The Lotec Sirius is a sports car built by the German company Lotec in 2000. Only one car was made, and it closed the short history of Lotec as a maker of road cars.
Lotec Sirius at a glance
| Maker | Lotec, Kolbermoor, Germany |
|---|---|
| Completed | 2000 |
| Cars built | one |
| Engine | twin-turbocharged V12 from Mercedes-Benz |
| Chassis | carbon fibre |
| 0–100 km/h | 3.8 seconds, claimed |
| Top speed | 430 km/h (267 mph), claimed and never verified |
| First drafts | 1992 |
| Production | from 1999 |
| End of road-car production | October 2001 |
The English article on the Sirius is very short; the history of the firm and the dates of the project come from the German article on Lotec. No free photographs of the Sirius were available, so the earlier cover image of the record is kept.
History of the Lotec Sirius
The company behind it
Lotec was founded in 1962 by Kurt Lotterschmid in Kolbermoor in Bavaria, after he passed his master craftsman’s examination. The firm began with tuning and, from 1969, with racing cars: its own designs won six Formula V races, the Interserie overall in 1979 and 1980, the C2 class of the German racing championship in 1983 and the Japanese sports car championship with a Group C car. Alongside this Lotec built fibreglass bodywork and complete conversions for Porsche and, from 1983, for Mercedes-Benz.
From planning to a single car
The Sirius was planned early: according to the German Wikipedia article on the company, the first drafts of the prototype were made in 1992, and the car went into production in 1999. It was completed in 2000. Only one example was built, with a carbon-fibre chassis and a twin-turbocharged V12 engine sourced from Mercedes-Benz.
Claims and their end
Lotec claimed acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 430 km/h. Neither figure was ever verified. The Sirius also marked the end of the firm as a manufacturer of road-legal cars: production of such cars, which had begun with the C1000 presented at the Geneva Salon in 1991, stopped in October 2001 with the presentation of the Sirius.
Design and features
- Carbon-fibre chassis: a composite monocoque in a car built as a single example.
- Mercedes-Benz V12: twin turbocharging on a twelve-cylinder engine from Stuttgart.
- Claimed 430 km/h: a maximum speed quoted by the maker but never demonstrated.
- The last Lotec road car: after the Sirius the company concentrated on development and conversions.
Lotec Sirius versions
- Sirius prototype drafts (1992): the first design work on the car.
- Sirius (1999–2000): the single production car, completed in 2000.
The earlier road car from the same firm was the Lotec C1000, a one-off built in 1995. More cars are in the Lotec collection.
Sources
- Lotec Sirius, English Wikipedia: engine, chassis, performance claims, single example
- Lotec, German Wikipedia: company history, design dates, end of production
