2013 Lotus Evora S Ips 2+2 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Lotus reveals extreme new 3-Eleven at Goodwood

Lotus has taken the occasion of the Goodwood Festival of Speed to reveal the new 3-Eleven. Billed as the quickest, most expensive road-going series production Lotus ever, the new 3-Eleven picks up where the previous 2-Eleven left off. And that gave the British automaker quite a starting point. An extreme evolution of the Elise and Exige, the new 3-Eleven boils things down to the bare essentials and packs a mighty punch. It's built around an aluminum chassis with composite bodywork and a completely open cockpit. That gives it a curb weight of less than 2,000 pounds to embody Colin Chapman's ethos of "adding lightness" like no other modern Lotus we've seen yet. At its heart lies an upgraded version of the company's 3.5-liter supercharged V6, producing 450 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. That makes it even more powerful than the new Evora 400, and channels through a six-speed manual transmission, limited slip differential, and traction control. Other features include double wishbone suspension front and rear, Eibach springs, adjustable Ohlins dampers, AP Racing brakes, a Lotus-tuned Bosch ABS, 18-inch alloys up front, 19 inches the rear, shod with Michelin rubber. All of those goodies translate to a 0-60 time of under 3.0 seconds and a top speed of up to 180 miles per hour. It's even quoted to lap the company's test track at Hethel in 1:22. That makes it an impressive ten seconds seconds faster than the aforementioned Evora 400 – which is already six seconds faster around the circuit than the preceding Evora S. Production will be limited to just 311 examples, and is slated to commence in February 2016, with the first deliveries to begin in April. Any potential for North American availability has yet to be announced, but in the UK pricing will start at GBP82,000 (equivalent to $129k at current exchange rates). A more extreme Race version will be offered alongside the Road model, priced at GBP96,000 ($150k) before taxes or GBP115,000 ($180k) with, upgrading with track-focused features like a more aggressive aero kit, six-point racing harness, and a six-speed sequential gearbox.

Race Recap: 2013 Indian Grand Prix mostly calm with chances of Championships

The smog around the Buddh International Circuit got so bad over the weekend that the FIA had to change the practice sessions. Then the soft tires that Pirelli brought to be the options were found to degrade so quickly that teams had to change their qualifying and race strategies. The only man it didn't seem to affect was - guess who? - Sebastian Vettel, who put his Infiniti Red Bull Racing on pole position.
Behind him came Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas, Mark Webber in the second Infiniti Red Bull and on medium tires, Felipe Massa in the first Ferrari, Kimi Räikkönen in the first Lotus, Nico Hülkenberg in the first Sauber, Fernando Alonso in the second Ferrari, and the McLaren duo of Sergio Perez and Jenson Button. The tire strategizing didn't work out for Romain Grosjean in the second Lotus, who didn't get out of Q1 after only running the medium compound tire and lined up 17th.
The Indian Grand Prix has been held twice and Vettel has led every single lap of both races. If nothing else, we knew there would be at least one new thing about this Indian Grand Prix: there'd be a lap not led by Vettel since he qualified on softs and would have to pit before Webber and Alonso who were both on mediums.

A Lotus Super Seven shows what simple beauty means

Roadgoing sports cars don't get much more pure than the Lotus Seven. With no roof or luxuries of any kind, this is quite possibly the car that exemplifies better than any other Lotus founder Colin Chapman's ethos of "simplify, then add lightness." Geoff Wise owns a 1963 Lotus Super Seven, and he shows why the car's uncluttered layout works so well, as you'll see in Petrolicious' latest video. Petrolicious often profiles people who take a classic car and upgrade it into a vintage racer one piece at a time. Wise did the exact opposite, though. He bought his Seven as a track car and converted it to work better on the road. For example, the engine now runs on pump gas, but it still has plenty of power. The bored and stroked 1.7-liter four-cylinder has a claimed 120 horsepower, which is more than adequate in the 1,000-pound Lotus. Wise says the Seven gets tons of attention when he goes for a drive, especially from kids. It's easy to understand why. In a world of crossovers and active safety systems, seeing a car that's so basic is transfixing. Enjoy watching the little Lotus on the road in the latest clip from Petrolicious. If you don't have the space for one in the garage, there's at least the option of the upcoming Lego kit for your bookshelf. Related Video: