For domestic car fans, this year's F1 arena is definitely worth paying attention to. Not only because Zhou Guanyu became the first Chinese driver to participate in the main race in the more than 70 years since the establishment of the Formula One World Championship. It is also because in this year's event system, the aerodynamic "forbidden art" of ground effect has been reapplied to the rules of racing design, which has greatly increased the performance of the car and the viewing of the race. When it comes to the ground effect, we have to mention a British sports car brand that once competed in F1 - Lotus.
With founder Colin Chapman's structural engineering background and RAF service experience, Lotus's development path has always been with the wind and has relied on aerodynamic design to make a name for himself. Since debuting in the F1 Championship in 1958, Lotus has won seven F1 Manufacturers Championships, six Drivers' Championships and 81 Formula 1 Championships. At the same time, it also created a number of F1 racing techniques and derived a number of championship cars.
The power of the wind swept the arena
Let's pull the timeline back to the 1950s. At that time, in britain and even in Europe, the racing culture reached an unprecedented level, and the world's highest level of motorsport was born at this time. In 1950, the first Formula One World Championship was held at Silverstone in the United Kingdom. Although Chapman had just built a second Lotus car with the help of his family and friends, chapman decided to enter F1 after only 8 years and established the "Team Lotus" team.
Lotus, who debuted on the F1 stage, faced with powerful Italian players such as Alpha Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari, etc., was obviously a little weak, but how could the "paranoid" Chapman easily concede defeat. "Acceleration allows you to run faster on the straights, and weight loss allows you to run faster anywhere." When creating an F1 car, Chapman incorporated lightweight design ideas into it, making the body as compact as possible, although there was a loss in power output, but with good handling.
In 1963, the Lotus Type 25 was the groundbreaking use of an aluminium monocoque body, a structure that was lightweight and strong, and soon gave Chapman and his Lotus team a taste of sweetness. Driven by legendary driver Jim Clark, Lotus won the F1 team and driver's "double" that year. But at the same time, it also brings another problem, that is, too lightweight cars, which are easily affected by lift when driving at high speeds.
Based on the experience of serving in the Royal Air Force, Chapman was familiar with the aerodynamics of aircraft, and he used the wing design of the aircraft to the Type 49 model, and then made further innovations according to the characteristics of the wind wing. The addition of the "high wind fixing wing" allows the car to produce strong air downforce, resulting in greater grip performance. In 1968, it was Jim Clark again, who drove the Lotus Type 49 to the first South African Grand Prix of the season, and the design of the wind tail was followed by teams.
The wind does not stop, and the evolution does not stop. In F1 in 1978, the black and gold version of the Lotus Type 79 brought the "ground effect" to the track, and with its amazing downforce and cornering speed, the Lotus team almost monopolized the various awards in the season's competition. Known as one of the most pioneering models in F1, the TA subversively moved the front radiator into the side box, using the force of the wind to firmly adsorb the car on the road, and also led F1 racing into the era of aerodynamics.
Extreme wind direction Extraordinary
After entering the 90s, Lotus has gradually moved away from the F1 arena, but the desire for wind has never stopped. Its sports car product lines such as Elise, Exige and Evora all continue lotus's pursuit of extreme lightweight and aerodynamic design principles, and even when the production is discontinued, it is still a driving specialty that fans talk about.
To this day, Lotus, which is in the transition period, still engraves the appearance of the wind on each product. In 2019, Lotus released its first pure electric supercar Evija, a pioneering "porous" design that once again refreshed people's understanding of driving wind. The aerodynamic performance is integrated into the body form to show, and the "performance definition aesthetics" of the car philosophy is truly realized. At the same time, the Evija's beautifully lined Venturi passage and exaggerated eye design at the rear also produced enough downforce to exceed the weight of the car and break the record of the production car by 1.8 tons.
Two years later, Lotus brought the masterpiece of the fuel age, Emira, which is enough to see the determination to impact the electrified and intelligent track. As yet another breathing Lotus, Emira's heritage and tribute to the Evija can be seen everywhere. The sophisticated vehicle aerodynamic design spreads throughout the body and produces significant downforce without relying on the active aerodynamic kit to guarantee extremely high dynamic limits in the corners. At the same time, the addition of more practical and comfortable technological elements has also made the Emira the most versatile road sports car ever built by Lotus.
Continue to write glory
A better ending is for a better start. The glory of the fuel era is vividly remembered, and lotus in the electric age should let more fans and consumers see lotus's persistence and innovation. How to combine track performance and the field of life cars, this topic Lotus gave the best response with the brand's first pure electric HYPER SUV Eletre.
As Ben Payne, head of the Coventry Lotus Technology And Creative Centre (LTCC), puts it: "Eletre embodies the whole new height that the 'Carved by air' concept can reach." "Carved by air" is a ride against the wind, accurately summarizing the design methods and styling characteristics of Eletre, and the essence of aerodynamic design that has been tested by decades of track is reflected in every detail of it.
The 20-million-level pure electric supercar Evija provided inspiration for Eletre's design, and the whole body 7 sets of air ducts reproduced the porosity philosophy. Multiple pores are clearly visible, whether it's the two vents above the front hood, behind the front arch, behind the rear wheels, or even the top of the D-pillar. From the driving point of view, the advantages of the porous design are self-evident, it reduces the resistance encountered by the car body to cut through the air, effectively improves the endurance, speed and performance, and brings a more efficient driving experience.
In addition to this, the Eletre also has a "breathing" active air intake grille. The grille design is exquisite and complex, and the triangular lotus petals are connected to each other to form a matrix arrangement. When the vehicle is stationary or needs to reduce drag while driving, it remains closed, and when the motor, battery pack and braking system need to be cooled, it opens in a unique way, sucking in air flowing to the radiator and allowing the Eletre to start "breathing", a further example of the porosity design.
As an SUV with the name hyper, the Eletre naturally does not compromise in terms of performance. The front and rear dual motors can burst out up to nearly 1,000 horsepower, and with a full-time four-wheel drive system, Eletre's zero hundred performance can reach within 3 seconds. Such acceleration results are among the few in the supercar circle. In addition, based on the 800V high-voltage platform, Eletre, while having extremely fast performance, can also achieve extremely fast charging, relying on 350kW charging pile, only need to charge 20 minutes to replenish 400 kilometers of battery life.
epilogue
From the F1 arena to the benchmark of pure electric supercar SUV, Lotus has been accompanied by the wind, constantly refreshing track records, and bringing a fascinating handling experience to many people who are loyal to driving. As a milestone in Lotus's Vision 80 brand revitalization plan, Eletre embodies the wisdom of Lotus's global team, drawing the core and brand DNA from Lotus's more than 70 years of sports car design and engineering heritage, and interpreting it in a new way. The pioneer, rebellion, and elegance are combined, and in the name of "new life", they will gallop all the way on the fast lane of the E era.