Lots Of Trouble - Usually Serious

That was the old acronym for Lotus, given that the old Esprits and Eclats were never the most reliable of cars - much smoke and oil-leakage would often ensue.

They seem to have sorted their engines out nowadays so we can use the acronym to describe the wranglings going on in their F1 ambitions instead.

Last month, I gave my take on how I understood the sitiuation to be.

Today, the BBC business department have kindly clarified things.

I'm very optimistic about what the new Lotus boss, Dany Bahar, is doing and what he wants to do with the brand - he's already announced a series of five new cars over the next couple of years - and, most importantly, their names all begin with the letter E.

But this is a big gamble for Lotus and I think he's missing a serious trick by getting involved in F1. It will be bloody expensive and it will be linking Lotus with Renault - another Company who have had vehicle reliability issues in the past.

By leaving Tony Fernandes to continue with his plans, Lotus get a load of free publicity (albeit with a less successful and less attractive car) - expensive Court time and bad publicity are avoided and there is a lot more cash available to keep the road car business going while the new models are introduced.

Oops, I've just noticed that I've accidentally put up a picture of Dany Behr - silly me! Here's Dany Bahar:








Oh well - third time lucky:

That's better.