Caterham – who contested the 2011 season as Lotus – will move to a new base during the 2012 season.
The team will move from its current factory in Hingham, Norfolk, in August this year. Its F1 and GP2 team will relocate to Leafield, Oxfordshire.
Team principal Tony Fernandes said: “The factory in Hingham has been our home since we were first granted our entry into the F1 world championship in September 2009 and it has served us extremely well, giving us the perfect platform to establish both the F1 team and our GP2 team in the first stages of our development.
“However, as both teams grew, and in the planning process we went through when acquiring Caterham Cars and establishing the wider Caterham Group, it became clear that we needed to house the car company in the same facility as our racing operations, to give us the best chance to meet our future goals on and off track. We began looking for a site that could be adapted to suit the future needs of our racing and road car operations and Leafield quickly became the obvious choice.
“We propose moving the F1 and GP2 teams to the new site in or around August 2012, giving us ample time to build up the infrastructure required to house all the critical elements of both teams, and propose moving Caterham Cars into a new, bespoke development and production facility on the same site in due course.
“We are able to build the new home for Caterham Cars from the ground up on the Leafield site, giving us a permanent home in the perfect location for two of the primary arms of the Caterham Group. We will be consulting with all our team about the proposed move before we make any decisions about exactly which functions will be located to the new site.”
“The factory in Hingham is where the dream began, and we will continue to develop that site into the new permanent home for Caterham Composites. We have cutting edge technical and production facilities already in operation in the factory, now focused on the F1 and GP2 teams, and we will be expanding those facilities to help meet the future demands of Caterham Composites’ clients in all the markets that company will operate in, continuing to provide jobs and investment in Norfolk in world class, cutting edge technology. Caterham Technology and Innovation will also remain in Norfolk, demonstrating our long-term commitment to our first home.
“While it will obviously be sad if the F1 and GP2 teams move on from Hingham we are not saying goodbye to Norfolk. This will be the next chapter in the development of both our motor racing teams and our road car company and gives us the best chance to keep progressing on track and, in future, on the road with Caterham Cars.”
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Image © Team Lotus
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
18th January 2012, 9:58
Now, they’ve just got to find a way to get rid of Jarno Trulli …
stevie (@stevie)
18th January 2012, 10:01
maybe this is a decoy, and it’s actually a retirement home
Girts (@girts)
18th January 2012, 10:28
That’s easy, they’ll simply leave him in the old factory. There is a PS3 as well so Jarno will be able to race whatever car he wants in 2011.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th January 2012, 12:38
I’d say, move him to the new factory and give him the important role of senior powersteering consultant ;-)
GeeMac (@geemac)
18th January 2012, 11:47
They haven’t told him they are moving their HQ…
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
18th January 2012, 11:58
Or they have, but the address they gave him was Trulli’s vineyard …
nackavich (@nackavich)
18th January 2012, 12:28
Maybe they haven’t told him they’re now called Caterham..
Fixy (@)
18th January 2012, 19:18
Maybe Trulli faked power steering issues so when this year Caterham give him a championship-winning car and he wins it, it will be more of a surprise?
GeeMac (@geemac)
18th January 2012, 11:48
Isn’t Leafield where Arrows were based?
ScuderiaVincero (@scuderiavincero)
18th January 2012, 12:07
And Super Aguri. Yeah apparently they’re taking over the old factory there.
GeeMac (@geemac)
18th January 2012, 12:55
Thanks.
Jarv F150 (@jarvf150)
18th January 2012, 12:04
I just hope the staff don’t have to make the commute from the Norfolk area to the Oxford area.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th January 2012, 12:39
I understood its actually more like a lot of people were commuting to the Norfolk area up to now being part of the reason of why move base!
Jarv F150 (@jarvf150)
18th January 2012, 17:53
That explains a lot.
East-West travel in England is not the easiest – all roads seem to go to London much to the dismay of everyone outside of the m25.
George (@george)
18th January 2012, 18:05
Yeah, Norfolk isn’t an ideal place to base a major business, are the plans for that new motorway still moving forward?
Jack_Hider (@jackhider)
18th January 2012, 19:52
I feel that Norfolk is an ideal place to run a major business these days…
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th January 2012, 13:38
If they do move in August they will have to move during the in-season summer break which might be difficult to manage, given that the staff need to have a mandatory break around that time.
They will be conducting an illegal straight-line aero test down the M11!
You heard it hear first.
Jarv F150 (@jarvf150)
18th January 2012, 17:55
Wonder if the FIA will only be monitoring one factory :)