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20 Nov 2015

Lotus Factory Tour

Our Register visits Hethel in rural Norfolk to see the hallowed ground where Lotus road cars are born.

Lotus Factory Tour November 2015   

The Evora 400 is Lotus's latest venture into the Supercar market. 

IT ALL STARTED when I was invited to drive the new Lotus Evora 400. It had arrived off the trailer straight from the factory just the day before and Dorset Lotus dealers, Westover Sports Cars had worked hard rushing it through its PDI in readiness for my test. The day went well. The new Evora is a nice driver’s touring sportscar which, as its name suggests, has 400 hp from its Toyota-based supercharged 3.5 litre engine. It's the nicely performing car I thought it would be, since Lotus are renowned for their superbly handling motor cars and the company has some of the best chassis engineers in the world. However, at £80 grand it is in a rarefied and demanding market and probably lacks the sophistication of some of its competitors.

However, it got me thinking, wouldn’t it be great to have a look around the factory and see how they actually build them? After a few enquiries, I was put in touch with the chap who arranges such visits and after a bit of toing and froing, here we were meeting up in a layby just up the road from the Lotus factory gates in Hethel in the heart of rural Norfolk. It was a cold grey November morning and the greeting from the security man was even colder when I had rolled up a little earlier to take some outside shots of the factory for this piece. He slightly mellowed after discovering I was not a Chinese motor industry spy, but I was nevertheless moved on in fairly sharpish order!

Retreating Security guard after giving your RS some verbals!

So it was 32 members and guests were eventually allowed access through the gates and directed into a park beside the Lotus test track and surrounding buildings where Lotus Motorsport operate. We were invited into a 2 storey building overlooking the circuit and were treated to coffee and biscuits whilst being introduced to our tour guides. We were given a rundown of Lotus history in the hands of Colin Chapman and how the company came to be based at this really rather remote location. We were then split up into 3 groups and set off in various directions for our tours to start in different parts of the factory.

Our particular guide Guy, who is a former Lotus retailer, led us into the vehicle assembly area where we were shown bare chassis stacked ready for assembly to begin. The chassis’ are formed using extruded aluminium bonded and riveted together rather than welded, which is considered too brittle and prone to weakness. We then moved on to the assembly of the internal components, wiring harness and cockpit equipment. Suspension was next, followed by engine installation. We learned that bare engines are supplied from Toyota, either from their UK base for the 1800cc 217 bhp unit or direct from Japan for the 3.5 litre 400 bhp unit. They are then dressed within the factory by Lotus staff who fit all the external components, oil pumps, alternators, engine mounts etc. and superchargers in the case of the more powerful models.

Lotus cars have been built from these premises for several generations now

As we moved on down the line, the cars became more recognisable, culminating in the final approval before moving from manufacturing into post-assembly, where cars go through a progressive and impressively rigorous inspection and testing regime. This includes a 20 minute water test, where each car is sprayed with water jets from all directions including the underside, checking for cabin leaks; also a rolling road test with 130 + checks for component and assembly defects.

From there, we moved into the bodywork section, where the fibre glass panels are brought together and are subjected to the same rigorous inspection process to ensure all surface defects are eliminated before painting and polishing. The final vehicles coming off the production line looked superb and testament to the skills and craft of the workers that assembled them as well as the guys and gals who designed them. They build around 14 units a day here.

Interestingly, although Lotus don’t actually make any components at the factory – it is just an assembly plant – no robots are employed anywhere within the factory - the cars are all hand built. Mind you this is equally so for another top marque, as with the exception of windscreen placement, all the Porsches to come out of Zuffenhausen are hand-built as well.

Photography is banned within the confines of the factory, not the least because Lotus also carry out quite a bit if development work for other manufacturers and this is always on the secret list. But we did manage to get an approved photograph of the group behind some fresh Elans and Exiges.

A good time was had by all as guests of Lotus

Anyway, an exceptionally interesting tour that ended, as most do, at the merchandise shop where there were some interesting historic photographs on display as well as crash helmets from famous Lotus drivers such as Jim Clark and Emerson Fittapaldi. Finally, after thanking our tour guides and congregating outside for a quick group photograph, we relocated to the Bird in Hand pub just down the road for a snack lunch, before saying our goodbyes and departing to all four corners of the kingdom.

For me, it was a 700 mile round trip up from North Devon and, with gale force winds, mist and spray, the going was rough, but it was nevertheless a very worthwhile trip with everyone I have since spoken to seeming to have enjoyed it.

Clive White, 997 Register Secretary

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