The Lotus has to compete against bigger and more powerful cars, something which it does with success
The Lotus knocked off the seventeen car field thatincluded Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche for his first podium finish. After qualifying on the front row just 0.6 seconds off the Aston Martin DBRS9 of John Kaias, Peter Lucas, who has steadily improved over 2 years of competition bagged a new lap record of 1min:33.45s for the category in the Lotus. A record previously held by Paul Stokell in a Lamborghini Diablo GTR.
Peter also holds records for Eastern Creek,1600-2000 sportscar and GT/Nations cup. This all off a win the previous weekend in the first OZ Superlap at Oran Park
So why the buzz, what’s the hype?
Simply put the Lotus is punching well above its weight. Literally! The Motorsport Elise 200 is a mere 700kg and is powered by supercharged 2 litre motor competing against engines of twice the capacity and 3 times the cylinders.
This is where the power to weight and brilliance of the Lotus chassis design come into their own. Lotus has a long history, mostly in Formula 1, of taking power plan from the likes of Ford, Renault and Honda, and improving on them, tuning them to maximum effect.
Jeff Kimmings of J&S Automotive is the brains behind building and improving the car, and in the true spirit of Lotus founder Colin Chapman has the 2 litre power plant running so quickly and so reliably he has many baffled.
“Who would have ever thought it could be done with our ultimate goal since day one only to be able to tag on with 996 Carrera Cup car.” Says Jeff from his humble workshop in Emu Plains, west of Sydney. “I can’t take all the credit” Jeff says, “Besides Pete’s consistent improvement, despite a ridiculous work schedule in his day job, we’ve also had great help from Scott Bargwanna and Mike Reedy also steering. Data help from Louie Kapitsas and a great team managed by Peter C Ross who keeps us ticking on race days with Garth Walden, Phil Armour, ‘Diesel’ Daz Wells and Glenn Townsend. They’re great guys and have a widening reputation for livening up the garage.”
A few others Jeff wants to send thanks to are Antons Race Electrics, Simon Ingram at Shell racing fuels, Andrew at Custom Carbon Components. The Report Factory and Urban Arrangements for their sponsorship support making it all possible and the Mackie Bros at Kirrapak.
Visiting the pits on race day and you can see all the Lotus teams have a great community spirit, even amidst competition. It’s great credit to the marque and to Lotus Cars Australia supporting the series.
So we all can’t wait for the GT Championship’ next round at Phillip Island Raceway on August 9-10 to see Jeff and the J&S Automotive team in action. The atmosphere at ‘The Creek’ was fantastic for spectators.
Thanks has got to go GT Australia for running an awesome event, improving the structure of the competition and we all hope it keeps growing.