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The Official F1 2009 thread. *may contain spoilers*


Nic

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Ownership is nothing ;) The cars will be built in Naarfolk :) Might have to swing by and see if they need an I.T. monkey ;)

 

Indeed it's going to be built near Bernard Matthews :D

 

Alas looks like eventually it'll be built out of Sepang as it's all backed by Malaysian government/investors. I should be happy at that being half Malay and half my family in Kuala Lumpur in fact, but Lotus to me is resoundingly British.

 

 

You've given me a strange freaky feeling of deja vu dude! :)

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Alas looks like eventually it'll be built out of Sepang as it's all backed by Malaysian government/investors. I should be happy at that being half Malay and half my family in Kuala Lumpur in fact, but Lotus to me is resoundingly British.

 

 

I think I've read that it will be made at RNT in Norfolk, which odly enough was originally built for Toyota.

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Tony, Not sure if this as been asked but what would the chances be of arranging a factory visit for the club?

 

I'd like to be able to say yes, but unfortunately the company charges for tours. It's either £100 or £150 a head. :(

We used to be able to sneak an odd friend in now and then, but we've just become a bonded facility (which basically means we don't have to take stuff through customs) but as a result the security has been ramped up, so no more friends and family either. :(

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I think I've read that it will be made at RNT in Norfolk, which odly enough was originally built for Toyota.

 

Quite ironic though.

 

I was only going by the news article regarding the eventual move to Malaysia though :

 

The Lotus team will be initially based in Norfolk, though its future design, research and development, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose built at Malaysia's Sepang International circuit.

 

In its new incarnation the team is a partnership between the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs.

 

It will be led by team principal Tony Fernandes, the founder of the Malaysian-based Tune Group, which owns the Air Asia airline.

 

Mike Gascoyne - who has 20 years experience in the sport after working with Jordan, Renault, Toyota, and most recently Force India - returns to F1 as the team's technical director.

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I'd like to be able to say yes, but unfortunately the company charges for tours. It's either £100 or £150 a head. :(

We used to be able to sneak an odd friend in now and then, but we've just become a bonded facility (which basically means we don't have to take stuff through customs) but as a result the security has been ramped up, so no more friends and family either. :(

 

Jesus. Can you imagine trying to get a f1 car through the airport...

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Quite shocking. Wondering if it'll cause Renault to pull out for 2010 onwards. Can't remember if they were one of the teams signing up to the new Concorde agreement until 2012.

 

Shame about Symonds really. Wonder if this'll force the shakeup of the drivers market to come sooner.

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Great news, Renault should be kicked out now IMO, none of this waiting til next season rubbish.

 

The guilty party's have left the team.

 

You can't just kick a whole team out, it's people's livelihoods at stake. The mechanics aren't on the drivers' millions and they have bills to pay.

 

Kicking Renault out of the championship could and probably would make them redundant. Symonds and Flav called the shots and have gone. The rest of the people there are innocent of any wrong-doing (at least relating to this).

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Would be a shame to lose them as a bit of diversity from a chassis/engine perspective.

 

Maybe Lotus could hire a lot of the staff :)

 

Edit : Renault indeed are signed up to the Concorde agreement spanning until 2012 so I guess it won't be that cheap to wangle their way out of it?

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Symonds was offerd full immunity by the FIA if he fell on his sword and shopped Briatore. Symmonds refused to co-operate and failed to answer any questions during the investigation.

 

So the two protagonists have left. Renault still deserve some sanction but I hope that they allow them to continue in 2010. If they don't then I know for a fact that 700 people will be looking at redundancy. :(

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Renault still deserve some sanction but I hope that they allow them to continue in 2010. If they don't then I know for a fact that 700 people will be looking at redundancy. :(

 

Exactly the point I made earlier on in this thread. The two instigators have gone - but don't punish the minions.

 

Maybe take the 10 points off that Fernando got from that now ill-fated race from this years total? Hurt the team in the pocket a little, but it won't put people out of jobs.

 

I think Renault will be in the 5hit next year anyways. Alonso gets the best out of that car and is punching above its weight - Roman Grosjean can't seem to match him in race-pace. Almost like Heikki and The Tool.

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The possible consequences in asking for a driver to crash could've been horrendous if another car had hit the debri or some of it had gone over the fence. It only took a wheel bouncing across the track to kill Henry Surtees. :blink:

 

 

Briatore and Symonds should be prosecuted in a criminal court, leaving the team isn't enough in my opinion.

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Wow, first I've heard, great news!

 

well i was never a big Briatore fan in the first place, but lately he really started acting like a rich class A tw*t. its a good thing for the sport that hes gone. although whether he actually leaves f1 is another matter.

 

Symonds, i get the feeling, was the monkey. shame cos he was one smart arsed chimp!

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Briatore and Symonds should be prosecuted in a criminal court, leaving the team isn't enough in my opinion.

 

Well, wouldn't that make Piquet some kind of accessory?

 

If Piquet hadn't lost his drive, we'd never have known about this - which makes me wonder how many times something like this before has happened - but where no jobs/positions/drives were lost and it's been kept quiet.

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well i was never a big Briatore fan in the first place, but lately he really started acting like a rich class A tw*t. its a good thing for the sport that hes gone. although whether he actually leaves f1 is another matter.

 

Symonds, i get the feeling, was the monkey. shame cos he was one smart arsed chimp!

 

Sarcasm is lost on you I see :D

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