LOTUS
3-ELEVEN
We want Lotus to
succeed, we really do. It’s to the company’s misfortune that “beleaguered
British sports car maker” alliterates so well. But although it is still selling
tiny numbers of cars, you can’t accuse Lotus of lacking confidence—it’s using
this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed to introduce a roofless two-seater
based around its familiar component set, and with a stratospheric price tag.
No argument that the
Lotus 3-Eleven is seriously quick. It uses a 456-hp version of the supercharged
Toyota V-6 that does duty in the Evora and Exige, and the company says it is a
massive 10 seconds quicker around a lap of the Hethel test track than the recently
updated Evora 400. Two versions will be available, a track-only “Race” version
featuring a six-speed sequential gearbox and a street-legal “Road” model with a
conventional manual transmission. The Race version is claimed to have a
zero-to-60 time of just 3 seconds and a top speed of 174 mph. The street-legal
Road version has slightly taller gearing and can reach 180 mph.
The 2008 Lotus 2-Eleven was an Elise-based lightweight sports car with four-cylinder Toyota power—but the 3-Eleven is far quicker and startlingly more expensive. It’s based around a strengthened version of Lotus’s familiar aluminum tub and the bodywork is made from a new composite material that’s claimed to be 40 percent lighter than standard fiberglass. We’re told that it will weigh less than 2000 pounds and that, in the roadgoing version, a passenger seat will be an option. In Race form the aerodynamic package delivers a claimed 474 pounds of downforce at 150 mph.
However, this level of
performance costs big. In the U.K. the 3-Eleven Road will be £82,000 [$129,000]
and the Race is a towering £115,200 [$181,000]. That’s a steep figure for a car
with cheaper and better-equipped siblings sharing most of its mechanical
componentry. Production starts early next year and will be limited to 311 cars.
