What’s with automakers bringing out two concepts of the same car all of a sudden? First with the FT-86 and the FT-86 II and now Lotus with its Elan and the Esprit concepts. Both concept vehicles were presented at last year’s Paris Auto Show, so one would think that the next logical step would be production models for those vehicles. Not so.
It seems that Lotus is tossing the two models back and starting fresh from the drawing board because the two concepts just looked too similar. Now, it’s up to Head Designer, Donato Coco, to work on a more optical differentiation between the two sports cars, which makes darn good sense considering the Esprit supercar is powered by a 5.0-liter V8 engine and the Elan sports car only gets a 4.0L V6 engine.
The next generation Lotus Elise is also getting bad feedback due to its enormous weight gain. The current generation weighs only 876 kilos (1931 lbs), but the next generation model will weigh up to 1,100 kilos (2425 lbs). Lotus has yet to decide the fate of the Elise, but the Elan and Esprit will have to undergo some massive changes before getting launched onto the market in 2013.
The Lotus Elise has never been a car accused of being overweight, but that still hasn’t stopped Lotus from putting the sportscar on another diet to lose a few pounds. The result of that weight loss is the new Club Racer model which is 53 lbs lighter than the standard production model. In order to obtain reduction in weight for the lighter model, Lotus has opted for a stripped-to-the-bare-bone approach, meaning lighter seats, a lightweight battery, and the deletion of noise insulation.
Wolf Zimmermann Chief Technical Officer Lotus Cars said: "The traditional Lotus approach of reduction and purity has lead to one of the most zeitgeist and contemporary sports cars around. For over 15 years the Lotus Elise has become an icon in the sports car market, carving out a niche market with a dedicated following of lightweight fans. The new Club Racer will definitely give these people something extra to get their teeth stuck into. This car epitomizes everything that’s cool about the Elise – it’s fast, raw, responsive and a huge amount of fun to drive."
More details on the Lotus Elise Club Racer after the jump.
With the growing number of Ferraris and Lamborghinis cruising their way through our streets, it’s refreshing to see a Lotus taking its worthy turn at showing off. It’s even better when this particular Lotus has taken part in a little tuning project of its own. Tecnocraft has taken a couple of Lotus models, including the Exige and the Elise, and has molded and shaped a good amount of carbon fiber for a product worthy of a little attention.
No official details have been given on the final product just yet, but these pictures show a classy combination of yellow and black for the exterior and the interior of the sports car. Considering carbon fiber was the way to go for these Lotus models, we imagine that a weight reduction is definitely in order. Just how much weight has been schlepped off is anyone’s guess at this point.
The carbon fiber sports seats being used in the Lotus model have already been showcased in Tecnocraft’s version of the C63 AMG, but another new addition for the sport cars will be a news set of wheels to further decorate the exterior.
As a refresher, the standard Elise is powered by a supercharged 1.8 liter engine that develops a total of 217 hp and rockets the car from 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds. The Exige gets a supercharged and intercooled 1.8 liter engine with 257 HP and a sprint time of 4 seconds.
It seems that Lotus was pretty busy this year before the Paris Auto Show. Next to the new generation Esprit, Lotus will also bring the new Elise that will go on sale in 2015 at a price of £35,000 ($55,000 at the current exchange rates).
The 2015 Elise was rumored to be powered by a 2.0 liter four-cylinder engine delivering a total of 320 HP and 330 NM of torque. However, since the company’s announcement of an in-house developed V8 engine, more rumors are circulating about what will be found under the hood of the next gen Elise. These whispers are hinting that the V8 engine is serving as inspiration for a new 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine that will be used for the Elise replacement set to be launched in 2014. Whichever engine makes its way under the Elise’s hood, it will probably be mated to the new start-stop technology. The goal is to make the Elise hit the 0 to 60 mph mark in 4.3 seconds with a top speed of 167 mph.
"The Elise you can buy now is still a fantastic car, make no mistake, Lotus remain very proud of it, but this is a natural progression for us moving forward. The Elise 2015 will also be class-leading in terms of performance and efficiency but it will do more than that it will take the Elise model to the forefront of its class across the board. The design of the Elise 2015 is perfect for the target market, it’s young, strong, confident, verging on ruthless, it mirrors the engineering and technology. It’s the next generation Elise for a new generation of Lotus drivers."
The Hennessey Venom GT has its sights set on Las Vegas for the SEMA Motor Show, so we thought we’d share this video as a preview of the amazing treat that is to come.
The Hennessey GT is powered by a 6.2-liter LS9 V8, which is the same used in the Corvette ZR1. There are three configurations of this motor: one with 725 horsepower and 741 pound-feet of torque and the twin-turbocharged version that has 1,000 horsepower or 1,2000 horsepower. That motor is packed into a Lotus body that seems to have been injected with more steroids than a body builder.
We know that this machine is quite a badass, but we never had a chance to really hear it full out. It’s basically a British sports car body with a massive muscle car motor under the hood. How much better can life get and how much louder can a car get?
