LotusSport Pursuit Bicycle
Lotus Engineering, Hethel, Norwich, Norfolk, NRI4 8EZ. Telephone (0953) 608000 Telefax (0953) 606884

The 'LotusSport' Pursuit Bicycle had its international debut at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Chris Boardman won the gold medal for Great Britain in the Individual Pursuit event and set a new unofficial world record of 4.24.496 in the quarter finals, which represents an average speed of 56.54 kph over the 4000m, which blew the hands off of watches all over Spain.

The 'LotusSport' bicycle is derived from the Burrows 'Windcheetah', to which Lotus Engineering acquired the rights in February 1992. Since then, considerable design and development work has been carried out on the structure and shape to optimise the performance and minimise weight. The pursuit racer is the third generation design in as many months.

The heart of the design is an aerofoil section composite monocoque which is moulded of advanced materials, mainly carbon fibre. Lotus has considerable experience of working with such advanced materials, both for competition and general usage. The bike is designed to reach new levels of efficiency and low drag for improved performance.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

BODY:
Advanced composite monocoque with minimum-drag aerodynamic cross-sections, formed with unidirectional and stitched high-strength carbon fibre in an epoxy resin matrix. Titanium inserts are incorporated at the load-bearing points.

FRONT SUSPENSION:
Monoblade with aerofoil cross-section, formed with unidirectional carbon fibre over P.U. foam core as monocoque.

STEERING COLUMN:
Titanium, fitted with aero bars.

REAR SUSPENSION:
Integral with monocoque.

BRAKES:
Not required

DRIVE:
Steel/titanium fixed-ratio chainset, pedals & rear sprocket to suit rider.

WHEELS:
Front: CX composite rim with aero spokes, supplied by Mavic.
Rear: Flush composite disc, supplied by Mavic.

TYRES:
High performance 'Olympic' 110g tubulars, supplied by Continental Tyres.

The definition of a Monocoque ('single cell'):

'A completely-closed, thin wall, unitary load-bearing shell construction which cannot be analysed as individual load-bearing members.'

The 'LotusSport' monocoque could be represented by deforming a spherical shell, therefore it is a true monocoque.

LotusSport

The 'LotusSport' trademark for competition and leisure markets was introduced three years ago with the entry of the Lotus Esprit to circuit racing in the USA. Since then, the popularity and success of the 'LotusSport' Esprits has grown dramatically. Factory supported cars are now racing in the USA, the Netherlands, and in Italy, with a Belgian car to enter competition shortly. Iris a long term goal of Lotus to stimulate sports racing in all its major markets.

The 'LotusSport' trademark is owned by Group Lotus plc.