Lotus is paying homage to Australia’s most famous race by launching the Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition. Limited to just six units — yes, six — the Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition is as exclusive as it’s going to get. The special edition sports car boasts exclusive features befitting its status, none more prominent than a rare paint finish that hasn’t been used in a Lotus since the Lotus Esprit that starred in the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me.

In addition to the exclusive paint, the Elise 250 Bathurst Edition also comes with interior upgrades and mechanical improvements. The sports car’s 1.8-liter supercharged four-cylinder engine, on the other hand, remains in stock form. The cost of owning one of the six Lotus Elise 250 Bathurst Edition models sits at AUD109,900.

That converts to around $73,760 based on current exchange rates. Unfortunately for us here in the U.S., all six units of the Elise 250 Bathurst Edition are exclusive to the Australian market.

Exclusive touches aplenty

More importantly, the exclusivity needs to be justified. For the most part, Lotus accomplished that with the Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition. The upgrades are minor, but if you add them all up, they create a compelling special edition model that should live up to its super exclusive status.

Let’s start with the paint finish because it’s one of the most prominent features of the Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition. It wears what Lotus calls the “Monaco White” paint finish. While it looks, well, white in the press photos, the specific shade has provenance behind it.

The Spy Who Loved Me.>

More importantly, Lotus hasn’t used this specific color since the famous Hollywood car wore it. The hardtop, front access panel, and roll hoop cover are all finished in Monaco White.

In addition to its fancy paint finish, the Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition also comes with red rear wing uprights and sits on a set of 16- and 17-inch forged alloy wheels in the front and rear, respectively. The wheels are finished in black and are wrapped in Yokohama Advan A052 rubber tires measuring 195/50 in the front and 225/45 in the back to account for the different wheel sizes.

And, of course, no Lotus special edition is complete without some identifying decals. In this case, a decal of the Elise Cup 250 can be found in the rear bumper with a layout of the Bathurst race track beside it. Likewise, the side panels of the rear wing wear Union Jack decals.

Interior touches where they're needed

Lotus created the Elise 250 Cup as a pure performance car whose objective is to get you from Point A to Point B faster than its rivals. You can say that interior quality was compromised because of that, and, to a certain extent, it has. But Lotus isn’t apologizing for it, and you shouldn’t be asking for one, either.

In fact, you should even thank Lotus for at least dressing up the Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition’s interior with exclusive touches of its own. The carbon fiber race seats, for example, are dressed in Alcantara upholstery. Red trim accents adorn a huge chunk of the interior space and the special floor mats are nice touches, too. And just so it’s clear to everyone, a pair of special plates is located on the passenger-side dashboard. The first plate identifies the individual responsible for hand-building the specific model in England while the second plate denotes the specific model number of each of the six units of the special edition Elise Cup 250.

No mechanical upgrades, but still fun to drive

There are no engine upgrades involved in this special edition sports coupe. The engine is connected to a six-speed manual transmission, which, in turn, sends power to the two rear wheels, helping the Elise Cup 250 accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.3 seconds. Top speed remains set at 154 mph.

Don’t be too bummed by the absence of an engine upgrade. What’s more important, at least in this sense, is that the Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition benefits from the addition of specially tuned Bilstein dampers that provide 12 percent more firmness in compression on the front axle relative to the Elise Sport 220. Rear-axle compression is also nine percent higher than the setup in the Elise Sport 220 while overall rebound is 30 percent firmer.

In keeping with its identity as a track car, the Elise Cup 250 comes with three driving modes: Drive, Sport, and Off. We don’t need to tell you where the fun lies, right?

2020 Lotus Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition specifications

The cost of ownership is steep

And even if you did get a chance to score the special edition Elise Cup 250, you’ll need to fork over AUD109,900, which is around $73,760 based on current exchange rates.

Of course, that doesn’t count the shipping costs that you’ll have to pay since the special edition is only available in Australia. Even if you paid for all that, you’re also getting a car whose steering wheel sits on the opposite side so you’re going to have to pay to move it on the “right” side. Do that, though, and you risk destroying the provenance of the car. Perhaps all these things are signs that you’re better off appreciating the Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition from a distance and let somebody else buy it, even if it means losing out on the access to next year’s owners’ track day event at the Bathurst race.

Final Thoughts

The Lotus Elise Cup 250 is a great performance car. It’s not the fastest car you’ll drive, but as a whole, it’s a ball of fun to drive. I appreciate that Lotus created a special edition model out of it, but between its exclusivity — really, just six units? — and the fact that it’s only available in Australia, actually getting one is going to be next to impossible.

I don’t mind it, though. The cost of bringing one here in the U.S. will also be high, not to mention the complications of the car being right-hand-drive makes it difficult to justify purchasing one — supposing that there’s still one available. I’m more than happy appreciating the Lotus Elise Cup 250 Bathurst Edition from my computer. I’ll take photos of it if I see one up close because it’s already a unicorn in its own right. But to spend all that much to buy one? I’ll take a hard pass on that.