Lotus & Cosworth.... good news for Lexus owners?
03-04-10, 07:20 PM
#1
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NY
Posts: 3,370
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Lotus & Cosworth.... good news for Lexus owners?
Group Lotus and Cosworth Announce Strategic Partnership
Two of Britain's most renowned automotive names to become closely associated through a strategic partnership looking at the opportunity to develop high performance engines for Lotus road and race cars
The new partnership includes the supply by Cosworth of high performance engines based upon existing Toyota engines for future Lotus cars and the assembly by Cosworth of racing engines for all motorsport activities which are based on Toyota powertrains. The first application of these race engines will be for the V6 engine in the new Lotus Evora Cup racing car.
Dany Bahar CEO of Group Lotus commented, "The ties between Lotus and Cosworth are, of course, already historical ones but our new strategic relationship is based purely on Cosworth's competencies, brand and race engine development capabilities. This new strategic partnership will align two of the most renowned names in the automotive world and will be of huge benefit for both organisations."
Tim Routsis, CEO & Managing Director of Cosworth Group said, "I am delighted that the Cosworth name is once again linked to Lotus through this new strategic partnership and these new high performance engines. Our mutual history over many decades resulted in a great number of racing successes and I expect to see further triumphs not only on the racetrack but also in the competitive high performance sportscar market, where Lotus is already acknowledged as a world leader."
Two of Britain's most renowned automotive names to become closely associated through a strategic partnership looking at the opportunity to develop high performance engines for Lotus road and race cars
The new partnership includes the supply by Cosworth of high performance engines based upon existing Toyota engines for future Lotus cars and the assembly by Cosworth of racing engines for all motorsport activities which are based on Toyota powertrains. The first application of these race engines will be for the V6 engine in the new Lotus Evora Cup racing car.
Dany Bahar CEO of Group Lotus commented, "The ties between Lotus and Cosworth are, of course, already historical ones but our new strategic relationship is based purely on Cosworth's competencies, brand and race engine development capabilities. This new strategic partnership will align two of the most renowned names in the automotive world and will be of huge benefit for both organisations."
Tim Routsis, CEO & Managing Director of Cosworth Group said, "I am delighted that the Cosworth name is once again linked to Lotus through this new strategic partnership and these new high performance engines. Our mutual history over many decades resulted in a great number of racing successes and I expect to see further triumphs not only on the racetrack but also in the competitive high performance sportscar market, where Lotus is already acknowledged as a world leader."
Source: Autoblog
03-04-10, 07:28 PM
#2
Tech Info Resource
iTrader: (2)
I would so love to see Lotus/Cosworth offer aftermarket programmable engine management for Toyota engines, even if it's race only. I can't think of anything more exciting about this new deal!
03-05-10, 06:26 AM
#3
Driver School Candidate
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: IN
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The ECU in the lotus itself could be replaced with a Cosworth EC Pro most likely. It currently uses EFI on most of the applications IIRC.
Unfortunately with how different the wiring and CAN Bus is between vehicles, i would imagine it would be highly unlikely to see a Lotus derived ECU being easily converted over to a Lexus car.
Markets where an aftermarket ECU is needed heavily is where the money is for that application. This would include the current offerings : EVO, STi...etc.
The only cossie parts directly for lexus are the Cossie Air Filters for the 250 and 350 AFAIK.
Unfortunately with how different the wiring and CAN Bus is between vehicles, i would imagine it would be highly unlikely to see a Lotus derived ECU being easily converted over to a Lexus car.
Markets where an aftermarket ECU is needed heavily is where the money is for that application. This would include the current offerings : EVO, STi...etc.
The only cossie parts directly for lexus are the Cossie Air Filters for the 250 and 350 AFAIK.
03-05-10, 07:08 AM
#4
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NY
Posts: 3,370
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The ECU in the lotus itself could be replaced with a Cosworth EC Pro most likely. It currently uses EFI on most of the applications IIRC.
Unfortunately with how different the wiring and CAN Bus is between vehicles, i would imagine it would be highly unlikely to see a Lotus derived ECU being easily converted over to a Lexus car.
Markets where an aftermarket ECU is needed heavily is where the money is for that application. This would include the current offerings : EVO, STi...etc.
