Lotus Reveals New Evora Cup Racer with 400 Horsepower V6

Having already launched the road-going Evora 2+2 mid-engined sports car, Lotus has now turned its focus on the development of a competition version that will be eligible for racing in the FIA GT4 category and a special one-make Evora Cup series.

Finished in Epsom Green with a Solar Yellow stripe down the centre, the Evora Cup racing car is powered by a modified version of the stock model's Toyota sourced 276HP 3.5-liter V6 engine enlarged to 4.0-liters. The result is more than 400HP and 400Nm of peak torque.

The mid mounted V6 engine is mated to a Cima six speed sequential paddle shift dog gearbox, designed for international motor sport.

Other tweaks include adjustable motor sport dampers and six piston front brake callipers, with two piece aluminium belled brake discs, while the car also gets electrical cut off, fire extinguisher and traction control.

Lotus says that it has managed to reduce the car's weight to 1,200 kg (2,645 lbs) or 200kg (440 pounds) less than the production model by using numerous high performance parts and materials and deleting parts not required for motor sport.

In addition, the Evora gets a Dallara developed aero package that includes a number of updated carbon fibre parts and is said to significantly improve downforce and cooling.

The British firm said that the final design and specifications of the Lotus Evora Cup Racer will be presented at the Geneva Motorshow in early March 2010.

Lotus Evora Priced from $73,500 in the States

The all-new Lotus Evora mid-engined coupe will hit U.S. showrooms in early 2010 with prices starting from $73,500, the British automaker announced today. That's 12 grand more than the 320HP Porsche Cayman S ($61,500) but $5,500 less than the entry-level Porsche 911 with RWD and 345HP ($77,800).

The Evora is powered by a Toyota-sourced 3.5-liter V6 producing 276 hp at 6,400 rpm and 258 lb./ft. of torque at 4,700 rpm that drives the rear wheels through a 6-speed manual transmission.

Lotus says that the 2+2 seater is capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph (96km/h) in 4.9 seconds and reach a top speed 162mph (260km/h) while also delivering over 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

The U.S. market Evora will come equipped with several standards fetures including bi-xenon headlamps, air-conditioning system, leather seats, Alpine audio system and a flat-bottomed leather and magnesium steering wheel.

Live Photos of Bad Boy Lotus Exige Scura 260HP, But Beware; Lotus Says Color May Fade...

The star attraction over at the British firm's Tokyo Motor Show booth is the special edition Exige Scura or as it will be sold in Japan, the Exige Stealth. Lighter and more powerful than the standard Exige, the Scura is distinguished by the matte-black paint finish accented by high-gloss "Phantom Black" stripes and carbon fiber aero parts such as the front splitter, oil cooler inlet vanes, side air-scoops and rear spoiler.

Lurking beneath the bonnet is the 1.8-liter supercharged inline-four from the Exige Cup that makes 260 horsepower, enough for a 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint time of 4.1 seconds (0-60mph in 4.0 sec) and a top speed of around 245 km/h or 152mph.

You can read more details about the Exige Scura that will be produced in a limited run of 35 units in our previous post on the car here.

On a side note, Lotus caught our attention with a special disclaimer in the press release about the Scura's matte-black finish. According to the British automaker, while the water borne matte black paint finish is resistant to most normal forms of atmospheric attack, the color may fade over time.

Here's the part about the paint warranty:

"...due to the textured matt finish, fading or discoloration of all or part of the matt paint finish may occur during the early life of the vehicle and this is considered normal and is specifically excluded from any warranty given by Lotus. The special matt paint finish utilized on the Lotus Scura is provided with a limited warranty of the earlier of 12 months or 12,000 miles/20,000 km from the date of first registration of the vehicle."

Image Credits go to our Tokyo Motor Show reporter, Phil Alex

Hyundai Pulls Out of 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, Alpina and Lotus the Only Foreign Brands to Participate!

Less than a month before the 41st Tokyo Motor Show opens its doors to the members of the press and the public alike, and the last major foreign automaker that was planning to take part at the car show, South Korea's Hyundai Motors, decided to drop out from the event, according to the show's organizers.

If you take a look at the list of the participating brands, you'll see that aside from eight domestic automakers - Subaru, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Daihatsu, Nissan and Suzuki, the only foreign carmakers that will have a booth at this year's Tokyo Motor Show are Germany's Alpina that builds special edition versions of BMW cars and Britain's Lotus! Not much of an International show...

