Lotus T127 launched (Pictures)
12th February 2010, 14:33 by Keith Collantine 154 Comments »
Test driver Fairuz Fauzy shook down the Lotus T127 at Silverstone
Lotus has officially revealed the car it will return to F1 with in 2010 at a launch ceremony in London.
See below for pictures of the Lotus T127 – the first Lotus since 1994.
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- Lotus-Cosworth T127
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- Lotus-Cosworth T127
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- Lotus-Cosworth T127
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- Lotus-Cosworth T127
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- Lotus-Cosworth T127
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- Lotus-Cosworth T127
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- Fairuz Fauzy, Lotus-Cosworth T127 shakedown
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- Fairuz Fauzy, Lotus-Cosworth T127 shakedown
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- Fairuz Fauzy, Lotus-Cosworth T127 shakedown, 2010
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- Lotus-Cosworth T127 shakedown
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- Lotus-Cosworth T127 shakedown
Image (C) Lotus F1
malaysianf1 said on 12th February 2010, 17:49
beautiful car.. nice one!!
MigueLP said on 13th February 2010, 16:42
the nose wing is very similar to last years toyota but the wing is very complex i like the car but the color scheme but its obvious it will be 20th something
jef said on 20th February 2010, 18:56
i think so too
epi said on 12th February 2010, 17:50
Those flat top sidepods look really ugly to me. Makes it look like a huge bathtub. Apart from the front wing which is a combination of various other car’s front wings the entire car looks remarkably basic.
Having said that, I do like the colours on it, especially the yellow wheels.
Damon said on 12th February 2010, 18:32
“Those flat top sidepods look really ugly to me.”
Wow, you must be very new to F1.
sato113 said on 12th February 2010, 19:09
the sidepods are alot flatter than other recent F1 cars.
Damon said on 12th February 2010, 19:20
Doh.
Scribe said on 12th February 2010, 20:57
To be fair, no matter how good they used to look, (subjective) those sidpods look hella ugly to me.
but wow, they seem to have gone for the exact reverse phillosophy that Virgin went for, complicated front wing, basic everything else.
An me oh my, FINALLY, launch photos that show us the money shot! Is it me or have they got a BGP01 diffuser on the back of their car?
Simply from taking a look at that car I get the feeling Virgin has got one over them, still they had a lot less time on that car, an it looks better than USF1 an Campos so far doesn;t it?
Ned Flanders said on 12th February 2010, 21:02
Yeah, I don’t like the flat sidepods either. A lot of the aesthetic changes to F1 cars in recent years have made them uglier, but the move towards curved sidepods was a big improvement
Cube said on 12th February 2010, 17:50
Gorgeous! utterly gorgeous! so true to the old livery!
Pete Walker said on 12th February 2010, 19:22
I disagree. For a true ’67 style livery the yellow stripe should spread at the tip of the nose and wrap around, Red Bull style. Hope it looks better on TV under the Bahrain sunshine.
Don’t get me wrong, its great to see British Racing Green back on the grid, but I hoped for a much nicer looking car than this.
That said, I have a lot of faith in Gascoyne and I hope the team does well.
Cube said on 12th February 2010, 20:24
With a new twist of course…. they couldnt really to that because it would look too similar to the red bull at a distance… nothing worse than mixing up two cars… like Midland & McLaren
Clay said on 12th February 2010, 23:06
Think of the ’05 Toyota which looked a lot like the ’04 Toyota… which was rubbish and looked like a 2003 Toyota. In ’05 with no tyre changes everyone else had different looking cars – but yet Toyota did very well. And who oversaw that car?
Our man Gazza. I don’t for one minute think this will be a winner out of the box but it will not embarass itself.
Dr. Gonzo said on 12th February 2010, 23:42
That was a later iteration of the livery, on the groundbreaking Lotus 25 the stripe was straight to the nose.
http://i31.tinypic.com/106iik0.jpg
sato113 said on 13th February 2010, 4:26
anyone notice the new Lotus logo? it’s different from the old one.
Dev said on 12th February 2010, 17:50
toyota nose, last years force india’s front wing
Simon Hull said on 12th February 2010, 17:51
first car since 2010?
Jimos said on 12th February 2010, 17:52
Lotus only in name!
Maciek said on 12th February 2010, 18:10
In a sense you could say that about Ferrari and McLaren, too, since their founders aren’t there anymore. Lotus give credit where credit is due on their website – not much more they can do.
RandomChimp said on 12th February 2010, 19:07
In a sense I’m not me anymore because most of my cells are only a few days old.
