining us at our first test next year to see the car out on track for the very first time, so for Lotus fans it is the chance of a lifetime to help us take the next step forward in our amazing story in 2011.”
The Lotus team is currently facing an uncertain future name-wise, with Group Lotus apparently poised to become a major sponsor of Renault. Fernandes' team has bagged a significant amount of customer parts from Red Bull and a supply of Renault engines for next year, but still face a fight to use the Lotus name.
If things aren’t settled we could we could well have two Lotus-Renaults in F1 next year, one running green and yellow liveries and one in gold and black.
For more images of Classic Lotus livery, see our Lotus Picture Special here
oh and i’d love to see a mark webber movie he is the most...
Comments and Discussion
I doubt Bernie would allow two teams to race with the same names.
On the name argument: The silly part is Tony Fernandes' team has acquired the rights to use the Team Lotus name. Proton own Lotus cars, not the Historic Lotus race team, or name. So why should Tony Fernandes concede?
And realistically, Proton is a car brand associated exclusively with old people and 'careful' drivers. It would do them far more good to promote their own brand using F1 than to promote their newly-launched modern Lotus cars which have nothing whatsoever to do with the Colin Chapman legacy other than name.
I hope Proton see sense but i doubt they will.
It will be great to see the black and gold livery back, but if sponsors get their hand in then it could quite easily be ruined by clashing colours. Gold doesn't go with much.
The problem with asking fans to help, is we'll end up with a generic friendly-to-all-nations design which will always ultimately be a compromise.
The chassis design department should do the paint job, they will know best what design will suit their car!
Personally i think Bernie should put the squeeze on the Proton entry not to use the Lotus name. Not just for the reasons above, but also for the sake of explaining to casual viewers that the 'new Lotus' is not the new Lotus of 2010 in their second year, but a new-new team in their first year as part of the Renault team who have been around for many (but now with new management), and the Malaysia1 team who appear to be in their first year are actually the Lotus of 2010 team.
If it was that big a deal to Proton, then they should've contested the name entry in 2009.
Straight from the (race) horses mouth:
When I spoke to the business partner of Norman Musa (Race chef to the F1 Lotus team), he informed me that the plan was to drop the Lotus name and opt for the Proton name as part of a drive (excuse the pun) to promote all things Malysian - including his cooking of course!