Toyokazu Ishida, manager of the international exhibition for the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) told Automotive News that the South Korean maker announced its plans to cancel its participation just last Friday, September 25. "Hyundai called last week and orally confirmed their intent to cancel. It's unbelievable," Ishida was quoted as saying.

JAMA officials said that Hyundai has yet to send a written confirmation of its decision to pull out of the show. According to JAMA, the South Korean automaker has already paid 10.9 million ($122,000) in nonrefundable fees for a 4,300-square-foot exhibit at the Show.

Earlier this year, JAMA announced that due to the weakened interest in the event, the overall exhibition space will be about half the size of the previous show at 22,877 sqm (vs 44,587 sqm in 2007). The organizers also decided to shorten the even by four days and as such, the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show will be held for a period of 13 days (instead of 17) from October 23 to November 4, 2009.

Among the cars that are expected to make their debut at the 2009 Tokyo show are the production version of the Lexus LF-A V10 supercar and a new Subaru Justy.

Tokyo '09: Lotus to Unveil Limited Production Exige Scura with 260HP

Another show, another special edition model for Lotus that has announced the world premiere of the Exige Scura at the Tokyo International Motorshow on 21st of October 2009. Translated as "dark" from Italian, the name "Scura" is supposed to reflect the stealth character of the special Exige that boasts a menacing matt black paint finish with contrasting 'Phantom Black' triple stripes that run the length of the car.
The sports car also features carbon fiber front splitter, oil cooler inlet vanes, side air-scoops and rear spoiler plus unique matt black lightweight forged wheels shod in high-performance Yokohama A048 LTS tires.

Continuing the dark theme into the interior, the Scura's seats and centre console are crafted from carbon fibre and the handbrake and gear knob have a special anodized treatment which leaves the metal with an anthracite color finish. All carbon fibre components inside are finished in high-gloss clear lacquer.

The Exige Scura makes use of the Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter supercharged four-cylinder engine from the range topping Exige Cup 260. It produces a maximum power output of 260 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and a peak torque figure of 236 Nm (174 lb-ft) at 6,000 rpm. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a lightweight C64 six-speed gearbox.

Lotus said that the extensive use of lightweight carbon fibre components, including sports seats, interior centre console and the exterior bodykit help to keep the weight to 10kg or 22 pounds less than the 220HP Exige S at just 925 kg or 2,039 lbs.

The company claims a 0 to 100km/h sprint time of 4.1 seconds (0-60mph in 4.0 sec), a zero to 160 km/h (100 mph) in circa 9.9 seconds a top speed of around 245 km/h (152mph). Combined cycle fuel consumption is said to be 8.5 lt/100km (27.6 mpg US or 33.2mpg UK) with CO2 emissions of 199 g/km.

Other features include a launch control system, a variable slip traction control that enables drivers to tune the car to track surface conditions and their own driving style, two-way adjustable dampers from Ohlins that have 60 compression and 22 rebound settings and ride height adjustment to reduce the ride height from 130 mm to 120 mm.

Production of the Exige Scura that will be offered in Japan as the 'Exige Stealth' will be limited to 35 units globally.

Lotus said that orders will be accepted from 21 October 2009 in Europe, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia with prices set at £45,950 in the UK, €61,820 in Belgium, €61,200 in France, €61,885 in Italy, €60,000 in Germany and CHF90,225 in Switzerland.

First Lotus Evora Coupe Delivered to Customer, Full Production to Start in November

Matthew Melling of Twickenham, UK, is the first customer to take delivery of the all-new Lotus Evora. He received the keys to the mid-engined 2+2 coupe from Luke Bennett, Director of Lotus Cars Limited, at the British firm's Hethel headquarters in Norfolk where the sportscar is hand built.

"I was determined to be the first in the world to get my hands on an Evora so with Stratton Motor Company's help, I laid down my deposit within seconds of the order books being opened last year," said Meling. "I have read all the press reviews of the Evora and am so excited about getting behind the wheel – what a great start to September!"

Lotus said that many dealers around the world have already received their demonstrator Evoras and that so far, the company has taken enough orders to cover production for the next five months.

Special Edition Lotus Elise Club Racer Announced for Frankfurt Show

Like many other niche automakers, Lotus has a thing for special edition models. The latest one to come out of Hethel is the Elise S-based Club Racer (CR) and it will be displayed for the first time at the Frankfurt motorshow. Although it retains the base model's Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter engine and five-speed gearbox which is good for a 0 to 60mph sprint time of 5.7 sec (0-100km/h: 6.1") while returning 37.2 mpg UK or 7.6 lt/100km on the combined cycle, the CR introduces new color schemes, bespoke interior and lightweight components.

The Elise Club Racer will be offered with four classic color schemes used by Lotus in the 1960s - Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White. The lightweight anthracite six-spoke alloy wheels that are shod in bespoke Yokohama AD07 LTS tires round off the special edition model's... unchanged looks.

The exterior body color theme is carried over to the interior and is combined with silver and black paint highlights while the seats get lightweight microfibre comfort pads.

Other treats include the anthracite anodised gear knob and handbrake lever, the Club Racer (CR) logo hand embroidered on the seat headrest and the unique anodized aluminium flooring in the driver's and passenger's footwell.

"Special Editions of the award winning Elise have always proved popular with our customers around the world, and I expect the Elise Club Racer to be no different," said Luke Bennett, Director of Lotus Cars. "We have taken color schemes from our past, used on the Elite and Elan in the 1960s and cleverly brought them up to date with a modern feel to the interior. The whole design package is modern with a classic twist, which of course matches the peerless ride and handling of a Lotus and the convertible experience of the Elise perfectly."

The special edition Club Racer goes on sale in Europe on September 15 with retail prices set at €34,475 in Belgium, €34,175 in France, € 34,770 in Italy, CHF 48,820 in Switzerland, €33,125 in Germany and £25,712 in the UK.

Lotus USA Offers Aftermarket Supercharger Kit for NA Elise and Exige Models

North American owners of naturally aspirated Elise and Exige models can now add a little more oomph to their cars without worrying about voiding the warranty as Lotus USA has announced the availability of a factory engineered, warranted and 50-state legal supercharger kit. Utilizing the same supercharger and integrated intake manifold unit as fitted to a production Elise SC, the kit can be installed on any naturally aspirated Elise or Exige powered by a Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine.

The package, which includes a compact supercharger and integrated intake manifold along with new high-flow fuel injectors and a re-programmed engine management control unit, increases output from 189 HP to 218 HP while torque jumps from 133 ft.-lbs. up to 155 ft.-lbs. More importantly, the increased maximum torque is available at a lower 5,000 rpm instead of the naturally aspirated 6,800 rpm.

"Lotus Elise and Exige owners are genuine driving enthusiasts and that's what has attracted them to Lotus cars in the first place," said Lotus Cars USA, Inc. Director of Operations Arnie Johnson. "They will fully appreciate the dramatically enhanced driving character these Lotus Supercharger Kits will bring their vehicles and the peace of mind from a fully warranted, factory engineered kit."

While Lotus has not announced pricing yet, the British firm said that the Supercharger Kit is available for purchase and installation at all authorized Lotus dealers in the U.S. and Canada.

Lotus Designs Smart Fortwo Sized All-Electric Mini Car Concept

From the make-believe world of 'What if...' comes our next story on a concept proposal for an all-electric mini car from Lotus. However, what makes this project stand out from the usual independently styled concepts is the fact that it was actually designed by Lotus. See, Automotive Engineer magazine asked the British sports carmaker to come up with a concept vehicle to show how far city car design could go.

The result is an extremely compact-sized mini car equipped with a 37kW-strong electric motor. Like many other EVs, power is provided by a 10kW lithium-ion battery pack which is positioned under the floor and can be recharged in three-and-a-half hours through a standard household 13A plug. The vehicle would have a range of around 50 km or 30 miles while it would be able to reach a top speed close to 65mph or 105km/h.

At just 2,600 mm or 102.4-in. in length, 1,600 mm or 63-in. wide, 1,700 mm or 67-in. in height and with a wheelbase of 2,000 mm or 78.7-in. the Lotus designed mini is roughly the same size as the two-seater Smart Fortwo and quite smaller than the 3+1 seater Toyota iQ.

Nevertheless, Hethel's designers say that mini can seat up to four people, albeit the two rear passengers will most likely feel like a pack of sardines. Alternatively, the rear seats can be folded to provide a luggage space. Driver and passengers would enter the car through a pair of sliding side doors.

The mini car would use an aluminum spaceframe in the floor while according to Russell Carr, head of Lotus Design, the body would be pressed aluminum or composite materials, depending on the sales volume.

Lotus points out that the design for the mini car was completed in approximately two weeks instead of the typical concept phase that lasts between three and six months, meaning that the project is a more of a rough sketch than anything else. And just to prevent any sort of rumors, the magazine says that vehicle wasn't designed as a Lotus city car but as a concept that could be developed for a third-party automaker.

Via: Automotive Engineer