The relationship between this rebooted ‘Lotus’ and Colin Chapman’s team could arguably be analogous to someone using another person’s identity and reputation after their death.
matt90 said on 12th February 2010, 19:07
But Ferrari and McLaren can still be traced back to their founders, whereas this Lotus team can be tracked back to Malaysia last year.
A-Safieldin said on 12th February 2010, 19:43
No to be honest Matt. Mclaren and Ferrari have been Mclaren and Ferrari since they began, this is called Team Lotus if im not mistaken, which isnt the real Lotus brand. If they were real Lotus they wouldnt distance themselves from the road car firm. I wish they had made this team from the lotus road cars company like jaguar did a few years ago, but they just havent won me over, its like a really good chinese gucci bag, no matter how good or real it looks, even if people believe that its real…… you’ll always no its chinese.
A-Safieldin said on 12th February 2010, 19:53
i meant to be honest i agree with matt.
Scribe said on 12th February 2010, 21:03
I’m not massivley patriotic, an I live in London etc so I really hope this doen’t come out wrong but something rubs me the wrong way that the car is going to be Malaysian flaged.
Nothing against Malaysian but surley they could have called it Proton. I feel i’m on thin ice here, an i’ll probably change my name if the real lotus buys into the company, i’ll be happy with that as a rubber stamp. But Lotus is the eponymous British racing team. Racing Green, Colin Chapman, Graham Hill and Jim Clark. I think Malaysian involvement in F1 is great but I do feel they could have used a brand that wasn’t so close to our hearts.
Icthyes said on 12th February 2010, 21:17
Team Lotus is the original brand, this team is Lotus Racing or something.
I think!
f1 fan said on 12th February 2010, 22:45
Ford purchased Stewart GP and rebranded it Jaguar, with no technical input from Jaguar cars, just marketing support.
Jim N said on 13th February 2010, 12:16
But Proton own Lotus Cars….. If you want the Lotus to be badged Proton, why not badge the Ferrari’s, Fiat !
gpfan said on 12th February 2010, 23:54
Two words: Jimmy Clark. I’m happy!
Ned Flanders said on 12th February 2010, 21:09
Maciek- I have no problem with the team taking the name Lotus, but that comparison is daft.
McLaren and Ferrari didn’t vanish from F1 and return 15 years later in a completely different factory with a new set of employees and brand themselves as ’1team Malaysia’
Scribe said on 12th February 2010, 21:14
To be honnest I’d be fairly annoyed if some unrelated British team bought the name and decided they where going to be Team Lotus.
Team Lotus was glorious, but now it’s a glorious memory, If the car company that came from Lotus decided it wanted to run a team again, it would be fine for it to use the name, but not a bunch of other guys.
To be clear I do quite like Fernandes and Gascyone an the way they’ve gone about running things an I don’t feel as vehmentley opposed to the idea as I did, still feel like in the original post that they’re (an this is the first an last time I will ever say this) ransacking a British insitution for personal gain.
Maciek said on 12th February 2010, 21:47
Wow, I really got everybody going here. I was, of course, exaggerating to make a point. What I meant was that given the link to “Classic Lotus” they put on their website, they’re obviously not just taking on the name without acknowledging the history behind it.
Jarred Walmsley said on 12th February 2010, 23:20
F1 fan, quick note in case you weren’t aware Ford owned Jaguar then and so it would be comparable to the rumoured VW buyout of Campos and calling it Lamborghini, they just used a more racy name than Ford for the team name. So i’m not quite sure what you are getting at here.
Kovy said on 12th February 2010, 23:36
Thank you! People seem to be forgetting this.
Salut Gilles said on 12th February 2010, 17:54
T127? What’s the story behind that?
Jimos said on 12th February 2010, 18:09
the only thing i can think of is lotus cars where named mk1 to the lotus 121. there are 5 others with names puts it at 127…if you forget the m250
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Cars
Ilanin said on 12th February 2010, 18:09
That is a good question.
The last Lotus Type anybody saw was the Lotus Type 123 (the Federal Exige), but it isn’t entirely implausible that Lotus Type numbers are up to 127.
Why they haven’t just called it the Type 127 I’m not sure, possibly to distance themselves slightly from both Team Lotus and Lotus Cars neither of who they have any actual relation to.
But the halfway house seems strange…well it’s just like the team I guess. It’s kind of a Lotus, and it kind of has a type number.
Flibster said on 12th February 2010, 20:24
Type 124 is the Evora GT4 race car.
It’s not unusual for Lotus to have type numbers assigned that don’t get revealed.
