2006 LOTUS EXIGE

The car left the factory as a still very rare (one of 18) special edition. Lotus Motorsport produced some of the companies very finest cars and the 240 Cup was their Race and Trackday offering. The specs were often quite bespoke but this car has Ohlins dampers - LSD - Harnesses - Accusump system - Uprated clutch - Quite different from the standard production run cars.

Back in 2005 the car was owned by well known race driver Alastair Mackinnon and the idea was forming to go racing along with Adrian Newey. Adrian wanted to get back into circuit racing following a break but his usual Ferrari was broken at the time so in steps the Exige we see here. Lotus heard about the Newey connection and requested the car go back to the factory to be upgraded to 255 spec and was officially redesigned as a 255 Cup (the build plaque was changed and this is the first Chassis/build of all the 255 and later 260 Cup cars) The car was then used on track to get Adrian back into the swing of track driving as well as gaining information on the Exige setup and chassis ahead of their project to build the very famous Red Bull Exige GT3 car.

The Exige was sold in 2007 when the boys were competing in Britcar in the GT3 and it remained in that same ownership until we bought the car so a total of some 19 years in the same ownership. During that time the car has been stored indoors at all times and cared for extremely well. It presents very well with minimal chips and marks considering its previous life. It certainly enjoyed a few trackways but was retired to an easy life of Sunday driving road use back in 2014.

We have a second wheel set as pictured the set of forged "240R" wheels available by separate negotiation. We will leave the opportunity to buy those to the person that buys the car as some of the images in the press coverage featured these wheels it would be nice for those to stay with the car. The Exige also has a 260 ECU fitted a further upgrade carried out for the last owner by Lotus Motorsport. The original 255 ECU is still with the car though.

So overall a fabulous example of an exceedingly rare car Lotus say this one of only three 255 Cups that left the factory as road registered cars. Previous research indicates only seven 255 Cups were made for UK production in total.