HOW that project ever got the green light in the first place baffles me. I guess decades of data and proven concepts mean nothing...
I was glad that someone was trying something different form the "proven concepts" for once. A front engine, front wheel drive hybrid car looked interesting to me, to say the least. I like when someone gets out of the comfort zone and goes his own way, rather than following the others. At least WEC allows that, instead of F1 that imposes almost every possible technical solutions and leave very little choice. It was a bold move from Nissan to endorse the idea and finance this project. The mistake wasn't in the concept, for me, but in rushing it to the track in full exposure of the media. The gestation of the project was far too short, and the cars suffered reliability problems as soon as they hit the track. More testing for a couple of years away from the preying eyes would have been beneficial. After all, the rear-mid engine concept didn't win at the first attempt, and I think that with time, the Nissan could have been interesting to watch at least. I remember the almost universal condemnation when Don Panoz dared to bring a front-engine car in endurance, years after that configuration had deserted the tracks; "It will never work". Nevertheless, the Panoz defeated the opposition at some tracks and scored some resounding success.
Yah but they didn't execute. The latest failure is the chassis failed crash testing, so would have required a costly redesign. I was at Palm Beach International Raceway for a driving school when they rolled in to test the thing on the last day. You would not believe how many engineers they had working on this thing. I would say they had 50+ people there with mechanics, etc. Good thing there were no big crashes; apparently it isn't even safe. Yikes.
Like I said, they rushed this thing through before it was ready, and all the faults became obvious at once.
I just question if it would ever have made sense though. I think they could have achieved parity with the more traditional designs, but to surpass them - I just don't see how personally.
Why would Renault buy a team, and still advertise a competitor's brand? Did Mercedes keep the name Honda on its cars? Duhhhhhh
In the past, Rgulations/deadlines sometimes prevent a registered team to change the name. They may have to retain the name for a season
I hope that sanity will prevail in high places, and that the Renault Team will not have its 2016 results recorded under the Lotus name. Renault complained that when they powered the Red Bulls, they hardly got any credit for it. They also said that one of their reasons to re-enter F1 as a team was for the benefit of marketing. So, at the time when they are going to launch their Alpine sportscar, it would be irronic if their F1 cars were advertising on the track their direct competitor: the Lotus brand.
I guess I was thinking back to the Renault/Benetton's of the early 1990's. Plus the title of the thread is "Lotus to be saved..." That's all.
+1 However, I don't think it was so much 'retaining the naming rights', but more about the previous seasons prize money, which those guys *really* needed. I'm pretty sure that if he wants to enforce it, Bernie can withhold prize money if a team changes its name - it's well known he hates name changes as it takes away his beloved 'continuity of the sport'. However, I suspect Renault are a lot less concerned about the 100 or so million than were Sauber...... Or, they've already negotiated with him to get at least some of the money; Recall there was something of an impasse about their entry until they were granted 'historical status'. I suspect they also discussed the implications of a name change, and Bernie is, at the end of the day, a pragmatist who needed Reanult back. Cheers, Ian PS - Merry xmas to one & all.
Renault had lengthy discussions with Bernie about their entitlement to prize money and historic top-up additional funds as paid to Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren - they emphasized that their F1 history goes back to the early 80s, and they've won numerous titles as an engine manufacturer and constructor. Before they ever signed the final deal, they pushed Bernie to commit on the funding they'd receive... so I would expect that the approval to change the team name was included in the negotiations with Bernie, and that decision is already agreed. I would hope and expect that the Lotus name disappears to RIP, free from the stigma and shame of this Bahar/Proton embarrassment period.
Lotus Cars has been doing very well over the past year with over 50% increase in sales. Whether the embarrassement of seeing the name dragged through the mud will be adverse to the car company remains to be seen. Most people understand that it was only a marketing link so hopefully not.
I think you are wrong here; Renault will be self-financing mostly and go after every penny it can get. The team will also not have a lavish budget like other car manufacturers have. Carlos Gohsn is known for wanting value for money, and the Renault team has traditionally be run on a shoestring.
Keeping the "Lotus" name would be about as dumb as Red Bull, which was Renault powered, having "Infiniti" painted on the side ... oh, wait, didn't that already happen?
It had something to do with FOM's money. For some reason they didn't get a dispensation to change the name so it they had done so it would be considered a new entry without the prize from the previous year constructors championship.
Renault should just buy Lotus - they have been linked with them for over 40 years... Lotus Europa S-1 & S-2 had Renault engines... Lotus F-1 used Turbo Renaults in the early 80's ... Senna won his first GP in a Lotus Renault.... and if they are going to revive Alpine - have Lotus build it ... makes sense to me!
