Lotus Australia has just received an addition to their lineup fresh off the heels of delivering their first truly all new car in years, the Evora, and the release of a hard core track tuned Lotus Exige Cup, the lightweight English sports car builder has just revealed another version of their compact thrill machine. The Lotus Elise->ke1678 Club Racer is a very simple and straightforward sports car that borrows a few shades of paint from Colin Chapman's personal pallet from the 1960s, colors like Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White.

According to the Director of Lotus Cars->ke49, Luke Bennett, "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. We have taken colour 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."

Called the Elise Club Racer, the new lightweight English sports car is based on the 134 HP version of the Lotus Elise S and is scheduled to arrive in showrooms on September 15th and go on sale for around $40,000. The car makes use of silver and black highlights in the interior as well as an anthracite anodized gear knob and handbrake with the Club Racer "CR" logo embroidered everywhere. The Lotus engineers even saw fit to incorporate a smaller diameter steering wheel and a set of lightweight six spoke alloys for that extra sporty look and feel. The Elise Club Racer will make its official debut in February 2010 and will be priced at $72,990.

Press release after the jump.

2010 Lotus Elise Club Racer

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2010 Lotus Elise Club Racer
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

Press release

The  new special edition Lotus Elise Club Racer is to make its Australian debut in February 2010,
combining new and exclusive color schemes, bespoke interior and lightweight components in a high performance, world-class, low-emission sports car.

Based on the popular Elise S with a 100kW 1.8-litre four-cylinder, weighing just 860kgs, the special edition Club Racer takes retro design cues by featuring four of the classic color schemes used by Lotus in the 1960s (Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White). It combines them with exclusive Club Racer interior and exterior design features to give a stunning sports car that beautifully morphs function and form.

Along with the four bespoke external colors and 'CR' badging, the Club Racer gets lightweight six-spoke alloy wheels that are anthracite anodised and shod with bespoke Yokohama AD07 LTS tires, to complement key interior components.

The firm and supportive Elise Club Racer seats are clad with lightweight microfibre comfort pads perfectly positioned to give the right amount of support with the minimal amount of weight, but still keeping the body coloured seat shell partly exposed.

The exterior body colour theme is carried over to the transmission tunnel and, combined with silver and black paint highlights, bisect the cockpit and tie together the whole sporty theme unique to the Club Racer.

Other exclusive interior design features of the Club Racer are the anthracite anodised gearknob and handbrake sleeve, the Club Racer (CR) logo hand embroidered on the seat headrest and the unique anodised aluminium flooring in the driver and passenger footwells. The small 320mm diameter leather rimmed steering wheel also has an on-centre marker, enabling the more spirited driver to quickly and safely identify the straight ahead position of the front wheels.

Luke Bennett, Director of Lotus Cars said: "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. We have taken colour 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 contemporary with a classic feel, which of course matches the peerless ride and handling of a Lotus and the convertible experience of the Elise perfectly."

Recommended retail pricing of the Lotus Elise Club Racer is $72,990 plus dealer delivery, statutory government and on-road charges. Customers can select one of the four colour options available at no extra cost.