Caterham F1 Era End

maocheng

SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX

Singapore - 26th September 2010

A fantastic Singapore Grand Prix ended in spectacular style for Lotus Racing’s Heikki Kovalainen after he pulled over on the start / finish straight and put out a fire in his car by himself that brought to an end a battling drive under the Singapore lights. Jarno Trulli had suffered a hydraulics failure on lap 26, which ended his race after both he and Heikki had made very good starts and had been fighting in the midfield in 15th and 16th in the early laps. A double pitstop under the first safety car period on lap three gave them both strong track positions which they both held until Jarno’s retirement, and Heikki’s eventual race-ending fire.

Tony Fernandes, Team Principal: “The race tonight marks a major step forward for us. On the pitwall we were talking about beating Michael and Buemi in a straight fight on track, and we told Heikki to take the fight to them - not to take the conservative approach. If we’d taken the safer option maybe Heikki wouldn’t have hit Buemi, but we’re here to race, and that’s what I mean about a big step forward. This is all part of our learning curve, but coming here and racing the Toro Rossos and Mercedes at the end of a pretty hardcore race is a sign of how far we’ve come. We’ll take all these lessons into next year, and it can only help us be an even more potent force in 2011.”

Heikki Kovalainen (Chassis T127-01) 16th, fastest lap 1.53.051 - lap 53, 2 stops – laps 3, 34: “That was not quite how I thought my race would end! Until the fire, I was having a really strong run and the car had felt good throughout. We were looking good for 15th, but then I had a coming together with Buemi towards the end of the race. I spun the car to get back onto the track which I think cracked the fuel tank pressure release valve and it looks like that caused an airbox fire. I didn’t want to come into the pits as it definitely wasn’t safe enough to do so, and pulled over on the main straight. A couple of guys from Williams gave me an extinguisher, so I put the fire out on my own – I told Tony and Mike that they maybe need to pay me more as I’m now a fireman as well…”

Jarno Trulli (Chassis T127-04) DNF, fastest lap 1.56.386 - lap 20, 3 stops – laps 3, 6, 25: “I had a very good start and was running well with Heikki but then the problems started. I had a puncture just after the first safety car which brought me back in early, and then the hydraulic problems that have affected me quite a few times this season struck again. It’s been a difficult weekend to be honest, but now we go to Suzuka which is a track I really look forward to, so hopefully I’ll have some better luck there.”

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: “It was a very eventful race and a real shame at the end to see Heikki’s race brought to an end with the fire. Both cars made a great start and got themselves in front of the Virgins which is obviously what we wanted to do. We stopped them both during the first safety car lap, which seemed to be the right call, and the pitcrew did a great job to get them both turned around as quickly as they did. Unfortunately Jarno then picked up a puncture from some debris on track and then a hydraulics problem brought his race to an end. We tried to get him back out, but after having done so the problems started again straight away so he had to come back in.

“Heikki clearly had a pretty dramatic race. When the fire started he made the decision not to come into the pitlane for safety reasons, and did very well to put the fire out himself. Until that point he was having a fantastic race and we were looking forward to fighting with Michael and Buemi right to the end, but unfortunately the fire put paid to that. The main thing really is to say thanks to him for being brave enough to put it out, and be thankful that he’s fine after what was a pretty spectacular end to his race. After such a good race performance from him and the whole team, we will take some real positives from this weekend, and look forward to the last four races.”

maocheng

Alex^89614^ 发表于 26-9-2010 23:21

    什么东东？ 没有东西的。

wallace_choy

哦。。。那就不要紧....哈哈
半片叶子 发表于 22-9-2010 04:43 PM

是kova吧，trulli刚renew contract不久。。。。
kova还没renew。。。

maocheng

是kova吧，trulli刚renew contract不久。。。。
kova还没renew。。。
wallace_choy 发表于 27-9-2010 14:24

    Both车手已经Renew合约了。

wallace_choy

Both车手已经Renew合约了。
maocheng 发表于 27-9-2010 03:58 PM

明年开始不在叫LOTUS RACING了，因为PROTON把LOTUS revoked Lotus brand licensing，因为这样烂成绩下去会破坏LOTUS的名誉。。。

Alex^89614^

明年开始不在叫LOTUS RACING了，因为PROTON把LOTUS revoked Lotus brand licensing，因为这样烂成绩下去 ...
wallace_choy 发表于 27-9-2010 06:41 PM

    Next Season is Team Lotus

chinkai80

明年开始不在叫LOTUS RACING了，因为PROTON把LOTUS revoked Lotus brand licensing，因为这样烂成绩下去 ...
wallace_choy 发表于 27-9-2010 06:41 PM

明年開始名正言順的叫 “Team Lotus”.
這個才是真身, 和什麽 revoke 不 revoke 的沒關係。
一開始本來就要用 Team Lotus.. 只是名字的使用權在 LiteSpeed 手上。現在買過來了。

maocheng

       

Heikki The Firemen

半片叶子

呃........Proton退出2011的赞助和禁止Lotus名称是怎么回事？？

kangyoon20

做么paultan那边讲到很夸张下的
proton 不给用Lotus的名？
http://paultan.org/2010/09/27/br ... laysia-racing-team/

半片叶子

我也奇怪...lotus自己都没说，做么paultan那边这么详细..

chinkai80

剛剛看到了。。 很奇怪。
Proton 明年不贊助 Team Lotus.. 也不允許 Tony Fernandes 使用 Team Lotus 的名字。
但是 1998 年的時候, Lotus Group 和 LiteSpeed 打官司要拿回 Team Lotus 的使用權, 但是敗訴。
幕後有事情發生了? 會不會發展成 Proton 把 Lotus Racing 買下來, 自己做 Proton Lotus Racing ? 還是 怎樣？

maocheng

由他们自己决定这个Brand吧！ 反正要大开会讨论。

Alex^89614^

剛剛看到了。。 很奇怪。
Proton 明年不贊助 Team Lotus.. 也不允許 Tony Fernandes 使用 Team Lotus 的名 ...
chinkai80 发表于 27-9-2010 11:08 PM

