INDYCAR: Lotus Teams Preparing For First Tests

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Lotus Teams Preparing For First Tests

With the long lead times that caused a delay in engine production now resolved, Lotus is now ready to dispatch motors to most of its teams.

Marshall Pruett | Posted February 10, 2012

Dreyer & Reinbold's Oriol Servia recently tested the Lotus factory car, and should have an engine of his own to test DRR's chassis later this month. (Photo: LAT)

As SPEED.com chronicled last month, the long manufacturing lead times faced by Lotus have left the British marque in a tough situation. Its rivals at Chevrolet and Honda have been conducting manufacturer tracks tests for months now, and the teams holding contracts with both marques have also been out and logging test miles of their own for nearly a month.

Lotus partner teams Bryan Herta Autosport, Dragon Racing, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and HVM Racing haven’t been as fortunate, and have relied on the marque’s test car as the lone source to get a feel for the new Dallara DW12 and the 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 built by Engine Developments Limited.

All of that is set to change next week as EDL is preparing to ship powerplants to three of its partners. After a number of successful outings with its primary test engine, EDL’s John Judd provided an update on the progress they’ve made and the lessons they’ve learned so far.

“We’ve been working mostly on engine mapping and throttle response,” he said. “And we’re working on those on the dyno all the time. And in our track testing, although we haven’t had any failures, when the engine has come back, we’ve had some things to work on. But I think that’s the same for everybody.”

With no major issues to report, and enough components in place to build and dispatch a few engines, EDL took the findings from Lotus’ manufacturer tests and applied them to the engines its partner teams will receive.

“Some of the problems we need to resolve were expected, based on things we anticipated from the dyno running we’ve done,” Judd explained. “There were a few issues we’ve had that were unexpected that were a direct result of running the engine in the car. You always get problems cropping up that way; you can’t simulate everything on the dyno and all the circuit conditions. But the pleasing thing has been that we haven’t opened the engine and found any dreadful surprises.

What we’ve found have been minor, basically, and we feel that we have them sorted.”

Judd also confirmed which teams will take delivery of Lotus engines in the coming days and when those partners expect to commence their own test programs.

“All being well, HVM will be the first to receive their engine this weekend,” he said. “They’re due to launch their car next week (at a sponsor function in Baltimore). Dreyer & Reinbold and Bryan Herta will get their engines next week with a view to all three team running at Sebring on [February] 23rd and 24th. That will be the first proper test for those three teams.”

Lotus’ final partner team, Dragon Racing, and the one confirmed customer team, Michael Shank Racing, are believed to be in the queue to receive engines after BHA, DRR and HVM.

Dragon’s cars are currently being assembled at Newman/Haas Racing in Illinois, while Shank’s DW12 sits in his shop in Ohio awaiting a motor.

Whether Lotus will be able to supply more than its five current teams for the season opener at St. Petersburg is unknown.

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. He also contributes to Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett on Twitter.