Lotus Exige in British GT - pictures from todays test.

[autofocus]

Hi there,

I managed to get to Donington Park this morning for an hour to watch the British GT test. The Lotus Sport Cadena Race Team will make their British GT race debut on Sunday with three Lotus Exige GT3's.

Here are some pics: -


Car Number 18 - Paul Whight and Chris Randall


Car Number 19 - Barrie Whight and Gavan Kershaw


Car Number 20 - George Mackintosh and Sam Blogg

The Lotus Exiges are racing in the new GT3 class and the only other cars in this category are three Aston Martin DBRS9's and a single Porsche 997.

Try and get along on Sunday it looks like being a great race.

Regards

Tim

[twinpipe]

Wow that's pretty special.... may have to re-think my weekend.

[DanH]

Looks awesome. How were they running, those Astons are pretty serious competition!

How come the astons aren't in the GTC class with the 911 GT3s etc?

>> Edited by DanH on Thursday 18th May 20:06

[kevin ritson]

They look great - can't wait to see Randy and the boys later on in the season

>> Edited by kevin ritson on Thursday 18th May 20:09

[ndixon]

Doesthe front of all cars look too low ? to short ? or are the wheels simply to big ?

Or is the back out of proportions?

The race cars just look strange

Neil

[autofocus]

DanH said:

Looks awesome. How were they running, those Astons are pretty serious competition! How come the astons aren't in the GTC class with the 911 GT3s etc?

I wish I knew, it does not seem right to have the Exige up against the DBRS9, especially when the main GT class has Ferrari F430's and a Panoz Esperante. Surely the DBR9 should be with these and not the Exige's.

Regards

Tim

[minidiva]

Awesome photos!

Heard & got quick glimpses of the GT3 whizzing around the test track at Hethel a few weeks ago - Wow!

I want one!

[GTRene]

minidiva said:

Awesome photos! Heard & got quick glimpses of the GT3 whizzing around the test track at Hethel a few weeks ago - Wow! I want one!

In orange? the bottum picture looks ok(the car) only indeed the front wheel/carros?
gues its realy lowww
Don't we all like to have some ride's in such cars I know I would like to play a day on a "save" cirquit to play and learn!
Sunday the 21 (in 2 nights)when everything goes as planned I will be at the Nurnburgring maybe I bring my camera with me and see if I can find some good looking lotus TAD(T)S
GTRene

[scuffham]

autofocus said:

DanH said: Looks awesome. How were they running, those Astons are pretty serious competition! How come the astons aren't in the GTC class with the 911 GT3s etc? I wish I knew, it does not seem right to have the Exige up against the DBRS9, especially when the main GT class has Ferrari F430's and a Panoz Esperante. Surely the DBR9 should be with these and not the Exige's. Regards Tim

and why would that be?

the whole point of GT3 is for all makes to produce a car that fit's the GT3 regs, the idea is to end up with as level a playing field as possible.

(mind you, the Lotus GT3 is REALLY slow)

[Esprit]

They'll be knackered when it comes to the driver changes... everyone knows how hard it is to get into and out of an Exige with the roof on!

[135sport]

GT3 is all based on power to weight ratio.

Hence the lardy Aston DBRS9 should be equal to the Exige GT3 and 997 GT3 on paper at least......how that magic formular translates to the track will be better understood on Sunday afternoon.

Can't wait.

[han solo]

So whos going then to support our boys?

Main race is Sunday from 1pm - 3pm

[zebedee]

135sport said:

GT3 is all based on power to weight ratio. Hence the lardy Aston DBRS9 should be equal to the Exige GT3 and 997 GT3 on paper at least......how that magic formular translates to the track will be better understood on Sunday afternoon. Can't wait.

Its already been seen I'm afraid, from tests conducted by the FIA (the FIA GT3 championship has already taken place). The Exige GT3 was nowhere near as quick as the other cars (997s, Corvettes, Vipers, Astons, Ascaris, 430s...)

[bruh_la]

Does anyone know when it will be on the telly, i have no way of going but would really like to see it.

[ayjay]

looks fantastic,,, not sure about writing "helloslough" on the side though...

