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Hennessey Venom GT To Be At SEMA 
The insanely wonderful Hennessey Venom GT is coming to SEMA in Las Vegas. The Lotus-bodied, LS9-powered Venom GT is sure to make those Hyundai models and Ford Fiestas quiver in fear. The Venom GT is a little boy’s dream car. We have all wondered what could happen if we stuffed a massive motor into a small car right? Well, we can now find out. The car was recently in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, but it’s back in the United States for some tweaking in preparation for SEMA. The Venom GT is powered by a twin turbocharged Chevrolet LS-series aluminum V8 producing 1,200 hp and 1,135 lb-ft torque mated to a 6-speed Ricardo manual transaxle. This supercar will hit a top speed of 200mph and will feature lightweight carbon fiber bodywork and carbon fiber wheels. Only ten are built every year with a price tag of $850,000. Video: 2015 Lotus Elise promoLotus has unveiled a new promotional video for their future generation Elise sports car sports car that was just unveiled at the Paris Auto Show. The new Elise will go on sale in 2015 at a price of $55,000. The 2015 Elise is powered by a 2.0 liter four-cylinder engine that delivers a total of 320 HP and 330 NM of torque. The engine is mated to the new start-stop technology and will sprint the car from 0 to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds. Top speed is 167 mph. Lotus CEO, Dany Bahar, said, “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.” More details are to be revealed at a later date!
Lotus gives Toyota chief Akio Toyoda his very own Elise
For the longest time, Lotus has been sourcing its power plants from Toyota and recently, the Proton-owned manufacturer gave Toyota boss Akio Toyoda a little token for a partnership that has successfully lasted for years. Okay, it’s not so much a little token as it is a new car, and a pretty special one at that. Lotus CEO Danny Bahar recently flew to Japan to personally hand over the keys of a brand new Lotus Elise. What’s more, this particular Elise actually comes with the last Toyota-sourced 2ZZ-GE VVTL-I engine to come in a Lotus. "The presentation of Toyota’s last 2ZZ engine in the Elise is a symbolic gesture of our continued respect and deep appreciation for our partner not only acknowledging our past but also looking forward to our future together," said the Lotus CEO. The partnership between Lotus and Toyota looks to be stronger than ever with the former bringing a few of its Toyota-powered models – the new Evora S and IPS models - to the Paris Motor Show. For Toyota’s part, the alliance with Lotus allows the Japanese manufacturer to stamp its imprint on a brand that it thinks pretty highly of. “A Toyota engine in a Lotus car creates a completely unique drive feeling,” said Toyoda. “It creates a special blend featuring the best of Lotus and Toyota that we hope many car lovers continue to experience and enjoy."
2010 Lotus Elise SC and Exige S RGB Special Editions
Lotus, in cooperation with Roger Becker (former Director of Vehicle Engineering for Lotus), unveiled the Lotus Elise SC and Exige S RGB Special Editions. Both models are the first in a series of special editions that will celebrate the final run of European specification 1.8 liter Elise and Exige sportscars. The Elise SC RGB Special Edition 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 Lotus Exige S RGB Special Edition gets a supercharged and intercooled 1.8 liter engine with 257 HP and a sprint time of 4 seconds. Both models will be offered with a choice of four colors: aspen white, starlight black, solar yellow, & carbon grey. The special editions will feature sports and touring packages as standard. They will be distinguished by a numbered interior plaque, Roger Becker’s signature on the side of the bodywork, and special monochrome Lotus nose badge. “I am honoured that Lotus has named these two special editions after me, especially as it allows me to offer the customer my favourite specifications. The past 44 years have been an incredible journey and I’m looking forward to watching Lotus progress in the future, I have no doubt that the company will continue to go from strength to strength,” said Roger Becker. Press release and specifications after the jump. Full story First Hennessey Venom GT goes to Middle East customer
