Lotus Eye Candy

[S1Steve]

Found some nice photo's from last years Goodwood..

Edited March 24, 2012 by S1Steve

[JohnK]

Great selection of pictures, Steve. This is kinda like looking at pictures of Ferraris, except that you can actually own a piece of the pie without having to be a robber baron banker type.

[S1Steve]

Thanks John, Just think those early F1 cars are the best.

But then you will ask why I am up at 3.21 a.m.Sunday morning posting this. Malaysia f1 starts soon.

This will call for a nice afternoon nap. LOL...

 

Go Kimi.......

Edited March 25, 2012 by S1Steve
brain fade

[escondidoron]

Front to rear:

1) The 1st Type 49 (Winner at Zaandvoort under Clark - the first time out with the Cosworth DFV V8 in '67

2) 2.5L Type 32B '65 Tasman Championship winner under Clark

3) 1.5L Type 25 World Championship winner in '63 for Clark

4) 1.1L (only 100bHp!) Lotus 23 driven by Clark in '62 to lead the 1st lap at the 'Ring by 30 seconds in it's innaugural outing only to fall out with a cracked exhaust header:

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1351/4723964906_e681b49992_b.jpg

 

Clark's '65 Indy 500 winning Type 38:

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4103/5173624872_0445758413_b.jpg

[S1Steve]

Nice photo's Ron.... My Fav, 49b

[escondidoron]

Nice photo's Ron.... My Fav, 49b

 

Thanks.

 

Here's a few more shots of your favorite:

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1029/4723223397_1a063cda49_b.jpg

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1436/4723180337_aa0e313853_b.jpg

 

The gentleman in the gray tweed sport coat discussing camera operations and standing behind the right rear tire is Lotus designer Martin Waide. The gentleman in the brown jacket talking with him is Rotus designer Lee Kaiser:

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1074/4724277932_6f4566d2af_b.jpg

[JohnK]

Nice photo's Ron.... My Fav, 49b

 

The show shots are really nice for a technology freak like me. but this shot puts me right in the driver's seat - I'll fantasize about it as I sort out Ithaca Lemonade's suspension. Do you know who the photographer was?

[JohnK]

Thanks.

 

The gentleman in the gray tweed sport coat discussing camera operations and standing behind the right rear tire is Lotus designer Martin Waide. The gentleman in the brown jacket talking with him is Rotus designer Lee Kaiser:

 

OK, I never though about this before until I saw the names right next to each other:

Lotus -- Rotus

 

Please tell me that the latter name was chosen because they designed it around a Wankel engine, rather than that Lee Kaiser was working for a client from Japan.

[escondidoron]

Do you know who the photographer was?

 

Glad you like the pics. I took all of these shots.

 

Lotus -- Rotus

 

Please tell me that the latter name was chosen because they designed it around a Wankel engine, rather than that Lee Kaiser was working for a client from Japan.

 

The Rotus Seven was not designed around a Wankel engine. It was designed around a 4-cyl Toyota. The Rotus name was coined, I believe, by the financier of the project, Chris Custer. Custer owned a Toyota dealership in Maryland. The name originated from the perceived Japanese inability to pronounce the letter "L", instead pronouncing it as an "R". Hence a Lotus Seven clone powered by a Toyota engine became a Rotus.

 

BTW, the Wankel (rotary) engine did not originate in Japan. It was originally designed by a German named Felix Wankel. Wankel reveived his 1st patent on the concept in the late '20s. The first running prototype didn't get going until the late '50s. The first viable rotary powered car was the NSU RO 80 from 1967:

http://www.cartype.com/pics/7000/small/nsu_ro80_3_67.jpg

[Alaskossie]

There was a well-known Lotus (not Rotus) Seven in the US in the late 1970's or so, that autocrossed very successfully with a Wankel engine. As I recall, it was a Series 2 or Series 3 Lotus, certainly pre-Caterham.

 

If pressed, I can look it up -- though most of my references are boxed up, awaiting new shelves in my garage.

[JohnK]

Glad you like the pics. I took all of these shots.

 

The Rotus Seven was not designed around a Wankel engine. It was designed around a 4-cyl Toyota. The Rotus name was coined, I believe, by the financier of the project, Chris Custer. Custer owned a Toyota dealership in Maryland. The name originated from the perceived Japanese inability to pronounce the letter "L", instead pronouncing it as an "R". Hence a Lotus Seven clone powered by a Toyota engine became a Rotus.

 

Oh heck - I should have initially given a more complete description of what I meant. I was attempting a joke, and my joke was close to the truth!

There isn't an "L" sound in the Japanese, Korean, ... languages and when non-native speakers attempt it, it typically comes out as an "R" sound. So instead of my joke of a Japanese Client generating "Rotus" from a mispronunciation of "Lotus", it was a client making a joke, corrupting "Lotus" using the commonly-known the cross-language mispronunciation. And on top of it all, lots of people, not remembering that the name of the rotary engine known as the Wankel, get by calling in a Rotary (Lotus with a Wankel becoming "Rotus"), certainly not knowing that it is of neither Japanese nor English invention.

Bizarre.