10 replies to this topic

[-Dab-of-Oppo-]

On Friday a group of us from a local car club did the Lotus 'Heritage' tour. It was about a 230 mile drive up to Norwich from where I am down south so a few of us stayed in a nice local hotel the night before. It was a great day and I really enjoyed seeing the rather simplistic (in comparison to mainstream robot assisted factorys) yet fasinating processes that take place on the hand built production line.

Sadly cameras are not permitted within the walls of the factory itself so I can't show you any pictures of that but I did take a few photos of the various other areas that I thought I might as well share.

At the start of one of the production lines they where working on an Evora S destined for Germany. It was one of the first supercharged cars to be fitted with IPS (Intelligent Precision Shift)and is due to be officially announced at Frankfurt Auto Show. They explained how each car gets an 'identity' from the outset along with a log book that goes with every build and how each job is signed off as the car moves along the line so if ever needs be an owner can trace it's history via the records. Also in one of the 'hangers' we caught a glimpse of one of the 25 extremly exclusive T125's as featured on Top Gear.

Full album can be viewed here but most are displayed below -

Despite there being an example of most models past and present somewhere within the vicinity my car was the only VX.





Amusing number plate of one of the head mechanics cars. Dr.Lotus and Norwichring



We watched a few instructers on the air field test track showing people on the Lotus Driving Academy course what the cars can do.









Random clock mods, they must really love their jobs.




The second part of the tour involved crossing the road to visit the workshop of Classic Team Lotus where we got to see various customers cars that where in for work and learnt about the history of the Lotus racing team.



WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

[-Dab-of-Oppo-]

WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

The only V12 engine to ever feature in a Lotus -


WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

WCC Lotus Factory Tour by Wessex Car Club, on Flickr

[2.2_na]

Good photos! The old Formula One cars look great!

[Adonai]

great pics, one day I will make that tour, I am watching in the web and it´s not expensive Waiting for more pics

[Tuuurtle]

Looks like a great day out, some fantastic cars there. Thanks for the photos On a similar note: I did a tour of the Jag plant in Coventry with Uni. We went down the production line for the XK which was interesting as I can now compare the build process to where I work now (Bentley Motors). Way more robots in Jag! The best tour for me was the tour of the VW factory in Wolfsburg, very impressive. They have almost 40000 people working there, kicking out 3500 cars a day There's also a great museum there showcasing automotive work from the first Mercedes right up to the Veyron. If anyone would like to see some piccies let me know and i'll stick them on here

[-Dab-of-Oppo-]

3500 a day?! Lotus are producing up to 50 a week working on a not quite built to order basis. I have done the Jaguar factory tour at Castle Bromwich, very impressive. Like you say alot of automation and laser guided robots spinning around chasis's rivetting aluminium panels in place to within a tenth of a milimetre tolerances. Alot of the interior was hand finished though and I remember one guy whos job it was was to beat the boot lid with a rubber mallet to ensure the corrrect panel gaps, just did not seem right for a completed 60k car to be going through that! I for one would be very interested to see your VW pics, post em up in here if you like if you don't want to start another thread.

Edited by -Dab-of-Oppo-, 14 September 2011 - 04:14 PM.

[Goosenka]

I went on a tour of the Rolls Royce factory in Chichester....was absolutely stunning

[Tuuurtle]

Ah yes the rubber mallet technique, I've seen that before! If you I've me a few days i'll start a new topic with the VW automotive museum pics (I need to do a lot of uploading!), they're great if you like some landmark classic motors

[JonnyVX]

Looks like a great day out, some fantastic cars there. Thanks for the photos

On a similar note:
I did a tour of the Jag plant in Coventry with Uni. We went down the production line for the XK which was interesting as I can now compare the build process to where I work now (Bentley Motors). Way more robots in Jag!
The best tour for me was the tour of the VW factory in Wolfsburg, very impressive. They have almost 40000 people working there, kicking out 3500 cars a day
There's also a great museum there showcasing automotive work from the first Mercedes right up to the Veyron. If anyone would like to see some piccies let me know and i'll stick them on here

I do work with Bentley on Interior Trim & Substrates what department are you in?

[JonnyVX]

If i was to name drop the company that i work for manufacture interior trim i have been on the Bentley, Jaguar, Aston & McLaren tours, waiting now for my invite to the ne production facility at McLaren that should be fun!! and will be over at hethel in the next week or so!! But they never let me take pictures!!

[Tuuurtle]

Hi JonnyVX, Apologies for the delay in reply, I work in Aftersales as a Diagnostic Engineer Do you drive the VX to work or are you on the scheme? On a separate note, I have a free afternoon tomorrow, so after I fit new headlight bulbs i'll and get some VW pictures up.