Lotus Cup USA 2011, Round 1, Day 1

Lotus Cars staging to hit the track during the first practice session in the Lotus Cup USA Round 1 challenge. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

Lotus Cup USA 2011, Round 1, Day 1

The morning began cool, but not wintry cool, and soon warmed up to a gathering crowd anticipating that something unique was about to get underway. At the Lotus Cup USA tent, four 2011 Evora's from Van Nuys, CA based Galpin Lotus Cars were lining up for the Evora Experience. The paddock area behind the tent was abuzz with the tuning activity and engine warm-ups as everyone was getting ready to take to the track. Willow Springs International Motorsports Park is just about the same latitude as Edwards Air Force Base where the B2, flying wing, stealth bomber was developed and Space Shuttles land when the weather on the East Coast isn't helping.

Lotus Cars as they sit in the paddock area getting ready for another session on the track. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

Today is the day that an official Lotus Cup Series of races get underway for the first time in North American history. This is not to say that Lotuses (or is that Loti - as in multiple Lotus Cars take over a track for an exclusive race between themselves) have never raced in North America, but this is the first time sanctioned event by the manufacturer - hence Lotus Cup USA.

Session one timing and scoring sheets. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

Out of curiosity, what do Lotus fans, drivers, and followers call themselves?

People who work for XEROX refer to themselves as XEROIDS, people who live in Los Angeles are known as Angelenos, and people who live in Buenos Aires are called "Portenas". So, what do people who associate themselves with Lotus Cars, and the motor culture of Lotus Cars call themselves? An interesting ponderance.

Galpin Evora's staged for the Evora Experience where people who are interested in purchasing or recommending the Evora to car buying friends, take an Evora out on the track and run it through its paces. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

They may have already named themselves in Europe where the sporting effort of Lotus Cup is going strong, but it is a well-known American tradition to have a quick nickname ready for something they like.

Using the examples above:

XEROID = Lotoid (nope)

Angeleno = Loteno (nix)

Manhattanite = Lotite (nada)

English = Lotish (no way)

IBMer = LOTer (uh-uh, as in a negative head nod)

Pakistani = Lotusi (gettin' closer)

Technorati / Literati / Blogerati = Loturati (WAY! - that's it).

[50 photo slideshow HERE>>]

Loturati! This is pretty good. The suffix of "rati" denotes the elite of a particular group. One could easily and honestly say, gathered around the Lotus Cup tent this first day of the first round of the first ever Lotus Cup USA, that we all found ourselves in the presence of ... Loturati.

Coming out of turn 3 and approaching turn 4 at Willow Springs International Motors ports Park.Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2011)

If day one warm-ups were any measure, the qualifications on March 6 at 8:55 AM, followed by the first race, set to start at 1:00 PM, the first round of eight scheduled in 2011, will be an unqualified success ... Loturati all!

... notes from The EDJE

Lotus Cup USA West ... Ready For Launch

Andy Kern's 2010 Isotope Green 2-Eleven with fully compliant inaugural 2011 Lotus Cup USA number plates for Round 1 at Willow Springs International Raceway. Image Credit: Andy Kern (2011)

Lotus Cup USA West ... Ready For Launch

The inaugural launch of what is hoped to become a grand club classic series of annual races (as the Lotus Cup has become in Europe) sets off from Rosamond, California at the oldest dedicated road course in Southern California ... Willow Springs International Raceway. This weekend, March 5 & 6, in conjunction with Redline Track Events, about 25 competitors will gather with their Lotus Elise, Exige, 2-Eleven and Europa race cars to begin an eight race series season that will see these very light and very fast enthusiast vehicles compete at some of the best racing venues anywhere. Welcome to the Lotus Cup USA - West Coast edition.

When the season-ending event at Las vegas Motor Speedway takes place during the first weekend of November, these Lotus car owners will have raced at such vaunted ALMS, NASCAR, and IndyCar venues as Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Firebird International Raceway at Phoenix, Miller Motorsports Park outside Salt Lake City, and, of course, Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca.

This weekend will also feature The Redline Pro Track Challenge, The Redline Pro Time Attack, and The MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship.

This excerpted and edited from Redline Track Events -

Road Racing With A Twist

The Pro Track Challenge introduces one of the most exciting twists to road racing in decades! Competitors will race “Heads-Up” in 2 lap, rolling start, wheel-to-wheel Battles, with the winner moving on and collecting the winnings; and the loser loading the car on the trailer. Over the course of an afternoon of racing, 22 separate Battles will play out in exciting “Green-White-Checker” intensity. With a winner being determined every four minutes, the Pro Track Challenge offers rapid fire action full of adrenaline, sure to keep you on the edge of your seat!
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Circuit Battles TV Show

Circuit Battles is the new television show airing on the Versus Network, chronicling the 16 teams of the Pro Track Challenge as they fight their way through the season. The first one hour show will air on Versus March 26th at 11:00 am Pacific time/2:00 pm Eastern time. Don’t miss the first “Circuit Battles”! It will be epic!
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Redline Pro Time Attack is the premiere event for Pro level time attack teams to showcase their talent, skills, products, and sponsors. Redline Pro Time Attack offers the most consistent, professionally managed and newsworthy events for the sport of Time Attack. As the longest running and most respected sanctioned time attack events in North America, Redline Pro Time Attack offers certifiable competition results, sanctioned by the most thorough and tested time attack rule set, backed by 40+ years of combined motorsport event experience.