Dingle Dell said on 12th February 2010, 18:25
Oh… I was thinking of Tony-127 at first thought, since Tony Fernandes is the team principal… LOL, now I was proven wrong
Jimos said on 12th February 2010, 18:31
lol he wouldn’t be that egotistical….would he?!
what i mentioned previously falls apart as it forgets current cars…umm…
Jarred Walmsley said on 12th February 2010, 21:17
Well, Ross Brawn did name an entire team after himself so a car model wouldn’t be any where near as egotistical would it?
DanThorn said on 13th February 2010, 12:34
As did Enzo Ferrari, Bruce McLaren, Frank Williams, Jack Brabham, Chris Amon and many others!
Jarred Walmsley said on 13th February 2010, 18:12
That is true DanThorn, Enzo was even more Egotistical as he named an entire company after himself
Vince said on 12th February 2010, 17:56
It’s probably the only car on the grid that will look good
with the green option tires. Does look very simple in design but maybe that will work for them!
three4three said on 12th February 2010, 19:23
Actually I think the Force India looks good with the ‘eco’ green striped tyres too.
Scribe said on 12th February 2010, 21:26
I’ve never really noticed the green stripes as a problem, bit hypocritical but meh.
All this furore about the asthetic calamity that is two green stripes on a tyre, well I missed that meeting.
ajokay said on 13th February 2010, 13:41
The Mercedes works well with the green striped tyres too, as it’s almost the same shade as the green Petronas flashes.
TommyB said on 12th February 2010, 17:56
I don’t like the green, I think its a bit dull. I also don’t like how from the front it looks like it says “Nazi Group”.
A big disappointment.
Vince said on 12th February 2010, 17:58
Lol!!
three4three said on 12th February 2010, 19:25
Lmfao!!
TomD11 said on 12th February 2010, 19:58
Lol, kinda reminds me of when they do the slogans on the door thing on Top Gear.
Ned Flanders said on 12th February 2010, 21:11
Yeah I thought that too Tommy! Whoever came up with the name NAZA GROUP really didn’t think it through
7Teen said on 13th February 2010, 5:39
NAZA isn’t a name that was came up with…
it’s the founder’s name.. Tan Sri NAZArudin (TanSri is a Malaysian is an honorary thing, like Sir is for Brit…) and group bcuz the array of automotive related biznez things which include distribution of their own badge of cars, ducati , Ferrari and Maserati (the largest ever showroom and distributor outside of Italy!)
So, none whatsoever to do with Nazis..
Hallard said on 16th February 2010, 15:11
Glad Im not the only one who noticed that…
Peter said on 12th February 2010, 18:01
I thought it was supposed to be unveiled in some event center in London. But this just looks like a white wall to me. Something I should know about London?
Rits said on 12th February 2010, 22:05
These are just studio pics, no hall or such. It was supposed to be at the Royal Horticultural Hall but whatever happened to that!
f1 fan said on 12th February 2010, 22:52
500+ guests, world media and a good start to an exciting season.
f1 fan said on 12th February 2010, 22:50
they did in London tonight, the photos are from the press pack shots and not from the event
F1 Outsider said on 12th February 2010, 18:02
The car is beautiful! With Renault and Lotus, F1 has officially gone retro.
The level of development of the front wing should be indicative of the funding they have.
bradderz said on 12th February 2010, 18:05
WOW. Beautiful. now all we need is a full orange car and a full black car and it’ll be like 2001 all over again
. It is beautiful although does look rather square…?
Peter said on 12th February 2010, 18:06
I did a google on T126 to see what the previous car looked like. I found a resistence, a radio transmitter, a weddingdress or a babycarrier.
To me it looks good. Simple but good. No shark-fin. We’ll see next week if they are better built then the Virgin.
Dan Bigham said on 12th February 2010, 18:06
Front wing is practically identical to the Force India’s. Odd, especially considering all the legal issues surrounding them using the same aero companies.
epi said on 12th February 2010, 18:33
I thought it looked a little familiar
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/134154.jpg
Oliver said on 12th February 2010, 18:53
Its a different colour so it has to be a different wing.
Scribe said on 12th February 2010, 21:33
Does that company still work for Force India, because look at them one after another and they are exactly the same, to a tee.
Still if that is the same company then well just compare the launch pictures. Simular routes have undoubtably been taken.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/lotus_t127-1.jpg
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/forceindia_vjm03.jpg
sato113 said on 12th February 2010, 18:10
I take my virgin comment back, THIS is the best looking livery on the grid now!