27.11.2009
The rumour-mill will be busy trying to connect the visit of Jacques Villeneuve to Group Lotus’ Hethel HQ with the still to be announced driver line-up of Lotus’ F1 team.
He used his visit to catch-up with old friends and the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion was presented with a chronicle of Lotus’ rich history, from its founding years with a tour of Colin Chapman’s first workshops, to a session in the firm’s latest offering, the award winning Evora, on Lotus’ own test track.
It was a rare chance for Clive Chapman (son of Lotus’ founder Colin Chapman) to share with Villeneuve some of his father’s much loved projects and the two exchanged stories of the days they respectively shared with their fathers when they were competing in Formula 1.
It was a great moment for the Lotus workforce to see Villeneuve passing through the manufacturing facility often stopping to take in the detail of the process and to pose for photos and autographs. Recently appointed CEO of Group Lotus, Dany Bahar, was keen to stress the importance of this exciting visit to boost morale saying, “Jacques’ visit is an honour for Lotus and Lotus is a team. Our people are a blend of talent and expertise combined with passion for our brand. Our highlights are theirs, so this is a special day for us all.”
Villeneuve was delighted to have spent the day at the home of Lotus, “It has been a great day for me to catch-up with my friend Gino Rosato in his new role at Lotus and to see where the magic of Lotus comes from. My first toy car as a child was a replica model of Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus 72, I could say his name before I could say my dad’s! I really enjoyed watching them racing when I was a boy. It has been a really fun trip for me, and to see the people working to build the Evora was particularly nice.”
Following Villeneuve’s drive of the Evora he shared his impressions with the engineering team responsible for developing the car. Villeneuve, impressed with the performance of the car, concluded “It’s a really nice car, fun and comfortable to drive”.
-
- Lotus Evora photgraphed in Loch Lomond
-
- Lotus Evora photgraphed in Loch Lomond
-
- The Lotus F1 bays earlier this week. Photo courtesy of: Jake Humphrey (BBC F1 presenter)
About Steve Davies
Steve is a media, venture, and technology advisor and a former Partner at KPMG Consulting, PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Managing Partner at EIM - his clients range from global web and media companies to small start-ups. He formed Drivers Republic (DR) in 2007, the UK's first digital automotive magazine, with a team of EVO and Autocar writers before creating SkiddMark, and also writes as a guest contributor on Unruly Media’s Meme Machine blog and for Econsultancy’s digital marketing blog.
Subscribe to Steve's podcasts.Tell us what you think..
When you post a comment, it will also appear in your News Feed on Facebook (if you so choose), enabling you to take the conversation to where your friends already are. Thereafter you can continue discussing on Facebook and the conversations between SkiddMark and Facebook will be auto-magically synched, regardless of where the comment was made.
12 Comments
Mike GT
November 27, 2009Wow, I actually like it in yellow.
Steve
November 27, 2009It’s a grower…
Mike GT
November 27, 2009Wow, I actually like it in yellow.
Steve
November 27, 2009It’s a grower…
Brumo
November 27, 2009JV at Lotus. Man this is a dream come true for many fans if Jacques get the ride next season. Come on Lotus, please sign him. Thanks
Steve
November 27, 2009Signing Villeneuve would certainly add some spice to the F1 grid and I’d quite like to see him again – I reckon he’s matured and become a more interesting person in his time away from F1.
It would also be great for Lotus in terms of publicity, but they need to ensure they also sign a young up-and-coming driver who can really give the team a strong future.
I noticed an article published in the Norwich Evening News, reporting that he’d popped into one of the local pubs on the same day. I’m not being cynical but he clearly was intent on ‘being seen’ whilst at Lotus, either because he’s trying to convince them or because a deal has already been done and this was the first step in his PR duties. I look forward to finding out.
Brumo
November 27, 2009JV at Lotus. Man this is a dream come true for many fans if Jacques get the ride next season. Come on Lotus, please sign him. Thanks
Steve
November 27, 2009Signing Villeneuve would certainly add some spice to the F1 grid and I’d quite like to see him again – I reckon he’s matured and become a more interesting person in his time away from F1.
It would also be great for Lotus in terms of publicity, but they need to ensure they also sign a young up-and-coming driver who can really give the team a strong future.
I noticed an article published in the Norwich Evening News, reporting that he’d popped into one of the local pubs on the same day. I’m not being cynical but he clearly was intent on ‘being seen’ whilst at Lotus, either because he’s trying to convince them or because a deal has already been done and this was the first step in his PR duties. I look forward to finding out.
Archie Davies
November 27, 2009Would this mean a return to the baggy race suits? hehe
would definitely add spice!
Archie Davies
November 27, 2009Would this mean a return to the baggy race suits? hehe
would definitely add spice!
uberVU - social comments
November 27, 2009Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by DriversRepublic: RT @driversrepublic Jacques Villeneuve pays a visit to Lotus | SkiddMark http://bit.ly/8iNCJi…
suehiggins » Blog Archive » Quick Roundup
December 5, 2009[...] http://www.skiddmark.com/jacques-villeneuve-pays-a-visit-to-lotus/… withdraws its bid for SaabQuote: “We’re obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purch; Mike GT on Geiger Cars reveals its Ford GT-based HP 790I just hope someone will put Ford’s new 6.2 V8 in a Ford GT. … [...]