Should we be surprised about it? We strongly doubt it! After yesterday’s unveiled images of the production version Hennessey Venom GT, today we find out that someone had the pleasure of driving the chassis 001. The lucky driver was a customer in the Middle East by the name of Al DiMora of DiMora Motorcar. The Venom GT is based off a Lotus Elise and is powered by a twin turbocharged Chevrolet LS-series aluminum V8 producing 1,200 hp and 1,135 lb-ft torque mated to a 6-speed Ricardo manual transaxle (the same as found in the Ford GT). Boasting a dry weight of just 2,548 lbs and a curb weight of 2,685 lbs with a full tank of fuel, the car delivers on its promise of an astounding power-to-weight ratio. This supercar will hit a top speed of 200mph and will feature lightweight carbon fiber bodywork and carbon fiber wheels. We have to remind you, there will only be 10 units of this vehicle built each year and the first model to go out was purchased for the Venom GT was $850,000. Video: Dyno testing the Hennessey Venom GTIt wasnt nearly as long as we had hoped, but this Hennessey produced video of the Venom GT performing a dyno test is about as ear-splittingly joyous as a morning wake ’er-upper can get. If you’ve just rolled out of your bed, forget coffee. Just plug in your head phones, crank up the volume and click that sideways triangle button. Morning joltness has never sounded more glorious. 2011 Lotus Elise
The English sports car builder Lotus has refreshed their lightweight Elise roadster with a new front end and have revealed the first details on the 2011 Elise facelift. The redesigned sports car is built on top of a new lightweight structure made up of extruded aluminum alloy bonded with epoxy as opposed to traditional welds that add additional mass featuring integral steel seat belt supports and lightweight rear subframe which serves as the centerpiece for the fully independent suspension that utilizes unequal length wishbones, mono tube gas dampers from Bilstein, coil springs from Eibach and a front anti roll bar. The 2011 Elise will be powered by a 1.6 Liter naturally aspirated water cooled inline four cylinder engine that delivers a total of 134 HP and 118 lb-ft of torque and is mated to a six speed gearbox. The combination is good for a 0 to 60 MPH sprint time of 6.7 seconds and is capable of reaching a 124 MPH top speed. The new lightweight Lotus Elise sports car will go on sale this April in U.K. and will be priced at 26,550 GBP. Updated 04/22/2010: A set of new high res images added to the picture gallery. Check it out! Press release after the jump. Full story Video: 2011 Lotus Elise facelift reviewIt’s the British magazine, Autocar, who had the chance - again - to be the first one testing a new sports car. This time we are talking about the 2011 Lotus Elise facelift. Not many changes need to be made to an already close to perfect vehicle, but Lotus did decide to make the Elise look a little more like the Lotus Evora by making the front end a little more narrow. This was done by slightly modifying the nose, hood, and headlights. The 2011 Elise will be powered by a 1.6 Liter naturally aspirated water cooled inline four cylinder engine that delivers a total of 134 HP and 118 lb-ft of torque and is mated to a six speed gearbox. The combination is good for a 0 to 60 MPH sprint time of 6.7 seconds and is capable of reaching a 124 MPH top speed. Check out the video to see what AutoCar thought about this iconic superstar. 2011 Lotus Elise Special Edition for Netherlands
Lotus Elise has just received a facelift for 2011, but before it goes on sale, Netherlands will be the first to get a special edition Elise SC. This is completely unfair in our books. The limited edition Elise comes painted in matte white with details contrasting in black (superhot). The seats receive an embroidered logo and the standard wheels have been replaced by black 12-spoke alloy wheels. Also, the rear diffuser is painted in black. Under the hood the 4-cylinder engine remains unchanged, meaning 136 HP and a fuel consumption of 5.04 liters/100 km. The sprint from 0 to 60 mph is made in 6.5 seconds. You know, we can’t seem to understand why everyone else is getting these special edition Lotuses. If you remember, a couple of months ago, Australia received the Lotus Elise Club Racer and last year, the UK received the Lotus Elsie Black and White Edition. Hey Lotus, we want this car too! Video: Hennessey Venom GT blasts through British countrysideWhere’s the best place to try and warm up the engine of a high-powered sportscar? Why, the countryside, of course! Not a lot of car, not a lot of cops, and a lot of open pavement waiting at your disposal. Sounds like a good day to let loose Hennessey’s Venom GT. In this video released by Hennessey Performance Engineering, we have yet again the Lotus Elise-based Venom GT doing some test runs, this time in a small town near the Silverstone race track in the UK. Watching - and listening - to the video harks us back to the time when sports cars sounded this piercingly sharp. As the driver pushes the pedal to the ground, you can hear this sharp shriek that on any other thing would sound deplorably horrible; but on a sportscar, it’s music to our ears. And the best part is, the model used in this video is just the base model of the Venom GT. Imagine what it would be like to have 1,200 horsepower underneath that hood. Goosebumps. | Find us on Facebook | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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