Chipboard before CAD
Spiegel reported the chipboard-and-angle-grinder method: two dusty evenings in the cellar. Auto Bild quoted Lotterschmid saying he had no computer, made a 1:4 model in 1992, and did not need a designer.
People
Kurt Lotterschmid
Founder of Lotec and constructor of the Sirius
- Born
- Munich, 1941
- Nationality
- German
The record
German Kfz-Meister, born in Munich on 29 June 1941, who founded Lotec in 1962, won the Interserie in 1979 and 1980, and designed and built the one-off Sirius around a twin-turbo Mercedes-Benz V12. In July 2026 he sold the car and the Lotec trademark rights and left the GmbH’s managing directorship.
Lotterschmid was born on 29 June 1941 in Munich. Die Welt wrote that he was already self-employed at 21. Spiegel called him a Kfz-Meister; Lotec Legacy dates his Meisterprüfung and workshop to 1962. Auto Bild’s 2026 report says Lotec blends Lotterschmid and Technik, and that he first prepared Porsche 356s. He raced Formula Vee before winning the Interserie in 1979 and 1980. The season tables name him first in a TOJ SC205 BMW in both years. By the end of the 1960s, he had begun building racing cars.
Die Welt recorded that after McNamara’s bankruptcy in Lenggries he bought the firm’s parts, hosted Gustav Brunner for three months in Kolbermoor, drew his first racing car with him and learned wheel geometry. In 1982 and 1983 he raced his Lotec M1C in the DRM, finishing sixth equal in 1983. Lotec became known for Mercedes tuning in the 1980s, Auto Bild citing W124 turbo conversions, then Porsche 928 and Ferrari Testarossa work. The GmbH was entered at Traunstein on 10 January 1984.
In 1990 it began the C1000, a twin-turbo Mercedes V8 one-off commissioned by a client from the United Arab Emirates and delivered in 1995. The Sirius concept and its 1:4 chipboard model date to 1992, according to Lotterschmid’s 2004 Auto Bild interview; Auto Bild’s 2026 report dates development from 1994. He formed it without CAD and built the one-off mid-engined coupé in Kolbermoor with two mechanics around a twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre Mercedes-Benz V12 from the W140 S-Class. Spiegel reported its wiring complete in May 2001.
A proposed investor-backed run of 25 to 50 cars was not realised; Auto Bild wrote that Lotterschmid would not move production to Dubai. The Sirius stayed in the Kolbermoor garage. In July 2026 Auto Bild reported that he had sold the Sirius and the Lotec trademark rights to Martin Gossner. The Traunstein commercial register records that on 8 July 2026 he ceased to be managing director.
One workshop, one car
Lotterschmid and two mechanics spent about eight years on the Sirius in Kolbermoor, funded by the shop’s paying work. A proposed investor-backed run of 25 to 50 cars was not realised, leaving a single car.
Twelve cylinders for prestige
He first planned a twin-turbo Porsche boxer for the Sirius. Auto Bild recorded that he switched to the Mercedes W140 V12 because the McLaren F1 had twelve cylinders — a matter of prestige.
The stations
- 1962–Lotec, KolbermoorFounder and constructor
- 1984–2026LOTEC GmbH Kurt Lotterschmid AutomobiltechnikManaging director
The house
Credited through Lotec GmbH.
In the register
One file carries this name
The files above are the register's own record of this name. The people index holds everyone the register credits.
In their words
“Ich hatte keinen Computer. Aus Spanplatten habe ich mir 1992 ein 1:4-Modell zurechtgeschnitzt.”
Kurt Lotterschmid · Auto Bild, 14 May 2004