The only cossie parts directly for lexus are the Cossie Air Filters for the 250 and 350 AFAIK.
Unfortunately with how different the wiring and CAN Bus is between vehicles, i would imagine it would be highly unlikely to see a Lotus derived ECU being easily converted over to a Lexus car.
Markets where an aftermarket ECU is needed heavily is where the money is for that application. This would include the current offerings : EVO, STi...etc.
The only cossie parts directly for lexus are the Cossie Air Filters for the 250 and 350 AFAIK.
Anyway, the Idea is in my head is not to try and adopt race parts, but rather that cosworth would have a knowledge base for these engines and be willing to produce parts for "mortal" cars.
03-05-10, 07:16 AM
#5
Driver School Candidate
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: IN
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
No, I have tried. I was stating that there are a lot more people wanting to make 700 hp out of a subaru or an EVO than there are willing to tear up a lexus.
I would imagine, unless there is an NDA about the engineering work, that the parts could be for sale later outside of the OEMs. I would imagine the same type of products that are now available for the VQ, the 4G63, the duratec motors, the Subie motors...etc.
However many of the cars that cosworth lends their hands for OEM work never sell the engineering work outside of what they did for the manufacturer.
I would imagine, unless there is an NDA about the engineering work, that the parts could be for sale later outside of the OEMs. I would imagine the same type of products that are now available for the VQ, the 4G63, the duratec motors, the Subie motors...etc.
However many of the cars that cosworth lends their hands for OEM work never sell the engineering work outside of what they did for the manufacturer.
03-14-10, 10:33 AM
#6
Lead Lap
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 693
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The Lotus/Cosworth partnership expands to IndyCar racing, with longtime F1 Honda-powered driver Takuma Sato driving for KV Racing:
For more: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/13/o...-indycar-seri/
For more: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/13/o...-indycar-seri/
03-14-10, 10:51 AM
#7
Lead Lap
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 693
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
As to the question posed by MR_F1 in the title of this thread, a bunch of random, unrelated questions and thoughts pop into my head.
Lotus has definitely done a commendable job improving both the power output of Toyota engines and improving the shifting precision and feel of what started out as FWD Toyota transaxles as used in Lotus' current road cars. But how much, if at all, were these improvements tested to Toyota's vaunted durability standards? I haven't read anything out there that answers this question one way or the other, Consumer Reports certainly doesn't have enough Lotus owners providing data, and I don't know if CR's British equivalents (called either Which?, Which Car? or What Car?, I don't recall exactly) do either.
Also, it seems that, to some extent, Cosworth working to tune and improve Toyota and Lexus engines might either duplicate, compete with or impinge upon what Yamaha occasionally does for Toyota in Japan. Or would it be in Toyota's best interest to have Cosworth and Yamaha compete against each other to see who would do a better job tuning and improving the carmaker's engines? Or, with the blessings of Akio Toyoda, would we see Toyota Lotus or Toyota Cosworth hot hatches and sports coupes for Europe reminiscent of the Ford Lotus Cortinas from the 1960's or the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton from the early 1990s?
Lotus has definitely done a commendable job improving both the power output of Toyota engines and improving the shifting precision and feel of what started out as FWD Toyota transaxles as used in Lotus' current road cars. But how much, if at all, were these improvements tested to Toyota's vaunted durability standards? I haven't read anything out there that answers this question one way or the other, Consumer Reports certainly doesn't have enough Lotus owners providing data, and I don't know if CR's British equivalents (called either Which?, Which Car? or What Car?, I don't recall exactly) do either.
Also, it seems that, to some extent, Cosworth working to tune and improve Toyota and Lexus engines might either duplicate, compete with or impinge upon what Yamaha occasionally does for Toyota in Japan. Or would it be in Toyota's best interest to have Cosworth and Yamaha compete against each other to see who would do a better job tuning and improving the carmaker's engines? Or, with the blessings of Akio Toyoda, would we see Toyota Lotus or Toyota Cosworth hot hatches and sports coupes for Europe reminiscent of the Ford Lotus Cortinas from the 1960's or the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton from the early 1990s?
Trending Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
