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1988 Lotus Esprit Turbo Se on 2040-cars

Year:1988 Mileage:9162
Location:

Advertising:

1988 LOTUS ESPRIT TURBO SE!!

ONLY 9,162 MILES!

NO RESERVE!!  WINNING BIDDER

TAKES IT HOME!!

 

*Limited Anniversary Edition

*Number 66 of 88 Built

*One of only 44 Produced in Pearlescent White

 

Now you can take home a very unique vehicle with quite the colorful history.  This car was owned by Stuart Arnold, founder of the Auto Trader publishing empire.

 

Full set of owner's manuals, original window sticker, copy of insurance registration card in the name of Stuart Arnold adds to the authenticity of this vehicle.

 

For 1988, Lotus introduces an all-new body for it’s flagship. The original body, designed by Gioggetto Giugiaro at Colin Chapman’s request on a modified Lotus Europa chassis, had that folded paper, automotive origami styling so in vogue in the Seventies, best exemplified by Giugiaro’s design of the original VW Scirocco. While many a more recent design has aged more rapidly, the Esprit styling has stood the test of time very well, but is now beginning to look just a bit dated. To inject some more life into the design, and to campaign in the American marketplace with renewed vigour, Lotus has designed an all-new body shell for the old mechanicals, still attached to the same steel backbone, but this time to body is an in-house design by Lotus’ own Peter Stevens. The body is made by Lotus’ patented VARI ( for vacuum assisted resin injection) method, allowing greater strength and better consistency than the old bucket and brush hand lay-up methods.

The new body exhibits a smoother, more rounded shape, the rear buttresses have been cleaned up, combustion-air inlets have been blended in behind the rear quarter windows, and a sheet of smoked glass open at the bottom for ventilation, has been added to improve aerodynamics, replacing the sopped backlight and black louvers of the earlier models. Also gone is the tacked-on appearance of the skirts and bumpers: the new car has a much more integrated look. Not surprising, because the older body had to change over the years to meet changing times and performance levels. For example, in the original road test (R&T July 1977) the Esprit ran 0-60 mph in 9.2 seconds, the quarter mile in 17 flat, and topped out at 120 mph. The Turbo, as last tested (June 1986) did 0-60 in 5.6, the quarter in 14.3, and had a top speed of 152. That sort of top-end performance will exact its toll in aerodynamic changes, hence the somewhat cobbled-up look of the last of the Giugiaro-based Esprits.

Lotus had big plans for the future: the active suspension project M300 intended to compete square in the same class as the ultra-exotics such as Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche’s 959; and project M100, a small, more affordable sports car. Meanwhile, we have the new Esprit Turbo. An exotic by any standards, offering high performance in a limited-production car, Lotus hopes it will re-establish the company’s image in the U.S. as a maker of fine sporting machinery and pave to way for Loti of the future.

www.lotusespritturbo.com

DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY TO OWN A PIECE OF HISTORY!!

 

OFFERED BY FAYETTEVILLE NC'S PREMIER

IMPORT AND EXOTIC DEALER:

DAX'S DEALS, INC.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:

DAX YARBOROUGH (910)527-4050

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Auto blog

How Lotus plans to expand and electrify as it enters a new age

Tue, Oct 11 2022

If you’ve never driven a car made by Lotus, youÂ’re not alone — theyÂ’ve always been a small manufacturer, and even spotting one in public is a rarity — but youÂ’re missing out. Their exotic good looks are far surpassed by their dedication to connecting man to machine to pavement above all else. But like every other automaker these days, big changes are afoot. Yes, Lotus is going electric. But itÂ’s also going big, and in more ways than one. We recently sat down with Lotus Group VP & Managing Director Matt Windle and Chief Brand Officer James Andrew to talk about how the storied brand will pay service to its past as it aims its headlights toward the future. WeÂ’ve already seen the Lotus Evija (formerly referred to by internal codename Type 130), a low-volume, all-electric hypercar that represents the small automakerÂ’s first big step into electrification. With 1,500 kilowatts (about 2,000 horsepower) coming from four electric motors, you can forget 0-60; itÂ’ll do 0-186 miles per hour in 9.1 seconds. It starts at over $2 million, and production will be capped at 130 units. Flashy numbers to make a big splash, before going bigger in both size and production volume. Next will come the Lotus Eletre (formerly Type 132), an electric SUV that represents the (currently) small automakerÂ’s desire to cater to every lifestyle rather than to be pigeonholed by purists and luddites. To reach big volumes, Lotus needs to be a truly global company, and it needs to create cars that more customers can use, and at prices they can afford. Lotus Eletre Electric SUV View 25 Photos And even though an SUV isnÂ’t what weÂ’re used to seeing from Lotus, perhaps we shouldnÂ’t be surprised — and not just because seemingly every other exclusive, top-shelf brand is now offering an SUV or will be soon. James Andrew reminded us that the appreciation has always been there, and that Lotus founder Colin Chapman had two parking spots at the office: one for his Lotus Esprit, and the other for a Range Rover heÂ’d often drive to work. DonÂ’t expect a rock-crawling luxury off-roader to wear the Lotus badge, though. The gents assured us that the brandÂ’s focus remains on performance. And a crucial part of that performance is in driving dynamics that connect the driver to the car.

