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" The Oakland Raiders football team has become synonymous with its bold &amp;quot;Commitment To Excellence&amp;quot; credo that, as their 3-10 record suggests, also serves as an ironic reminder of how far the team happens to be from living up to its own standards. The folks at Lotus\u2014at least those involved with its failed IndyCar engine supply endeavors\u2014seemed to take a page from the Raiders&amp;#039; mismatched slogan and went in the opposite direction, lowering the bar when referring to its new 2.2-liter twin-turbo V-6 last January. &amp;quot;(Former Lotus CEO) Dany Bahar, he wants absolutely the perfect mix with IndyCar. He wants to show the world that Lotus is capable to do an engine,&amp;quot; said Olivier Picquenot, Lotus&amp;#039; IndyCar engine program manager. Lotus did indeed prove it could do an engine, but after spending the bare minimum with the reputable designers/builders at Engine Developments Limited, it had little more than an underdeveloped powerplant to offer its partner teams.  While its rivals at Chevy and Honda worked and spent feverishly to produce the definitive IndyCar engines last season, Lotus was satisfied with the building &amp;#039;an engine&amp;#039; routine, which ruined the chances of the five drivers who were saddled with the unit. With disasters unfolding in the engine bay, only one team was left on the Lotus roster by the end of the season. The others forced their way out of their contracts and thrived with replacements from Chevy or Honda, leaving Lotus with a PR disaster on its hands. Mercifully, an official announcement from IndyCar on Friday confirmed what had been expected for months: The multi-year supply contractbetween Lotus and the series had been severed, allowing the marque to step away from its least impressive motorsports program. For fans of the Lotus brand, bringing an end to its &amp;quot;Commitment To Mediocrity&amp;quot; was long overdue. And for those of us who grew up idolizing Lotus founder Colin Chapman, one can only hope this ugly and ill-fitting chapter will soon be forgotten. Related posts:  F1 Drivers Turn Photographers The Lotus Struggle \u2013 Trackside at Indy 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show Racing News: Lotus To Supply Indy Car Engines in 2012 Lotus-v-Lotus Lotus Fireworks  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a3729/turn-out-the-lights-the-lotus-party-is-over/>