Lotus Will Return to F1 Grand Prix Circuit in 2010

We are proud that Lotus Cars is based at Hethel, here in our home county of Norfolk, UK. The new Team Lotus will also be based here initially, but will eventually move most of its operations to a new facility close to the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia. Team Lotus has the financial backing of a partnership between the Malaysian Government and a group of business entrepreneurs. Drivers for the team have yet to be confirmed but an announcement is due by October 31. 

During the 1960s and 1970s multiple-award winning Team Lotus was in its heyday.  Over the years many driving legends were a part of Team Lotus, including Sir Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti.  Who could forget the sight, sound and smell of the old Lotus JPS cars…

The late Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus, died of a heart attack in 1982.  He had moved the Lotus operation to its current home, the site of an old airfield at the former RAF Hethel, Norfolk, which had the additional benefit of the nearby Snetterton race circuit.  Under Colin Chapman, Team Lotus was enormously successful from 1958 until it withdrew from F1 in 1994 due to financial problems.   

Team Lotus is set to take the 13th and last slot for next year’s grand prix season along with new teams Manor, US F1 and Campos GP.  Talks are said to be underway to consider expanding the grid to 14, accommodating 28 cars.

Lotus Cars is now owned by Proton, a Malaysian car manufacturer.  Based in Hethel, it has over the past several months increased production and hired more than one hundred new employees.  Despite the economy and sorry state of most of the car industry, first deliveries of the new Lotus Evora are imminent. 

Lotus Cars has also joined the ‘World Class: Normal for Norfolk’ campaign which is designed to promote the County of Norfolk as a desirable place to live and conduct business.  We can’t help wondering what Colin Chapman would have to say about all these new developments.  Norfolk people (often the butt of jokes as ‘Normal for Norfolk’) may just have the last laugh!