HETHEL (UK) – From the soundtracks of Hollywood films to the sound of the next electric Lotus Evija: this is the challenge to which Patrick Patrikios, one of the most famous music producers in the world, has just been called. An impossible challenge that Patrikios probably accepted only because he didn’t quite understand what trouble he got himself into. And for two specific reasons: to Lotus customers (lovers of performance and lightness) electric cars literally suck. Secondly, because Lotus has never built an engine, but has always used other engines, from F1 to production cars. So which car to inspire to have a fascinating sound?
Patrick Patrikios went fishing in the Lotus archive and chose the legendary 1967 F1 Type 49, right: it was Jim Clark’s car with which he immediately won in the first race of the 1967 season and with which he also obtained the last victory of his career in the 1968 season. It was the car that Graham Hill took to the top of the world with the 1967 world championship and which continued to compete until 1970. All beautiful, but the engine was known as the Ford Cosworth DFV, the among other things used by many other single-seaters during the seventies …
It matters little, at Lotus they go straight on their way and have decided that the sound of the Type 49 will provide the sound inspiration for the Evija and for the company’s future electric cars (sadly they will be small SUVs). Patrick Patrikios will thus move from the music written and produced for Olly Murs, Sia, Britney Spears, Pixie Lott and numerous other world famous stars to the Ford V8 in Lotus sauce to create the miracle. Like? “We wanted to create a soundscape – he explains himself – for the Evija that was recognizable and distinctly Lotus. I sat down with the Hethel development team and discussed what it should be. We wanted something intrinsically connected to Lotus so that we could to be able to set up an audio project for its future electric cars “.
His “connection” with Lotus, however, he found in the Ford: “There is a purity in that V8 – he explains – a raw edge and an emotion that arouses something in your soul, just like the best songs”. He’s right, but if any car enthusiast in the world closes his eyes and hears that magical sound think of his accelerating bark on the scary Hunaudières straight at Le Mans, Williams, McLaren and a thousand other F1 teams: that V8 is the most successful engine ever in F1 (155 Gp), the longest-lived (it was used from 1967 to 1983 with a twist in 1988 on the Dallara) and was also used in other categories, such as in the World Sports Prototype Championship where it was used for over 20 years on various cars. In practice he won 155 Grands Prix. Just to understand, in its history, all the teams have used it, with the exception of Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Renault … Will Lotus be able to take possession of your voice? We’ll see.
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