Filed under: Lotus, Motorcycle, Racing
Lotus founder Colin Chapman is famously quoted as saying something to the effect of "Simplify, then add lightness." We're a bit amazed that it took this long, but someone appears to be taking that message to heart at the British marque, losing a couple of wheels, a clutter of bodywork and a whole mess of weight. No, Lotus isn't planning another spindly Seven-style trackday racer, it's getting into motorcycles.
Well, sort of. As an automaker, Lotus apparently isn't directly behind this two-wheeled effort, but it does appear to have officially lent its brand and logo to a new company, Lotus Motorcycles, which counts former Volkswagen Group designer Daniel Simon, Germany's Holzer Group and auto racing team Kodewa among its partners. The latter builds and races Lotus' T128 Le Mans Prototype in the World Endurance Championship series.
The new company is touting an as-yet unseen motorcycle, a racing-inspired "hyper bike" called C-01, releasing only the image above - a carbon fiber fuel tank trimmed in Lotus' trademark black and gold livery. Details are tough to come by, but the project is said to include a powertrain good for around 200 horsepower and construction involving titanium, carbon fiber and aerospace-grade steel.
The C-01's shape will come from Simon, a designer who has not only worked at Bugatti, he's also credited with a few Hollywood fantasymobiles, including the Lightcycle from Tron: Legacy and more recently the "Bubbleship" spacecraft used by Tom Cruise in Oblivion. The company promises that the legendary Lotus 49 racecar was a "main inspiration" in its conception, and "all color schemes pay homage to iconic Lotus racing liveries." We can't wait to see more, but we'll have to - at least a little while. The company says we can expect further images and information in "the next few weeks." For more, check out the company's statement released via Facebook by scrolling below.
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Lotus getting into the motorcycle business originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 Jun 2013 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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