US LOT Sessions

We are back! For a new season of podcasts to get us through the UK lockdown 2.0 and today we celebrate the life of Oliver Winterbottom. Oliver was a brilliant designer at Lotus, he worked directly for Colin Chapman and designed not only cars but boats too! Oliver sadly passed away last week. To celebrate his life, in this podcast Rob speaks to Oliver's close friend and colleague Mike Kimberley, plus two well respected automotive  journalists who admired his designs so much, they have both owned one. 

Racing driver and automotive broadcasting legend, Tiff Needell joins Rob on todays podcast. Talking about his long histroy with Lotus, from being a huge fan of Jim Clark to winning his very own Lotus racing car and starting his career on track!

A very special car, previously registered to Colin Chapman. This week we celebrate a very special Turbo Esprit, now owned by Lotus Cars. Mr Lotus himself, Scott Walker talks Rob through the car and a few other of his favourite Esprit stories. 

We're back! We have been busy with our Lotus Unlocked event at the famous Caffeine & Machine. Now Rob catches up with Caffeine & Machine legend and honcho Phil McGovern. What a weekend we had, Phil and Rob discuss what went on, how we made it happen and a little of the history behind the UK's favourite desitantion for lovers of cars, coffee and every other machine under the sun! 

Richard Hill has worked at Lotus for nearly 34 years. In that time he has worked on various Esprits, the M100 Elan, the Elise and everything since. He also happened to design a world record breaking, Olympic gold medal winning bicycle in 7 months! 

Dave Minter has driven an Elise more than anyone else. An integral part of the car's development story, Dave shares his memories of Stelvio in the 90's and all the other exciting adventures he and the team got up to while developing the legendary car! 

Richard Rackham has been at the forefront of Lotus chassis design for 30 years. Leading the team of engineerins who were responsible for the legendary Elise chassis. On today's podcast we talk about how the legendary Elise chassis was designed and why it was such a jump forward for the industry. 

If you watch Petrolicious videos on YouTube and are a Lotus fan, you have probably watched a video about an Esprit nicknamed the 'Light Rider'. Spencer Canon totally restored that car from the ground up and he now races a Europa in the USA. In this week's podcast, Rob catches up on Spencer's road trip to multiple Lotus ownership and restoration.

In 1995 at the Frankfurt auto show the world was introduced to Elisa Artioli, and the car that was named after her. That car was the Lotus Elise. In this week's podcast., Rob catches up with Elisa to learn what it was like growing up with a sportscar named after you and to hear about her Elise based adventures today. 

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of a famous victory by Stirling Moss in a Lotus Type 18 in Monaco, Rob speaks to motorsport journalist Damien Smith. If you like F1, racing history, Lotus and Stirling Moss, this episode is for you!

At the 1990 F1 Spanish Grand Prix, Martin Donnelly was involved in a life changing accident. Even Senna, at the top of his game was affected by what he saw. In this week's podcast, Martin recounts tails from his high speed life. From driving bangers in pub car parks while waiting for his father, to pretending he had a race licence in order to get his first few important race experiences. Everything and more, including that famous accident that cost him his F1 career. 

Gordon Murray is an F1 and automotive legend, he also travelled all the way from South Africa to Norfolk for an interview that didn't happen. In today's episode, Gordon talks of his experiences with Colin Chapman and his own Lotus collection.

Russell Carr is Design Director at Lotus Cars and has been part of the design team at Hethel for nearly 30 years. Today we discuss a things Lotus Design with Russell and his two lead designers behind the Lotus Evija, Barney Hatt and Anthony Bushell. What exactly does it take to design a Hyper Car?

GF Williams is one of the wolrd's top automotvie photographers. He travels the world photographing hypercars from all over the planet. When he is at home, he daily drives a Lotus Exige. In this episode we talk to George about daily driving an Exige, his most crazy adventures in the car and what it is like to live the petrolhead photography dream!

Alex is a British Automotive jounalist and presenter. He writes for some of the worlds largest publications and presents brilliant online content. In this episode Alex recalls the many Lotus he has driven plus his most recent Lotus based adventure in Australia. 

It was 35 years ago today, on Sunday 21 April and the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix. Behind the wheel of a Lotus 97T was Ayrton Senna, just turned 25 years old. With the car at the absolute limit of its grip, he delivered a masterclass in wet-weather driving for the hardy Estoril crowd and powered to the chequered flag. Such was his dominance he lapped the entire field up to second place, finishing over a minute ahead of his nearest competitor. Today, we catch up with Senna's Team Lotus mechanic, Chris Dinnage. Chris shares his memories of the racing legend both on and off the track and explains in detail how the driver was quick to impress. 

Straight out of the Goblin Works Garage and into lockdown. Helen Stanley and Ant Partridge catch up with Rob to explain just how they would customise a Lotus.

Automotive journalist and podcaster Matt Farah from the Smoking Tire joins us to talk all things Lotus. Matt has driven more Lotus than any other US based journalist in the last 10 years. In today's episdoe we talk to Matt about his epic road trip that included 4 track days in California. 

Magnus Walker tells us about his lesser-known Lotus ownership history and why he really likes driving the Evora GT on his favourite road in LA.

Ant Anstead from Wheeler Dealers tells us about his record breaking Lotus Elite and the time an Elise saved his life. 

In this US LOT Sessions Episode 1 our host Rob Borrett, talks to legendary Lotus handling guru Gavan Kershaw. Gavan explains vehicle dynamics during a 120mph hot lap of the famous Lotus Test Track at the Lotus Hethel HQ.