Fancy a tour of the Lotus factory at Hethel? It has the home of Lotus since 1966 and is finally is reopening to the public.

The Norfolk Factory tours were paused in November 2017 with the commencement of the £100 million redevelopment. Visitors will see Emira, the last petrol-powered car from Lotus, being assembled.

The tour programme was developed by the experiential team, part of the Lotus Advanced Performance division, and starts on Monday 4 April.

Book through www.lotuscars.com.

Simon Lane, Director, Lotus Advanced Performance, commented: “Tours of the Hethel site were part of the Lotus story for many years and hugely popular. We get emails and calls every week with people asking about them but, with all the development work on site, it was not appropriate to have the public here. With the Emira now in production, I’m delighted to announce that the time is right to relaunch the factory tours.”

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ABOVE: New Lotus, and old

The experience begins at the Retail Centre where light refreshments are had. Guests will hear about the transformation of Lotus, and see how all Lotus showrooms will look in the future.

Their expert guide will regale the story of Lotus at Hethel through the years, and into the. The walkthrough then begins in older sections of the factory where, most recently, the Elise, Exige and Evora were built, before heading into the all-new Emira hall. The previously hand built processes  have been automated, a first for Lotus. Alongside the automation, guests will see just how much remains ‘hands-on’.

The tours leads outside, to pass the dynamic test areas, including the famous 2.2-mile Hethel test track. This famous track has been home to famous names such as Jim Clark, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ayrton Senna and many others.

Groups of a maximum of 8 can take the tours Monday to Thursday each week, with two groups per day, at 10am and 2pm, with each tour lasting approximately two hours.

There will be an occasional chance to upgrade to a Heritage Tour, to Classic Team Lotus. This is a truly exciting opportunity to see the separate business situated just across the lane from the main Lotus facility, it’s run by Clive Chapman, Clive is the son of Lotus founder, Colin Chapman, and includes countless historic Lotus race cars.

There is a minimum age for guests of 10 years old, with under 18s requiring the company of a responsible adult, with a limit of two children per adult. The tour is fully accessible to wheelchair users, and all guests will receive a specially designed lanyard and pin badge as a memento of their trip to Hethel. No photography will be allowed.

The Lotus Factory Tour is priced £95 per person and the Lotus Factory & Heritage Tour is £140 per person.
Book now at https://www.lotuscars.com/en-GB/factory-tours

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