After Lotus’s official opening of its new Hethel test track we’ve got some pictures of Nigel Mansell driving the track in a Lotus Type 81B – a car he first raced back in 1981.

Mansell is serving as an ambassador for Lotus, and the freshly restored 81B is part of the collection belonging to Classic Team Lotus. The company sent a whole flotilla of cars out to mark the opening of the new 2.2-mile track, which has been built to FIA safety standards, with others including the twin-chassis Lotus Type 88, driven by Mansell’s son, Leo, and two Lotus Renault ‘demonstration’ F1 cars, driven by Vitaly Petrov and test pilot Bruno Senna. 

Another former F1 ace, Jean Alesi, was on hand to demonstrate the Lotus T125 - the single-seater designed to offer wealthy owners a ‘near F1’ experience. Anyone buying the £650,000 special will also get one-on-one tuition from Alesi, who worked with Lotus to create the chassis set-up.