Lotus Evija's wild aero setup is detailed by chief aerodynamicist

Tue, May 12 2020

The Lotus Evija is a car of firsts for Lotus. To that end, the company has spent a lot of time talking over the details. Today, we get to learn about the wild shape’s aerodynamics and what Lotus engineers were trying to accomplish. Richard Hill, chief aerodynamicist for Lotus takes a dive into all the details, and the video at the top of this post offers a great visual. “Most cars have to punch a hole in the air, to get through using brute force, but the Evija is unique because of its porosity,” Hill says. “The car literally ‘breathesÂ’ the air. The front acts like a mouth; it ingests the air, sucks every kilogram of value from it – in this case, the downforce – then exhales it through that dramatic rear end.” We can see what Hill means as we look at the Evija in photos. Instead of a regular front bumper, this one has pass-throughs that direct the air back into the side of the car. Lotus hasnÂ’t released the all-important coefficient of drag figure yet, but we have to imagine itÂ’s very low. The front splitter (below, left) is responsible for a few different things. The opening in the center takes in air to cool the battery pack that is mounted behind the seats. Then, the outer section of the splitter channels the air to the “e-axle” for cooling of the electrical components. And finally, it also produces downforce.  There are a couple more tunnels for air to pass through in the rear. These “holes” are likely the most distinctive design feature, especially when accentuated with the LED taillights. Hill says that these are also fully functional and help to reduce drag. “They feed the wake rearward to help cut drag,” Hill says. “Think of it this way; without them the Evija would be like a parachute but with them itÂ’s a butterfly net, and they make the car unique in the hypercar world.” On top of all these porous body structures, there are pieces that move. The rear wing can elevate upward from its flush body position and deploy into clean air above, creating more downforce. And then thereÂ’s an F1-style drag reduction system. This uses a horizontal plane that deploys from the car to make it slipperier through air. The final big piece of this puzzle is the underbody sculpting that directs air into the massive rear diffuser. This causes an upwash of air, in turn creating a massive amount of downforce. Hill sums it up quite nicely.

Race Recap: 2014 Spanish Grand Prix is boom and bust [spoilers]

Mon, 12 May 2014

The Spanish Grand Prix's 2.892-mile Circuit de Catalunya is considered a preview for the rest of the season, since it's a combination of long front straight and twisting middle sectors mimic sections from every other Formula One track to follow. After the long break following the flyaway races to open the season, teams and fans have also been looking forward to this race to see if anyone had a realistic hope of catching Mercedes AMG Petronas; Infiniti Red Bull Racing honcho Christian Horner boiled his team's outlook for the season down to the line, "We've got to [beat them in Spain] if we're going to make a championship of it."
If we take that as our starting point then the weekend began as a bust. Lewis Hamilton only just beat Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg for pole, the Brit's final effort getting him 0.178 seconds clear of the German. Daniel Ricciardo, proving Red Bull is at least the best of the rest, took third but did so more than a second behind Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas of Williams lined up fourth, almost 1.5 second behind and Romain Grosjean delivered overdue good news for Lotus by taking fifth on the grid, more than 1.7 seconds behind pole. Kimi Räikkönen in sixth outqualified his Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso in seventh, but he couldn't be happy about it because the Ferraris were nearly two seconds behind, and Jenson Button in eighth in the McLaren was more than two second behind. Felipe Massa put the second Williams in ninth, and Sebastian Vettel overcame a terrible start to the weekend to make it into Q3, then didn't set a time when his gearbox failed, then got dropped five places to 15th on the grid when the gearbox had to be changed.
When the lights went out, then came the boom...