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[Jensonb]

With these latest revelations; it's time for Tony Fernandes to give up on the Lotus name and rebrand as Air Asia and be done with it... this has turned into a farce; dragging a historic name through the mud for no real reason. Fernandes clearly doesn't care about the Lotus name; it's purely about commercial interests!

I thought it was the other way around. Renault all of a sudden came in with this idea that they were the 'real' lotus after Fernandes' team had been running with the name already for half the season. So from what I'm seeing, Renault and group lotus caused all this mess for their own commercial interests. I'm a little curious how much group lotus and renault gp paid david hunt to all of a sudden change his mind about Fernandes the week of the court date.

But why should Fernandes give up on the Lotus name? He bought the rights to the name way before renault and group lotus started all this mess. I read that he hasn't finished paying for it, but frankly I don't believe that at all because that was never even raised as an issue until the week of the court date when david hunt pulled out of Fernandes' corner of the ring

Regarding the bold underlined section - I've heard this mentioned to. The reality is that under contract law that's not enough to void a contract in any case - so it's not a crucial point. Incomplete payment would render a contract potentially voidable if the defaulting party refuses to remedy the breach, however they must be given the opportunity to remedy the breach (i.e. make up any missed payment / incomplete payment).

If they're not given the opportunity to do that and Hunt decided to cancel the contract then the situation is reversed and HE would actually be the one in breach of contract - likely resulting in damages being recoverable by Fernandez, or potentially the granting of a court order to enforce the contract - or both!

Interesting, thanks for the info. I've been hearing the rumour but my knowledge of Contract Law is limited so i wasn't sure what to make of it. I have, however, heard that according to Fernandes that what's actually happened is Hunt has tried to change the payment schedule or amount or something. If that's the case, surely that's likely to be a breach of contract on his end?

[darwin dali]

A new twist to this appears to happen soon
Formula One's Team Lotus will make a major announcement next week with speculation on Thursday focusing on a takeover of British-based sportscar maker Caterham.

The team have scheduled an event at Duxford airfield in eastern England on Wednesday for what the invitation said would be an "incredibly exciting announcement about the future of our team".

Sky News and the autosport.com website quoted sources indicating that the team's Malaysian owner Tony Fernandes was acquiring niche sportscar maker Caterham, whose cars are a continuation of the 50-year-old lightweight Lotus Seven.

A Team Lotus spokesman would not comment on the reports.

Such a purchase would give Fernandes another option if he is forced to relinquish the Team Lotus name under legal action currently in the London High Court with Malaysian-owned Lotus Group, who are title sponsors to the Renault team.

A verdict in that hearing is not expected until next month.

The entrepreneur, who runs the budget AirAsia airline, renamed his team last year after a 2010 debut as Lotus Racing under a licence from Lotus Group and their owners Proton, who subsequently terminated the agreement.

Lotus Group, who have ambitious plans of their own including several marketing new sportscar models and moving into a range of motor racing series, want to prevent Fernandes using the Lotus brand in any form in Formula One.

Dartford-based Caterham, whose cars compete in one-make championships in 11 countries, purchased the rights to the Colin Chapman-designed Seven from Lotus Cars in 1973 after Lotus had ended production of a car launched in 1957.

The company was sold by founders the Nearn family in 2005 to existing management led by former Lotus executive Ansar Ali and backed by private equity firm Corven Ventures.

[Jabberwocky]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90907


interesting, I would be amazed if Caterham had that sort of money hanging around though.

[myownalias]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90907

interesting, I would be amazed if Caterham had that sort of money hanging around though.

From the article I get the impression that Tony Fernandes is the one taking over the Caterham name, rather than the other way around!

[darwin dali]

This news is already in the ongoing Lotus thread - merged.

[myownalias]

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2011/04/ ... confirmed/

Seems to suggest that it's already a done deal, will we be seeing Caterham on the grid in 2012 if the Team Lotus court battle doesn't work out for Fernandes?

[Jabberwocky]

Caterham where on the verg of going bust last year, how can they afford to do this now? unless it is just Tony wanting to have a real name on his cars if the whole lotus thing goes wrong... The irony is that Caterham only exists because of Lotus/Chapman did not wanting to sell the Lotus 7 any more. So Caterham bought design.

Maybe history is repeating.

[acosmichippo]

Fernandes buys Caterham: http://en.espnf1.com/lotus/motorsport/story/46803.html

Doesn't look like Caterham's previous money plight has anything to do with it.

[darwin dali]

ESPNF1:

The judgement on the Group Lotus v Team Lotus naming row will be revealed at the High Court on Friday.

The two sides have been fighting over the right to use the historic name in Formula One, which currently features on both the Team Lotus cars and the Renaults as a sponsor. The judgement should also clear up disagreements over Group Lotus' early termination of a five-year naming licence with Team Lotus and claims that Group Lotus has been passing off by using the original - Colin Chapman-owned - Team Lotus' history in its promotional material.

A verdict will be delivered at 14:00 in London by Mr Justice Peter Smith in Court 61 of the High Court's Chancery Division.

[bud]

Article in the latest GPWeek suggests the naming row is going to come to an end, with Team Lotus becoming Caterham and Renault becoming the Lotus Constructor.

[myownalias]

Article in the latest GPWeek suggests the naming row is going to come to an end, with Team Lotus becoming Caterham and Renault becoming the Lotus Constructor.

I think Team Lotus becoming Caterham has been on the cards for a while; it was a good bet when Tony Fernandes bought the Caterham name... related link with Lotus of course, the Caterham is basically a Lotus Seven! Personally I would like the Caterham name in F1; already an established name in motorsport; I don't recall Caterham ever entering F1 before!

[LewEngBridewell]

Article in the latest GPWeek suggests the naming row is going to come to an end, with Team Lotus becoming Caterham and Renault becoming the Lotus Constructor.

I think Team Lotus becoming Caterham has been on the cards for a while; it was a good bet when Tony Fernandes bought the Caterham name... related link with Lotus of course, the Caterham is basically a Lotus Seven! Personally I would like the Caterham name in F1; already an established name in motorsport; I don't recall Caterham ever entering F1 before!

I wouldn't be too peed off with that. It's daft having two Lotus teams on the grid, although my affections have always been directed to Tony Fernandes's squad.

[bud]

It makes sense as even if Fernandes didn't buy Caterham, his F1 team was just giving exposure to Lotus cars. I don't think the f1 team can exist with no affiliation to the road cars, even though there's clearly two licenses to the Lotus name.

Next season will be good having Caterham and Lotus chassis on the grid.