Confidental Analysis: Lotus Racing
March 1st, 2016
From:
michelle.watkins@lr.gma
To:
dan.martinson@lr.gma
Hey boss,
I hope you enjoyed two days of holiday, you earned the two days off after having worked the last two weeks in the factory to make this car work. This is my team report, including the information gathered at the tests in Tondela while you were away. Take a deep breath.
The Chassis: Lotus Type 201
Hope you don't mind we gave the baby a name. 2 for the second iteration of
Lotus, 01 for the first or many. The good news: The car is reliable, we only had minor problems throughout the testing days in Portugal. Also, the chassis is solid, we do not absolutely kill the tyres and the fuel consumption is decent.
The bad news: If we race one of those cute red double-decker busses that are driving around in London, the bus would win. Seriously, this car is too slow for the WMC. Same car in the APSC, fair deal, but here in the Championship, we are seriously outgunned. Get used to that quickly, we will need to claw for every position to survive in this series.
The Drivers:
Ok, Tara and Pavel are nice mates. If we take them to Qatar, we will not be able to make any hay in that department. They are ERS material. We need to invest here, my oppinion.
Jeremy Woodford and
Iker Vidal from
CMG. We have to go for it so that we have SOME area of strength, and
Woodford is a pay driver, his sponsors would pay us up to $990k per race to us and could cover
Vidal's salary, who is another rock solid driver. Those two got
Chariot up here, and we need to invest somewhere.
The Engineers & Designer:
No offence to Nelleke ter Horst, our replacement lead designer. She has made some good remarks about the rear wing and engine, but she is better suited as assistant or regular worker. We need someone who can design a Championship car, and while I believe you can do some of that, you have other things to worry about.
I have been in talks with Jenny Whitehouse, the gal that desiged the chassis we are driving. She has a offer from a US roadcar company on the table, if you want her, she of course will cost some cash and needs some persuading. However, we can't have the janitor designing new parts right?
As for race engineers, the two ... idi... persons we have here will only hurt us. They set up their department nicely, but knowledge is what we want. Invest, invest, invest. We are running a racing team without people that know the business.
HQ and Financials:
We have a small factory, and a small design center. And with small I mean, this factory was small when
Jordan used it 20 years ago. Now, it is outdated as hell, and with us being in the sport a year earlier than expected, nothing has been done... not even the women's toilet...
Anyways, the good news, we got $37.5M from Henderson to cover our expenses, aiming for a low finish, and Frankie boy finally gave us the promised $30M to build up the factory... but do not expect wonders, when the factory upgrades are ready, this team is either ninth, or relegated to the APSC.
On the sponsor side... we are ******. Seriously, we have no sponsors, and can only hope that our name, and some exciting driver signings get us some offers till Doha. Like, better than cheap cornflakes ads printed on our car for $100 per race.
Welcome to hell boss.
Lg
Michelle Watkins
PA/Scouting Director
Lotus Racing