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Toyota Celica is the fastest car at 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:45:08 +0000

Taking just 48.07 seconds to blast up the 1.6 mile driveway of Goodwood House, a 800bhp Toyota Celica was the fastest car overall at Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011. That put it ahead of every other vehicle in the competition, including a Maserati MC12 (50.99 seconds), a Lotus Cosworth 88B (51.84 scones) and a Brabham Cosworth > Read complete article inside…

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Toyota Celica is the fastest car at 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Saab 9-1, 9-6, 9-7 is coming

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:44:58 +0000

Even if the company has many problems, the automaker has announced plans to develop three new models. As part of the Pang Da and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile agreement, Saab has announced new models are planned for the future line-up. Details are sparse but the 9-1 will be an entry-level model (previously known as the 9-2), > Read complete article inside…

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Saab 9-1, 9-6, 9-7 is coming

Coming in Fall: BMW 4-cyl Turbo N20 Motor in Z4 20i / 28i & Pure Balance Design Pkg

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:13:40 +0000

The BMW Z4 will line up from autumn 2011 with the promise of further advances in driving pleasure and efficiency. Two newly developed four-cylinder petrol engines with BMW TwinPower Turbo technology will be available for the Roadster. The 2.0-litre units for the BMW Z4 sDrive20i and BMW Z4 sDrive28i develop 135 kW/184 hp and 180 kW/245 hp respectively, and can team up – as an option – with an eight-speed automatic transmission.

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Coming in Fall: BMW 4-cyl Turbo N20 Motor in Z4 20i / 28i & Pure Balance Design Pkg

From Fall 2011: BMW Z4 sDrive20i and sDrive28i with N20 instead of six-cylinder

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:11:13 +0000

Starting September 2011, the BMW Z4 Roadster goes through some changes under the hood. The new N20 four-cylinder TwinPower engine will replace the inline-six unit found in the sDrive23i and sDrive30i models. The two new models will be sold under the sDrive20i and sDrive28i badges

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From Fall 2011: BMW Z4 sDrive20i and sDrive28i with N20 instead of six-cylinder

Lotus chases to make Esprit more ‘authentic’

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:47:00 +0000

Lotus is working day and night to expand its offerings by cutting the Lotus Elise and Lotus Exige from its current line-up and focusing on the replacements for a new Elan. Elan is the future small British sports car moving into a bigger development plans, especially because the image of the automaker highly depends on the > Read complete article inside…

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Lotus chases to make Esprit more ‘authentic’

Land of the Lotus-Eaters

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:22:15 +0000

Jasmine is the national flower of Tunisia,”the country of the lotus-eaters”, where people’s faces radiate happiness with hopes for the future after the Jasmine Revolution.

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Land of the Lotus-Eaters

Falun Gong Adherents Celebrate 19th Birthday in Trafalgar Square

Fri, 20 May 2011 23:28:44 +0000

World Falun Dafa Day is a celebration of the spiritual practice Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa).

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Falun Gong Adherents Celebrate 19th Birthday in Trafalgar Square

F1 – Drivers ask for DRS ban in Monaco

Mon, 02 May 2011 12:22:55 +0000

(Inautonews.com/GMM) Heikki Kovalainen agrees that the moveable rear wing ‘DRS’ systems should be banned in Monaco later this month. His Team Lotus teammate Jarno Trulli said the overtaking aid could be “dangerous” and also ineffective on the famously tight barrier-lined streets. “It’s a safety issue,” the Italian is quoted by Autosprint, “and also the straights are too > Read complete article inside…

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F1 – Drivers ask for DRS ban in Monaco

Lotus launched “FacelessPeople” ad campaign. For Eagle debut?

admin — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:07:24 +0000

Lotus launched a new count down page, probably for the launch of the 2010 Eagle. According to the web page the future sports car (“true Character”) will be launched in 18 days.

The new ad campaign is called “FacelessPeople”, and as the name says features people without faces attending public events wearing Lotus badges

Spied: new Lotus Esprit

admin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:48:42 +0000

There are big things happening at Lotus, with the currently Elise-based product range due to be expanded with two brand new models.

First to arrive will be the V6-powered Eagle, due to debut at the British International Motor Show next month.

This will use a transversely mounted Toyota V6 engine on Lotus’s new Versatile Vehicle Architecture floorpan, which uses bonded aluminium extrusions to create an adaptable basis for various models. With around 300bhp and costing around £45,000, the Eagle goes up against cars like the Porsche Cayman and BMW Z4 M.

But this isn’t the only new Lotus coming. A replacement for the Esprit has been long rumoured and mules running bodywork of the old car – discontinued in 2004 – have been spotted. But the car seen here is a first glimpse of what the new Lotus flagship will look like when it arrives in December 2009.

The classic Esprit wedge shape looks set to make a reappearance, with Ferrari-esque circular rear lights and rear buttresses flowing round from the rear screen. Up front there will be fixed lights in place of the original car’s pop-up items and large air intakes to feed cooling air to the radiators.

Improved packaging
Unlike the Elise range and new Eagle, the Esprit will use a classic longitudinally mounted engine to make room for a suitably potent V8 powerplant. Rumour has it this will be the new twin-turbo, 4.4-litre unit from the X6, which uses an unusual layout for the turbo and exhaust system to aid packaging.

In the X6 it produces 402bhp, which in the lightweight VVA chassis would deliver explosive performance as it stands. But skilled engineers at Lotus are capable of developing their own engine management systems and this, together with the tuneable nature of turbo engines, opens up the potential for much more potent versions of this engine.