    Chairman of both Proton Holdings Bhd and Group Lotus, Dato’ Sri Nadzmi Mohd. Salleh said, “We believe the Lotus brand to be one of the most valuable brands in Formula 1 today


当初就认为没价值啦？

chinkai80

Chairman of both Proton Holdings Bhd and Group Lotus, Dato’ Sri Nadzmi Mohd. Salleh said, ...
Alex^89614^ 发表于 28-9-2010 01:44 AM

朝三暮四。。。朝令夕改。。。唉。。
這件事讓我更欽佩 Tony 了。。
當初被認為沒價值的東西, 到了他手上都能身價翻倍。

maocheng

LOTUS RACING, GROUP LOTUS & PROTON

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 28th September 2010

SM Nasarudin, Kamarudin Meranun and Tony Fernandes, the three shareholders of Lotus Racing, announced on Friday 24th September that Team Lotus is back in Formula One™ from 2011. Lotus Racing has competed in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship under licence from Group Lotus parent company Proton, and today Lotus Racing Chief Executive Officer Riad Asmat shed more light on why Team Lotus is coming back for the first time since 1994 in the 2011 Championship.

Riad Asmat: "This has been an incredible year for everyone associated with Lotus Racing. Last week we brought Team Lotus back to the Formula One grid when we announced that we had bought Team Lotus Ventures from David Hunt, and would be racing as the successor to one of the most iconic names in world motorsport. This year, we have established ourselves as the leading new team in Formula One™ as a licensee of Group Lotus, and, although we all dreamt of bringing Team Lotus back to where it belongs, we could not do so in 2010 because those rights were owned by Team Lotus Ventures. As Tune Group has now bought Team Lotus Ventures it means we can now use the Team Lotus name for 2011 and beyond. We are all delighted we can go into 2011 with total confidence in what we own, and what we can take to the track.

“However, given that this is contested by Group Lotus we think now is the time to clear this matter up so there can be no further arguments. We have therefore today issued proceedings in the English High Court for a declaration that Team Lotus Ventures has the rights to use the Team Lotus name and everything associated with that brand in relation to Formula One™.

"Racing under the Team Lotus name from 2011 means our licence with Group Lotus has now come to an end. In reality, this has nothing to do with how we will go racing in 2011, as the ownership of Team Lotus has been clearly defined for many years. David was approached a number of times about selling the rights of Team Lotus Ventures, including one official offer of from Proton / Group Lotus themselves. That must have been tempting for David, as the rightful owner of the Team Lotus brand and its rights. Oddly enough, Group Lotus also recently tried to revoke the Team Lotus trade marks at a hearing at the Trade Mark Registry, but they were unsuccessful. I suspect David’s misgivings about their previous offer to buy were justified by that action.

"The licence debate really is a non-issue. It was a simple licence, attached to a one year sponsorship deal with Proton for 2010 alone, and in fact for a tiny proportion of the amount invested by the shareholders into the team – approximately 1.5% of the total budget. Unfortunately we never reached the point where we discussed extending that one year deal. When we signed our licence to compete as Lotus Racing with Group Lotus, they were very clear that we could not make any reference to Team Lotus as they had no rights at all to the Team Lotus name or its rights. In fact, in the licence agreement between 1Malaysia Racing and Group Lotus the use of the Team Lotus name is expressly prohibited as they had agreed contractually, as long ago as 1985, that they had not rights to use that name. That was obviously something we had enormous respect for, and made no attempt to change until we could do so rightfully, and with a very clear understanding of what we had acquired in Team Lotus Ventures.

"So now the licence we ran under this year has been withdrawn by Group Lotus, and while we accept that this obviously means we have reached the end of that chapter, it opens up a new and very exciting one for everyone in our team. There will have to be some discussions with Proton and Group Lotus about the entitlement to terminate the licence. Frankly, they are trying to say that some very trivial points, including t-shirt design approvals of all things, gave them the right to terminate, but we thoroughly reject this.

“Now we look to the future. The details of what has been going on behind the scenes are now coming to light, and that’s good because it means the shareholders of Proton, the government, will now know the truth of what has been going on. However the important thing is to look at what we are doing to guarantee future success. We have already invested heavily in ensuring the Malaysian / ASEAN motorsports platform grows, something that cannot be said for our colleagues at Group Lotus. We created a world first when we ran Nabil Jeffri in our aero test earlier this year - the youngest ever F1 test driver. Fairuz has been gaining invaluable experience at the highest level by driving for us, and, through Tony and Din’s AirAsia Driver Development programme, we are giving young Malaysian / ASEAN talent the chance to reach the top. We are so proud to have laid the foundations for future success, and our fans acknowledge this every day. Personally I think it’s odd that our colleagues at Group Lotus have not embraced what we are giving them – a global platform for creating huge awareness and great value for their operations, all at no cost to them. In one year we have made huge strides in the growth of Lotus Racing, and now it’s all about Team Lotus.

半片叶子

怎么这个帖子的回帖全部‘仅作者可见’？？？？

maocheng

怎么这个帖子的回帖全部‘仅作者可见’？？？？
半片叶子 发表于 28-9-2010 10:38

    做试验！

半片叶子

maocheng兄...我看不见你回复...是不是一楼的设定？

maocheng

maocheng兄...我看不见你回复...是不是一楼的设定？
半片叶子 发表于 28-9-2010 11:01

    现在可以看！！