22 year old Jack Lamburn from Barnstaple in Devon has a burning ambition – to join the Lotus design team in shaping the future of their cars. To this end he is currently studying Transportation Design at the University of Northumbria, and due to graduate this coming June. So what prompted this choice of career?
“Well my dad owns a garage so I’ve been surrounded by cars all my life, and I loved the more sporting ones. At first I thought I could be a Formula 1 driver, but it soon became obvious that wasn’t going to happen! So I thought I would like to design cars instead”. We would hazard a guess that in the eyes of most car enthusiasts this particular ambition is not too much of a comedown!
Jack’s project centres around an Elise-proportioned 2-seater in the typical Lotus mould, taking cues from the legendary Lotus 11. However in the quest for the ultimate in lightness it has shed its skin, quite literally. An impact-absorbing fabric body wrapped around a tubular frame takes weight saving to the extreme; hugging the wheel profile and being able to move with the suspension travel should mean aerodynamic gains too. Hydrogen fuel cell propulsion completes the concept car theme. Catch the discussion on Jack’s project on the forums and feel free to give him some feedback; Link to Topic. Also check out his blog for regular updates as the project nears completion; http://jacklamburn.tumblr.com/
The graduation show takes place At Northumbria from the 16th – 25th of June. Jack will then take his finished Lotus concept to London for the New Designers Exhibition in Islington during the 8th-11th July (www.newdesigners.com) where industry professionals prowl for future talent. With any luck Jack can then follow on the heels of a recent fellow graduate of Northumbria, David Fearnley, whose Lotus “Eigne” concept led him to a full time design career working in Turin for the Fiat group. Will Jack then be able to satisfy his passion for Lotus with a car for himself?
“Hopefully, but it will have to sit alongside my first car, a Mk2 Escort which I’m really having a lot of fun with. I get older guys checking it out at shows and saying they wish they had held onto the cars from their youth, I don’t want to make the same mistake!”
