Gascoyne doesn't understand Lotus Cars

Mike Gascoyne, technical director of Lotus Racing, has difficulty understanding the approach of Lotus Cars which has positioned itself as a rival to the Malaysian team. For the Briton, a partnership would have been more effective.

Published on 22/11/2010 à 13:13

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The Lotus Cars / Lotus Racing affair puts Tony Fernandes in embarrassment. The Malaysian who dreamed of reviving the legendary team will undoubtedly be forced to return the Lotus license to the Proton group which owns the brand. Mike Gascoyne wonders about the benefit of such an approach, while Lotus Cars let the team take back the name at the start of the year.

The technical director, however, hoped to continue to evolve within the official Lotus team. “ We brought back the Lotus name in F1, we did a superb job », commented the technical director on the radio BBC Norfolk. " We don't really understand why the Lotus Group doesn't support us in our work. »

« We brought great value to the brand, investors brought in something like 80 million pounds (68 million euros) to the brand and team development », Specified the British engineer. “ We find it difficult to understand why the Lotus Group wants to kick us out. »

If Mike Gascoyne is not directly concerned by this quarrel, he still deplores this situation. “ It's not in my hands ", he added. " My work does not change whatever the name and it is the same for all engineers. But I think it's a real shame. We are a Norfolk based team, we were proud to bring the Lotus name back to F1 and we don't quite understand the lack of support from the Lotus Group. »

The technical director also questions the state of the brand's finances. “ It seems that they have announced that they want to compete in all the world disciplines, the only question is who will pay for all this? », he asked. “ For a manufacturer in decline, that leaves me a little perplexed. But if that's what they want, good luck to them. »

The battle therefore seems to have been won by the Lotus Group. If we feel all the bitterness of the men of Lotus Racing, Mike Gascoyne has the merit of raising the right questions.