Lotus

For the last decade or so, the term “track day toy” has typically referred to a small, flyweight chassis housing a tiny engine with the power and torque curves of a leaf blower. Cars such as the spindly Ariel Atom, the ageless Caterham 7 and Radical’s platoon of pee-wee LMP racers have all stayed true to this formula and have won critical acclaim and the excitement many buyers worldwide.

But what about buyers who want something even more extreme and purposeful? The Caparo T1 has made oodles of Formula 1 technology and engineering available to the hyper-rich weekend hobbyist, but the decision to make it street legal in countries that aren’t ultra strict about such things as crashworthiness and emissions compliance (read: pretty much everywhere but here) meant there were some substantial compromises that crept into the design. The most significant of those compromises? A passenger seat. But what if designers didn’t have to worry about being road legal, or carrying your wife/mistress/etc.?

That true performance cars can only be rear-wheel drive (and in some glorious instances all-wheel drive) is taken as the gospel truth by a great many gearheads. Never mind that the majority of the world’s new cars pull rather than push themselves down the road, and that the washcloth of automotive history is quite damp with fun rides derided by some as “wrong-wheel drive.” In fact, we managed to name ten front-drivers that are buckets of fun. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here they are.

When you think of a premium General Motors sedan of the early 1990s, what picture forms in your mind’s eye? Chances are it’s a picture of a downsized, front-drive luxury car powered by a wheezy V6 (or, in the case of the C-body Cadillacs, a wheezy and failure-prone V8) with indifferent performance and build quality to match. Now, wipe those horrifying images from your gray matter, and envision a slightly-larger-than-mid-size four-door with wind-tunnel-honed lines, flared fenders, a couple badges depicting the logo of a famous sports car maker, and a plush leather-trimmed interior. Oh, and a twin-turbo, twin-cam straight six sending power to the rear wheels through a Corvette ZR-1’s six-speed manual transmission. Congratulations; you’ve just imagined the Lotus Carlton.

Although it has its origins as the Vauxhall Carlton (or the left-hand-drive Opel Omega for the Continental markets), this fab-four-door was tuned by and marketed as a Lotus. (Why use GM Europe’s big sedans as the starting point? The General owned Lotus from 1986 to 1993.) The Lotus’ 3.6L 24-valve six was similar to the 3.0L 24-valve unit found in the Carlton/Omega GSi, but the addition of the two Garrett T25 turbochargers prompted engineers to use a new block casting with a different bottom end design. When all was said and done, the engine was putting down 377hp and 419 lb.-ft of torque. Backing it up was the aforementioned Corvette ZR-1-spec ZF six-speed stick, which allowed the Lotus Carlton to hit 60 mph in 5.2 seconds, and a top speed in excess of 176 mph.

The flurry of announcements is heating up prior to the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. Details on the 2010 Lotus Exige Stealth or 2010 Lotus Exige Scura (depending on what market you are in) have just been released and my heart is aflutter. But let me take a step back and explain the excitement. When the Lotus Exige first emerged on the scene, there was an individual in LA who immediately took his car to a custom shop and got the body repainted in matte-black along with carbon-fiber highlights. Strangely enough, I came across this Lotus quite often and it was this particular Exige that got me pumped about these fierce urban racers. I remember searching far and wide to try and find out whether or not Lotus offered this as an option and was disappointed with the answer. However, that is all about to change.

If it ain't broke don't fix it... The new 2010 Lotus Exige S240 will drop in the US and Canada this fall with some minor aerodynamic and styling tweaks, without making too many changes to the underlying platform. The most noticeable difference is the revised front end with includes larger intakes pushing air through the radiator and a new splitter. Ahead of each front wheel are two additional air intakes to feed the twin oil coolers. At the rear, Lotus introduces a more pronounced and wider "low drag" wing which is mounted further back and higher to increase stability, reduce drag and maintain amazing downforce at high speeds.

British manufacturer Lotus Cars has been a motorsports behemoth for what seems like forever. So, it's only natural that they would be releasing a racing version of their latest and greatest sports car, the 2010 Lotus Evora. Their new Type 124 Endurance Race Car has just made its official debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show and its transformation from the street to the track is stellar. Not only is this Evora completely reworked from the inside out, the Type 124 benefits from everything one would expect to make a competitive GT3-spec racer.

Today, the North Coast Triumph Association hosted its 18th Annual British Car Show at Shaker Square, in Cleveland, Ohio. The event was located on the green space inside the inner quadrants of the historic district and featured a wide variety of classic, vintage and modern vehicles of UK origin. There was a nice mixture of brands such as Jaguar, Aston Martin, Austin Healey, MG, Lotus, Triumph, Rolls Royce, Morgan and DeLorean.

Back in March, we provided information concerning the European delivery of the Lotus Evora. However, since then there hasn't been any information on a stateside release and big question marks remain. Now, thanks to the folks at Lotusenthusiast.net, we finally have the official US specs and they are impressive. The car will sport a Toyota-produced 3.5L V6 engine capable of 276 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. This by itself is not so overwhelming, but when you factor in the weight of the car (3,047 pounds) the car sprints 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds. It also tops out at 162 mph and get 32.5 mpg.

The 2010 Lotus Evora will ride on either standard cast wheels or optional forged wheels in size 18" x 8" in front and 19" x 9.5" in rear wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero tires. Braking will come from ventilated front and rear discs with cross-drilled rotors optional. In any case, the Lotus will drop from 60 mph to 0 in 110.2 feet, which is pretty phenomenol. An aero package will also be available which includes a front splitter, flat underbody, rear diffuser and floating rear wing.