Beginning with the 2011 season, Redline Pro Time Attack will reformat the weekend of racing activities to better showcase the top level talent and premier teams that are involved in the sport of time attack. Fans of the Redline Time Attack Series can expect to see a total of up to 45 cars competing at any given event, consisting of a wide range of vehicles, teams and drivers. The mix of vehicles will consist of both Franchise Teams and non-franchise teams.
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the MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship (MPTCC for short!), sanctioned by Redline Track Events, is set to reinvigorate road racing! With a relatively open set of rules for the two classes of competition, fan friendly aspects of the popular sport of Time Attack will finally be applied to traditional road racing.

Redline Track Events, has teamed up with Mike Kojima, founder of MotoIQ.com, to bring excitement and relevance back to circuit racing. Production based cars racing in two different classes (weight:power ratios) with bolt on performance upgrades will be a featured aspect of all 10 Rounds of the Redline Track Events 2011 season.

By following a simple formula of creating two classes, keeping the cars and the parts used relevant to the aftermarket tuner scene, featuring popular drivers and tuners, and welcoming fans and media alike, the MPTCC will quickly become the preferred destination for grass roots and semi-professional circuit racers.
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Free Ticket to Round 1 Willow Springs!

To introduce the new Pro Track Challenge racing format and to allow the maximum number of people possible to attend the filming of the first episode of “Circuit Battles”, Redline Track Events is giving away free tickets to Sunday, March 6th Round One at Willow Springs International Raceway!

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to be a part of the inaugural event of 2011. If you would like to attend Saturday, March 5th tickets will be available at the gate for $10.00. That makes the price of admission for a full weekend of non-stop action only $10.00!!!

Children under 12 are always free with an adult at Redline Track Events!
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The first episode of the TV show “Circuit Battles” will air on the Versus Channel March 26th at 11:00 am Pacific/2:00 pm Eastern. Be at part of history!!
Reference Here>>

While this pairing with the greater Redline Track Events makes for a broadened menu of track competition schedule of events ... seeing nothing but cars in colors with the unique character and hue of Isotope Green, Laser Blue, Chrome Orange, Carbon Grey, and Solar Yellow carrying the prestige of the Lotus car mark may just be what most purist club racers will be looking for during the inaugural Lotus Cup USA West Coast series of races at Willow Springs.

... notes from The EDJE

Lotus Elise Club Racer: Purity, Performance, Pleasure - A TRUE Lotus

Lotus Cup comes to North America - Over the years, the Lotus Cup Race Series has developed into one of the most successful enthusiasts race series brands in the world. Races feature capacity grids of Elise, Exige, 2-Eleven and Europa race cars racing and jostling for position. Previously operated exclusively from several countries in Europe and Japan, the Lotus Cup has now expanded considerably to include the USA, UK and Eastern Europe. Image Credit: lotuscars

Lotus Elise Club Racer: Purity, Performance, Pleasure - A TRUE Lotus

Anyone living under the misunderstanding that Lotus might be moving away from performance through lightweight due to all of the noise the release of the Lotus Evora has caused, one only needs to take a quick ride in the new 1.6 Lotus Elise Club Racer to know that this is definitely not the case. The hard working engineers at Lotus put even the lightest of Lotus’ modern cars on a diet and managed to shed a further 24kg - 52.9109429 pounds.

So how did Lotus manage to make one of the lightest models on the market even lighter?

The engineers behind the Elise Club Racer took a stripped-to-the-bare-bone approach visualized by the body-colored seats but materialized in many ways such as the motorsport derived lightweight battery and the stripping out of noise insulation. Attention to even the smallest of details has ensured that Lotus’ passion for performance through lightweight has been translated throughout the car.

For the first time ever ... an Elise variant comes complete with a Sport setting for the DPM (Dynamic Performance Management) allowing even the less experienced sports car drivers to feel at the top of their game, while the ability to switch it off completely will please the more established track orientated drivers. DPM combined with improved agility courtesy of Lotus finely tuned sport suspension and an adjustable anti-roll bar will make the Elise Club Racer equally versatile for both road and race track fun.

Wolf Zimmermann Chief Technical Officer Lotus Cars said: “The traditional Lotus approach of reduction and purity has lead to one of the most zeitgeist and contemporary sports cars around. For over 15 years the Lotus Elise has become an icon in the sports car market, carving out a niche market with a dedicated following of lightweight fans. The new Club Racer will definitely give these people something extra to get their teeth stuck into. This car epitomises everything that’s cool about the Elise – it’s fast, raw, responsive and a huge amount of fun to drive.”

Quality throughout the vehicle has been a top priority, highly regarded component suppliers such as Eibach for springs and Bilstein for dampers ensure that the Elise Club Racer is a car of quality substance as well as sporting style.

The Elise Club Racer seeks to please the eye as well as the soul with a choice of six rich and unique colors (Sky Blue - pictured above, Saffron Yellow, Ardent Red, Aspen White, Matt Black and Carbon Grey) that highlight Lotus design elements and emphasize the character of the car.

It’s pocket pleasing too, at 27,500 British Pounds - $44 676.50 / 34,450 Euros - $47 141.38 / 48,900 Swiss Franc - $51,365.10, the Elise Club Racer marks the new entry level sports car from Lotus. Also, with the Elise standard of just 149g CO2/km emissions contribution plus the weight reduction, the new Club Racer provides maximum fun without so much of the potential "green-guilt" some associate with the gentlemanly (ladies welcomed) pursuit of high performance driving.
(ht: lotuscars)