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Genii capitalizing on Lotus F1 tech with new sports car?

Detractors will tell you that there's little to be applied from Formula One racing to the cars we drive, but what about the cars most of us could only dream of driving? We're talking about supercars from the likes of Ferrari and McLaren - two hugely successful F1 racing teams that have successfully made the transition into building exotic sports cars for the road. And soon there may be one more.
That would be the Lotus F1 Team, which is rumored to be working on a sports car project of its own. Now we know what you might be thinking: Lotus already makes sports cars. Indeed they do, only the F1 team has nothing more to do with the automaker behind the Exige and Evora than the name they share. Today the team (formerly known as Toleman, Benetton and Renault) is owned by Genii Capital, whose chairman Gerald Lopez recently confirmed the rumors to Auto Motor und Sport: "We are going to develop a carbon chassis for a sports car that can be built in large quantities.... But this has nothing to do with Formula 1."
With little to nothing in the way of details available, the circulating rumors had tied the venture to on-again, off-again Italian auto marque De Tomaso. But our source at ATS (which recently bought the rights to the De Tomaso name following Gian Mario Rossignolo's aborted attempt to revive it) firmly denied the prospect of any such collaboration. Spokesmen for the Lotus F1 Team would not divulge any information; neither would the press office for parent company Genii Capital, leaving the door wide open to speculation once again.

Renault formalizes return to F1 with Lotus acquisition

No longer satisfied with simply providing engines, Renault confirmed that it will return to running its own Formula One team next season. Though the terms of the deal are still being worked out, the French automaker will re-acquire the team currently known as Lotus. Renault previously owned and operated this same operation for nearly 10 years. Renault first entered the series in 1977. The company shut down the original Equipe Renault Elf in 1985, but continued powering Lotus, Ligier, and Tyrrell for another season. After a three-year break, it returned as an engine supplier with Williams in 1989, winning championship titles with the likes of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, and Damon Hill behind the wheel. The 1995 season saw the start of the partnership with the team now in question when Benetton switched over from Ford power. After several years of success and more titles, Renault bought out the team and ran it as its own from 2002 through 2011 – winning two more titles with Fernando Alonso – before selling the operation to Genii Capital, which has run it since under the Lotus name. Even after Lotus switched to Mercedes power, Renault continued supplying other teams with engines, most notably winning back-to-back world titles with Red Bull before the new turbo hybrid engines arrived and Renault's performance dropped off. Now, in another case of history repeating, Renault is gearing up to bring the team based in Enstone back in-house. The move will likely see the Lotus name disappear again, after it was hotly contested with the Caterham team that ultimately disappeared as well. With it, Renault will return as a full-on works effort with its own engines, just like rivals Ferrari and Mercedes. Renault Announces Return to Formula 1 in 2016 - Carlos Ghosn announces his decision that Renault will return to Formula 1 with its own team for 2016 season. - Renault, 12-time Constructors' Champion with nearly 40 years in the sport, is an iconic brand in Formula 1 and intends to play an active role in the sport's development. - F1 is a technology showcase and accelerates development of Renault's innovation and range of sports cars. Following the September announcement of the signing of a Letter of Intent with Lotus F1 Team, teams at Renault continued to evaluate the possibility of a return to Formula 1. Particular attention was paid to competing successfully with its own team in a financially sound way starting in 2016.

Lotus wants to find its first car, built by Colin Chapman

Lotus is looking for the first car its founder ever built. The Lotus Mark I, a trials special Colin Chapman built in a small garage in London in 1948, has been lost to history and the company has been trying to find it for ages. As Lotus is 70 this year, the first Lotus would be quite the icing on its birthday cake. Colin Chapman constructed the first Lotus in a garage that belonged to his girlfriend's parents, at the age of 20. The car was reportedly an instant competition success, but Chapman's competitive spirit meant he soon started on the car's successor, the Mark II, and sold the Mark I in November 1950 for GBP135 after advertising it in Motor Sport magazine. Both the Mark I and II were based on Austin 7 hardware, but the latter used different Ford engines while the Mark I retained an Austin 7 engine. Experiments with lightening the vehicle and developing a better suspension design were Lotus hallmarks from the very beginning, as the car needed to beat Britain's rough rally terrain and have enough grunt to climb hills. Lotus Engineering was set up in 1952, later spawning Team Lotus that started out in Formula 1 by the end of the 1950s — and the rest is history. But Lotus owes everything to the humble Mark I. "The Mark I is the holy grail of Lotus' history," Clive Chapman, Colin's son explains. "It's the first time that my father was able to put his theories for improved performance into practice when designing and building a car. To locate this landmark Lotus, as we celebrate the 70 th anniversary, would be a monumental achievement. "We want fans to take this opportunity to look in every garage, shed, barn and lock up they're allowed to," added Chapman. "It's even possible that the Mark I was shipped from the UK, and we'd love to know if it survives in another country." This means the first Lotus could even reside in the United States, if it is still in one piece. Related Video: Featured Gallery 1948 Lotus Mark I News Source: Lotus CarsImage Credit: Colin Chapman Foundation Lotus Automotive History Convertible Classics