1997 Blue Lotus Esprit Twin Turbo V8 Excellent Condition on 2040-cars

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Renault considers fielding its own F1 team again

Renault has a long history in Formula One, but while it successfully ran its own team until 2010, these days it participates only as an engine supplier – and just to the two Red Bull teams. That could be changing in the near future, though, as the latest reports indicate that the French automaker is considering fielding its own team once again. According to Autosport, the company has ruled out starting its own team again from scratch, but it is weighing the possibility of buying an existing team. The last time it competed was when it took over the championship-winning Benetton team in 2002, building it back up to win back-to-back world titles in 2005 and 2006. It subsequently dropped in form until Renault sold the team in 2011 to Genii Capital, which has run it under the Lotus banner ever since. The Lotus team continued using Renault engines with limited success until this season when it switched to Mercedes. With Caterham now gone from the grid, that leaves Renault with only one customer: Red Bull, which runs both the Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso teams under Renault power. It's a situation in which the French company apparently doesn't particularly revel, leading it to consider buying a team again and running it in-house. Considering the difficulty the Lotus team it once owned has encountered lately, reacquiring its old operation could prove the most logical step for Renault, but of course that doesn't mean that's what it will ultimately do. It could continue strengthening ties with Red Bull until it acquires a large portion of it (or Toro Rosso) – something which Audi is said to be eying as well. Or it could look to another team altogether. Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams may not be up for sale, but we could easily see Renault taking over cash-strapped Force India or Sauber, or even pouring its resources into getting Caterham or Manor/Marussia back up to speed and whipping it into winning form. News Source: AutosportImage Credit: Franck Robichon/AP/Pool Motorsports Lotus Renault F1

Watch the Lotus 3-Eleven run down Porsches and destroy the Nurburgring

The Lotus 3-Eleven is the automaker's most powerful production machine to date. Roughly a year ago, Lotus set out to show just how capable the 3-Eleven is by sending the open-top track-focused machine to the Nurburgring. Lotus claims the car set a blistering time of 7:06 around the track. Now in a belated celebration, automaker released two new, short clips of the vehicle sprinting around the Green Hell. There's no questioning just how capable the 3-Eleven is. In both videos, which are shot from the driver's seat, the track car chases down various Porsches at an impressive rate. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. While there's some controversy over how Lotus set the time, the 3-Eleven's claimed Nurburgring pace is quicker than a Nissan GT-R Nismo and is just four seconds slower than a Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SV. Earlier this year, Germany's Sport Auto magazine took the 3-Eleven to the Hockenheimring where the track car managed to set a new record, besting the likes of the Porsche 918 Spyder. With a claimed dry weight of just 1,962 pounds, the 3-Eleven focuses emphasizes lightweight structure over massive power. Still, it's Lotus' most powerful production car with a 3.5-liter supercharged V6. In the right hands, the 3-Eleven can sprint to 60 mph in 3.0 seconds and managed to lap the automaker's test track 10 seconds quicker than the Evora 400. Marc Basseng, the racecar driver piloting the 3-Eleven, claimed the 3-Eleven could go even faster around the Nurburgring with less traffic. After watching these new clips, we would have to agree. Related Video:

Behind the scenes of Lotus' spectacular truck-over-F1 jump

A Lotus F1 car and the truck in which it's transported may both be powered by Renault and share a common JPS livery, but as far as size and performance are concerned, they're at opposite ends of the spectrum. So if you had to jump one over the other, you'd think it'd be a no-brainer to skip the single-seater over the tractor-trailer. Right? Well that may be the more logical conclusion, but it's not the way the Lotus team and its technology partner EMC decided to go for this latest promo. Instead they jumped the semi over the grand prix car. The stunt was obviously geared towards publicity, but while they were at it, they set a Guinness World Record for the longest truck jump at 83 feet, 7 inches. The previous record, according to Guinness, stood at 50 feet, 6 inches, and was set on MTV's Nitro Circus on November 17, 2008, by Gregg Godfrey at Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City. That record stood for six years, but (as best we can tell) was set without the trailer attached, or the F1 car tracking underneath - which only makes this latest stunt that much more impressive. You may have seen the promo clip circulating the interwebs late last week, but we've included a making-of video below as well to show how the stunt team managed to pull it all off. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: EMC via YouTube (1), (2)Tip: Joe Lotus Renault Truck Videos F1 viral video semi lotus f1 team