2005 Lotus Elise Base Convertible 2-door on 2040-cars

Auto blog

EVO "2012 Car of the Year: The Track Battles" is a sports car salmagundi

EVO has come out with another gotta-watch-it video, throwing its 2012 Car of the Year contestants around the UK's 1.5-mile Blyton Park track. It's actually a 15-minute teaser for the full-length DVD detailing the magazine's Car of the Year selection, but the tease is worth every penny free second.
Tiff Needell and sports car racer Richard Meaden handle the wheel duties, the two driving five pairs of sports cars: Lotus Exige S vs. Porsche Boxster S, Morgan Three-Wheeler vs. Toyota GT86, BMW M135i vs. Porsche 911, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series vs. Alpina B3 GT3, the marquee event pits the McLaren MP4-12C vs. the Pagani Huayra. After a head-to-head lap with commentary during drifts, Meaden takes each car out to set a representative lap time.
You'll find the verdicts, lots of tire smoke, and lines like "Anything you can do sideways I can do sideways" in the video below.

The time Elon Musk paid $1 million for James Bond submarine car that cost a couple $100

Tesla CEO Elon Musk landed himself in court after insulting a diver who criticized his plan to rescue a Thai soccer trapped in a cave using a purpose-built mini submarine. Which reminded us that Musk's interest in submarines started years ago. The story begins in 1989, when a couple from Long Island put every barn-find hunter to shame by paying $100 for a locked storage unit, and cracking it open to find a 1976 Lotus Esprit buried under a pile of blankets. That's a cool find, the S1 Esprit is sought-after among enthusiasts, but CNBC reported they quickly learned their car was modified to star in the 1977 James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me." Ignoring Colin Chapman's "light is right" motto, the producers alchemized the Lotus into a fully functional submarine by welding in the wheel arches and the underbody, and adding winglets for more stability. Four propellers powered by a battery pack housed in the cabin moved the Esprit under water, and the coupe gained front-mounted missile launchers. The modifications reportedly cost $100,000. The couple had never seen a James Bond movie; they likely assumed it was a mad scientist's kit car, or a science fair project gone wrong. The $100 purchase price represents about $207 in 2019 dollars, so the unsuspecting buyers could have easily sold it as a parts car, made a small amount of money on it, and ended up with a free storage unit. However, they became aware of the Esprit's significance in Hollywood history when truckers identified it over CB radio while they were hauling it home. lotus-esprit-submarine-in-action-1 View 3 Photos They weren't collectors, and storing a submarine is terribly impractical, so they commissioned a cosmetic restoration and asked auction house RM Sotheby's to sell it in 2013. An enigmatic buyer paid $997,000 for the non-running movie prop. Musk later revealed himself as its new owner. "I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform. What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain, and try to make it transform for real," he announced. Even billionaire-owned project cars sit for longer than planned, and there's little evidence the Esprit is in swimming condition, let alone capable of morphing into a submarine at the simple push of a button. If it could, we're certain Musk would have hyped it up on Twitter. But while stalled projects normally draw the ire of loved ones as they take up garage space, Musk's turned into a well of inspiration.

Lotus getting into the motorcycle business

Lotus founder Colin Chapman is famously quoted as saying something to the effect of "Simplify, then add lightness." We're a bit amazed that it took this long, but someone appears to be taking that message to heart at the British marque, losing a couple of wheels, a clutter of bodywork and a whole mess of weight. No, Lotus isn't planning another spindly Seven-style trackday racer, it's getting into motorcycles.
Well, sort of. As an automaker, Lotus apparently isn't directly behind this two-wheeled effort, but it does appear to have officially lent its brand and logo to a new company, Lotus Motorcycles, which counts former Volkswagen Group designer Daniel Simon, Germany's Holzer Group and auto racing team Kodewa among its partners. The latter builds and races Lotus' T128 Le Mans Prototype in the World Endurance Championship series.
The new company is touting an as-yet unseen motorcycle, a racing-inspired "hyper bike" called C-01, releasing only the image above - a carbon fiber fuel tank trimmed in Lotus' trademark black and gold livery. Details are tough to come by, but the project is said to include a powertrain good for around 200 horsepower and construction involving titanium, carbon fiber and aerospace-grade steel.