A royal visit to Hethel

[Cartunes]

Well, Princess came home to Hethel today, attached to the man with a permanent, satisfied grin, @svensktoppen . Nice to meet you both Nick.

 

[Phil_D]

Excellent

 

[Boydie]

Where is the milk?

 

[Cartunes]

Coffee and Milk are FREE at Hethel......... for employees and dirty, loaded contractors!

 

[MarkM]

Did you have to keep it quiet that there was a dirty filthy Honda in the back?

 

[svensktoppen]

Was a brilliant day, did the full factory tour, plus the heritage tour over at team classic Lotus

Good to see you Dell!

The guide was well sick of all the nerdy questions

The heritage tour was excellent, all the F1 cars, and more importantly all the significant cars - first mono-coque, first use of engine as a stressed component, first side pods, first carbon tub, plenty of cool aero, the infamous "double chassis" cars, etc.

Then Ronny's car, Jim's car (THAT one), Ayrton's turbo monster (THAT one), and so on, on and on.

And all of them still being driven, most being raced, no show queens in glass boxes

Only slight downside was the mean man wouldn't let me take a picture of the shed where Princess was born, lol.

 

[svensktoppen]

Classic Lotus workshop, cars just back in from Goodwood Revival.

Jim's car. His actual car. THAT car. In pieces on the workshop floor after being raced all weekend. Just how cool is that He would very much approve!

 

[svensktoppen]

Did you have to keep it quiet that there was a dirty filthy Honda in the back?

Actually... as it turns out... sticking a Honda in the back of a Lotus is a time-honoured recipe for eternal happiness

 

[Cooper]

I cannot wait to get over to Hethel at the end of the month! Great pics @svensktoppen and my appetite is whet!

 

[svensktoppen]

And then the parking lot up in the attic above the workshop

Ronny's car, straight back from Goodwood.

The half finished car at the front is the first Lotus GP car ever. Never raced, now being restored for the family.

Ayrton's mad crazy bonkers Turbo car.

 

[svensktoppen]

We did the full factory tour as well, but no pictures allowed anywhere for that.

@Cooper you will enjoy the Evora assembly line! You will also have a good snigger at the ridiculous bicycle tyres (175 section!) they put at the front of all new Lotii, lol, no wonder it's the first thing anyone changes. I had to ask if they were just for rolling around the production line before the real ones got put on, but apparently not

The shed where Princess was built is now used for pre-assembly of subframes and prep of body panels. The main assembly line is in a new building next door.

The back of the old shed is the old main entrance and main offices, but it is now turned into a souvenir shop. The mean man wouldn't even let me take a picture of that! It has a lovely duck pond and a wee park in front leading up to the runway that Colin used to use. Apparently that was how anyone that mattered arrived The main road entrance at the back is very industrial and strictly for us hoy polloy!

As a side-note to that - a B&B out in the Cotswolds I frequent from time to time is run by an ultra cool South African lady who has had a very interesting life. Including flying Colin's private plane. So that is my claim to fame

Managed to sneak a photo of the family present on the day:

Look closely - there are three classic Lotii in the picture!

That's the test track in front, and as luck would have it a Japanese chap was having a spin in one of his toys after Goodwood

 

[Cartunes]

I enjoyed the day as well, stuck in the office writing specs for the next audio systems and listening to thunder coming from the track 150ft from my office chair.

 

[svensktoppen]

Audio system for a Lotus is easy - just spec the cheapest off the shelf unit because nobody can hear it anyway, and then get out to the track

 

[Cartunes]

Audio system for a Lotus is easy - just spec the cheapest off the shelf unit because nobody can hear it anyway, and then get out to the track

Not for the next cars Nik-o-lass. Mr Feng (fong) wants us to up the game in all models, current and future. We're not accepting "barely good enough" from suppliers any more! If you saw what I'm doing now on 4 car projects, it would blow your mind. I might tell you and Cooper offline sometime.

 

[svensktoppen]

As long as they keep making light and nimble bare essentials Elise

You've definitely landed in a good place, at the right time

 

[Cartunes]

As long as they keep making light and nimble bare essentials Elise

You've definitely landed in a good place, at the right time

Geely taking majority control was the only thing that brought me to Hethel. I don't think I could go back to Gordon Murray now having seen the plans Mr Feng has presented for the next five years and beyond. There's a lot of resistance from the Chassis team who fear losing the agility and the Lotus heritage of less is more, but the new owners want to make cars that people want to buy, and that will keep me in a job!
I agree with you though, we need to offer stripped-out cars as well - it's helped Lotus sell a few hundred cars a year for a long time.

 

[svensktoppen]

2000 cars this year according to our guide

But yes, making real world cars has to be on the list. But then if they loose the very thing that makes them a Lotus, then it's just another Porsche clone, and then everyone will just buy the Porsche. Tricky balance to find!

The purists would argue the latest V6 Exige has already crossed that line, really a pared back Evora rather than a faster Elise Nearly twice the weight of my S1 Elise, lol.

Anywhere Geely have gone good things have followed though!

 

[Neil_M]

What a workshop and collection of cars.

Not a bad place to work at all lol!

Lovely.

 

[mayweather]

Looks amazing! Great pics

 

[Cartunes]

2000 cars this year according to our guide

2000? I think that some cars must be getting counted twice - Bentley worked a scam like that too. Intentions are for the next, all-new sports car to sell 10,000 per annum. One variant, which I can't even talk about for a year at least, they are hoping to sell 30,000 units. Unheard of in this ex-airfield in Norfolk. Next problem we have is recruitment! No-one wants to live in Norwich as it's 100 miles on a bumpy road before one reaches civilisation. I like it though, as I was brought up in the wilds of Ballymena. Norwich is definitely an upgrade.