Lotus: Engineering the Ultimate Thrill

The Lotus that everyone knows makes some of the best and most glamorous sports cars in the world. They’re such a dazzling shop window for the talents of the company that the other facets of the Group are sometimes obscured. But Lotus is just that - a group of automotive-related divisions producing world-leading products and services. The company has grown from producing a handful of basic competition cars a year, into a globally respected automotive engineering consultancy as well as the creator of some of the world’s most innovative sports cars.

Buy a mass-produced car and you’re just another statistic on the monthly sales sheets.Buy a Lotus and you join a global family of passionate sports car enthusiasts. The undoubted star of the car division is the “Elise”. A light, compact, innovative and technically uncompromising roadster, the Elise returned Lotus to its raw fun-car roots. A run-away sales success since its introduction in 1997, production now exceeds early predictions by a factor of four. For the enthusiast who wants a more heady experience, Lotus offers the Exige, a road going racer based on the Sport Elise competition car. This stunning race replica offers the full track car experience and purity of purpose, yet has more than enough refinement to make it practical for regular road use.

For the ultimate in no-compromise driving pleasure, the outrageously styled and dynamically outstanding driving machine, the 340R is arguably one of the maddest cars ever. Extremely light (571kg), without sides, hood or any creature comforts, this extreme driving machine has an explosive performance - 0-60mph in 4.4secs, and a top speed of 214km/h. The 340R is already being talked of as one of the all-time greats.

However, Lotus is much more than a maker of quick and exotic cars - almost 50% of revenues are generated by the engineering services, which employs over 1000 engineers and technicians.

According to Kenneth Sears, Head of Lotus Technologies, the way cars are designed and built is soon to change. Buyers are demanding more and more choice, not just in the general specification of their cars, but in the variety of vehicles on offer. The market is fragmenting into ever-more specialized niches. But what’s exciting for the consumer can be a nightmare for the major car manufacturers. Their economic models are set up around large production volumes, volumes unachievable when a car range is broadened through numerous niche derivatives. Niche models represent another challenge to the structure of major carmakers - they’re fashion items as much as mere transport. And the world of fashion moves quickly, more swiftly than many big manufacturers can respond to. Rapid response and cost-effective, low-volume production are specialties of Lotus Engineering, and are services likely to be much in demand in the niche-oriented car market of the near future. From conception, development and testing, through to showroom-ready execution and marketing support, Lotus Engineering has the ability to do what large-scale producers cannot - bring niche vehicles to market with haste and efficiency.

To meet the demands of a rapidly expanding client base, Lotus Engineering has invested nearly $30m in further developing its facilities near Hethel, Norwich, England during the last three years. This investment has increased the number of engine test cells at the Hethel site to 42, seen the installation of more advanced emissions-measuring equipment as well as dynamometers to study the complete driving cycle of an engine, and funded a brand new R&D Center.

Tim Saunders, NVH Manager of Lotus Engineering, has a team of 10 engineers and technicians using LMS CADA-X systems for full vehicle and powertrain refinement activities. Applications range from the refinement of the Lotus Cars themselves, to sub-contracted work for a wide range of cars, trucks and bus programs. The LMS systems comprise modules for structural testing and modal analysis, signature testing and order tracking, acoustics and sound quality engineering,... Data recorded on the nearby Lotus test-track is imported into the laboratory systems for time data analysis. “While Lotus Cars are famous for their Ride & Handling performance, Lotus acoustic refinement aspects are becoming increasingly important”, said Tim, “and Lotus uses a 65 point subjective ranking chart during development work. Our philosophy is to try to design out any problems at source using advanced CAE tools such as NASTRAN and LMS SYSNOISE. We have a lot of experience in using LMS Gateway to correlate test with NASTRAN vibration predictions - and to use this information to improve our overall modeling process. We’ll soon extend this to our acoustic modeling processes. Later in the development cycle we understand and solve interior noise and secondary ride quality using LMS modal analysis and our own road noise path analysis software.” Lotus has made extensive use of User Programming to develop custom LMS CADA-X routines. “We chose LMS systems because of their power and flexibility - and, because all our clients have standardized on the same system, we can easily share data with them”, concluded Tim.

Mainstream Tests

Further afield, Lotus Engineering has created a new prototype build and precision component manufacturing centre at Coventry (UK), created an exclusive alliance with Powertrain Technology Limited (UK) to strengthen its diesel engine technology capabilities, and expanded into the US with testing facilities and a new engineering center. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and formerly known as Michigan Automotive Research Corporation (MARCO), the facility includes 27 engine and transmission test beds, emissions certification testing, engine build workshops, rolling roads and other leading automotive testing facilities, more than 50 skilled engineers, technicians and administrators. LMS CADA-X configurations based on a PC and the SCADASIII front-end will be used for mainstream tests.

With so much OEM work being transferred to Tier 1 Suppliers, Lotus still focuses on both whole engine and whole vehicle programs to be able to provide whole vehicle solutions, designed and developed to satisfy the ever increasing requirements of end customer. LMS’ comprehensive software toolbox supports this ‘complete’ approach.