Team Lotus cleared to race under current name

LONDON: Britain's High Court has cleared Team Lotus to continue racing in Formula One under its current name, following a dispute with a rival team.

The fight over the Lotus name in F1 went to trial in March.

Team Lotus used it last season, claiming it legally acquired the rights from the remnants of the former team. Group Lotus, the company's road-car division, also claimed the rights and is a major backer of Renault's F1 team.

The court ruled Friday that Team Lotus is the rightful owner of the name and can continue to use the iconic badge.

Group Lotus can use the Lotus name on its F1 car and use the black and gold colours, but can only display the badge on its road cars.
 -AP

Lotus snaps up Caterham

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LONDON: Caterham Cars moved into the glamorous world of Formula One on Wednesday when Team Lotus announced the acquisition of the great British sports car manufacturer.

Lotus bought  Caterham, which specializes in making small lightweight sports cars, for an undisclosed sum from venture capitalist group Corven, in a deal labelled "the perfect partnership" by the F1 team.

Caterham's most famous car is the Seven, which was designed by Colin Chapman - the founder of the original Team Lotus. He sold the rights of the Seven to Caterham in 1973.


Lotus said the deal will allow Caterham to "expand its brand profile and product family."

"Caterham has a unique place at the heart of the motoring world," Lotus owner Tony Fernandes said. "As well as being proudly and staunchly British, it has an enviable and uniquely unblemished reputation within the industry for performance, handling and engineering excellence.

"It is already a successful business with sales across Europe, Japan, Australia and the Middle East ... we now have all the ingredients and the launch pad to further evolve that spirit and take Caterham to new exciting horizons."

Caterham's existing management team, headed up by managing director and former Lotus Cars executive Ansar Ali, will remain in place.

Ansar

In the last five years, Ansar has created Caterham's first brand new model in 15 years, the SP/300.R sports prototype racer.

"While the Seven will now have the global springboard it deserves and will continue to be evolved yet further," Ali said, "we also have the opportunity to expand the Caterham family beyond the Seven and SP/300.R and breathe new life into our uniquely respected brand and mature it into a truly global business."



HERE'S A VIDEO:
http://youtu.be/aGERIVg7ATE



 -AP

Friday, December 24, 2010 10:11 PM

Chapmans side with Group Lotus

SOURCE: Star Motoring

LONDON: Tony Fernandes's Team Lotus has been dealt a blow after Colin Chapman's family swung their support to Proton's Group Lotus in the latest development.

The Chapmans said they initially supported Lotus Racing, which was recently renamed Team Lotus because it had the support of  Lotus, the sports car maker. The family subsequently had a change of heart when Lotus revoked Lotus Racing's licence to use the Lotus name.

 There is an ongoing legal dispute in the British court over the use of the legendary brand.

Group Lotus has the rights to the Lotus road car brand, but there is dispute over ownership of the famous name in motorsports.

Lotus Racing took Proton to court for disputing its rights to the “Team Lotus” name.

The privately-funded team said it owned the rights following the purchase of Team Lotus Ventures Ltd from former British racing driver David Hunt several months ago.

Hunt owns the rights to Team Lotus, which is a separate entity from Lotus’ car manufacturing operations.

In the convoluted row, Group Lotus has recently teamed up with Renault F1 to form the Lotus Renault team that will compete with Team Lotus in the 2011 F1 season.

"The Chapman family is impressed by the exciting developments under way at Group Lotus, and it is very grateful to Proton for the significant investment that is being made, to secure a strong future for the excellent workforce at the Hethel factory," Clive Chapman, the son of founder Colin and owner of Classic Team Lotus, said in a statement.

Clive said that if it was up to him, the Team Lotus name should not have returned to F1. His father had established the name in 1958.