[BalhamLotus]

zebedee said:

135sport said: GT3 is all based on power to weight ratio. Hence the lardy Aston DBRS9 should be equal to the Exige GT3 and 997 GT3 on paper at least......how that magic formular translates to the track will be better understood on Sunday afternoon. Can't wait. Its already been seen I'm afraid, from tests conducted by the FIA (the FIA GT3 championship has already taken place). The Exige GT3 was nowhere near as quick as the other cars (997s, Corvettes, Vipers, Astons, Ascaris, 430s...)

The only real tests that have been done by the FIA were right at the start of the season and hence right at the start of the Lotus' development, it was barely finnished back then. I expect there's going to be a gap, but on a tighter circuit than Paul Ricard it's not going to be 3 seconds. (I'm crossing my fingers while I type this of course)

[jackal]

any laptimes for the exiges ?

[bogie]

what are they putting out - 280bhp and 750kg?

[moles]

Copied from somewhere else

Free practice times are up

1 77 GT2 ROLLCENTRE RACING Mosler MTR900 1:19.661 35 88.45
2 57 GT2 TEAM LNT Panoz Esperante GTLM 1:20.851 41 1.190 87.15
3 1 GT2 SCUDERIA ECOSSE Ferrari 430 GT2 1:21.215 38 1.554 86.76
4 22 GT2 TEAM EUROTECH Porsche 996 GT3 1:22.159 38 2.498 85.76
5 19 GT3 LOTUS SPORT CADENA Lotus Sport Exige 1:22.242 29 2.581 85.67
6 58 GTC TEAM SCANDAL Prosport LM3000 1:23.010 34 3.349 84.88
7 88 GT3 BARWELL MOTORSPORT Aston Martin DBRS9 1:23.383 39 3.722 84.50
8 5 GTC TRACKSPEED Porsche 996 GT3 1:23.807 32 4.146 84.07
9 66 GT3 BARWELL MOTORSPORT Aston Martin DBRS9 1:23.811 38 4.150 84.07
10 3 GTC TRACKSPEED Porsche 996 GT3 1:23.871 34 4.210 84.01
11 96 GTC TEAM RPM Porsche 996 GT3 1:24.300 43 4.639 83.58
12 16 GTC MOTORBASE P'FORMANCE Porsche 996 GT3 1:24.505 31 4.844 83.38
13 17 GTC TEAM RPM Porsche 996 GT3 1:24.598 42 4.937 83.29
14 81 GTC TEAM TIGER Marcos Mantis 1:24.638 42 4.977 83.25
15 33 GT3 BARWELL MOTORSPORT Aston Martin DBRS9 1:24.725 45 5.064 83.16
16 9 GT3 TRACKSPEED Porsche 997 GT3 1:25.099 23 5.438 82.80
17 6 GT2 EMOTIONAL ENG Vauxhall Monaro 1:25.135 20 5.474 82.76
18 71 GTC DATA PROTECTION SOL Prosport LM3000 1:25.254 29 5.593 82.65
19 99 GTC BEECHDEAN M'SPORT Ferrari 360 Modena 1:25.317 37 5.656 82.58
20 8 GTC HAWTHORNS M'SPORT Porsche 996 GT3 1:25.733 37 6.072 82.18
21 4 GTC TRACKSPEED Porsche 996 GT3 1:25.889 29 6.228 82.03
22 7 GTC TEAM CHAD Porsche 996 GT3 1:26.126 41 6.465 81.81
23 28 GTC RSS PERFORMANCE Porsche 996 GT3 1:26.253 29 6.592 81.69
24 12 GTC JMH AUTOMOTIVES Ferrari 360 Modena 1:26.797 8 7.136 81.18
25 20 GT3 LOTUS SPORT CADENA Lotus Sport Exige 1:27.643 36 7.982 80.39
26 18 GT3 LOTUS SPORT CADENA Lotus Sport Exige 1:28.678 25 9.017 79.45
27 44 GTC RICHMOND RACING Ginetta G20 1:30.436 27 10.775 77.91
28 11 GTC TEAM AERO Morgan Aero 8 GT 1:30.773 17 11.112 77.62
29 70 GTC DAVID DOVE RACING Ferrari 360 Modena N/A

[jackal]

quickest quali times for the exige seems to be ~ 1.14, 1.15
so no quicker than a basic 200bhp caterham on slicks & crappy bilstein non-adjustale dampers
for a properly developed GT3 car i'd say thats not very impressive and IIRC significantly slower than the "dailysportscar" Kershaw exige of yesteryear !