Monday 24th September 2007

To You From The Hethelring

Special edition Exige plays on racing heritage

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Sir Stirling would be very proud

Lotus has plundered its racing history for inspiration and come up with this very special edition version of the Exige S. Called the Club Racer, Lotus calls the £39,950 a “real value proposition” as the car has a plethora of option packs fitted for around £5k more than the standard S. Just 25 cars will be built, each featuring 1960s-inspired special edition sky blue paint with Phantom Black stripes.

The performance upgrade comes care of the Sports Pack, which includes a roll bar and Pro Bax seats, and a sports exhaust is fitted post-registration too, while on the inside, the car gets both the Touring and Super Touring packs. These include air conditioning, airbags, black leather seats, electric windows and all-important cup holders.A nice little detail touch is the addition of a Nordschleife-esque silhouette of the Hethel test track on the seats too.

While the interior upgrades give the car a more GT-like air for the trip to the track, the supercharged Exige still produces 218bhp, has a 233bhp per ton power to weight ratio and generates 41.2kilos of downforce at 100mph. That should be enough to blow most things away when the pace hots up.

 

[Foolish Dave]

The interior picture is wrong - it's has the MY07 / Europa style interior with 'leccy windows.

Saw one last weekend at Castles - very nice car - the pics don't really do it justice.

Oh, the the wheels are the 111R SportsRacer wheels in black - a bugger to clean!

Edited by Foolish Dave on Monday 24th September 08:35

[Scuffers]

back to raiding the heratage cupboard again....

[zasker]

Quote "These include air conditioning, airbags, black leather seats, electric windows and all-important cup holders"

So why are the cup holders all-important?

[chickensoup]

condom logo

[havoc]

To follow on from the last post: "Stretching things thinner than Durex's finest!!!"

How many more 'special editions' can they make off one platform before we get bored of waiting for the next NEW car?!?

[Skyman]

Not exactly a stripped out racer. Real shame.

[domcross]

I was on the verge of buying one of these last weekend but decided to go for a plain black Exige S. Put simply, I'm not sure I could live with that colour long term, and there's simply no performance difference over a standard Exige S. Not sure it'll hold better resale value either...

[Saied]

Skyman said:

Not exactly a stripped out racer. Real shame.

Quite. Not getting any lighter, are they?

[Jack Blag]

Cup-holders? Why??? You're only going to spill your coffee or Red Bull all over those nice seats at the first corner!!! Poor Colin Chapman...

[tricky 100]

And this weeks limited edition is ...........

[cvegas]

Saw it at the Lotus' open day yesterday. Looks fabulous in those colours.

[RobM77]

Foolish Dave said:

The interior picture is wrong - it's has the MY07 / Europa style interior with 'leccy windows.

Saw one last weekend at Castles - very nice car - the pics don't really do it justice.

Edited by Foolish Dave on Monday 24th September 08:35

Also, the interior pic is of a left hand drive car, whereas the exterior pics are of a right hand drive car...

[Boggy]

That was a great opportunity to produce a cracking little track focused tool

Specification should have been

Sport's pack + super sport's pack

Choice of wheel's 240r, Lightweight etc (in Black)

Power, Brake and Suspension upgrade to Cup spec 255bhp

Love the colour and what they did to the interior but thay should have gone further

Boggy

[RobM77]

I guess they're trying to broaden the appeal of Lotus by making their showcase cars more road liveable. I suppose the hope is that someone in Country Life magazine will review the car and say "actually, Lotuses are useable every day".

[21TonyK]

RobM77 said:

I guess they're trying to broaden the appeal of Lotus by making their showcase cars more road liveable. I suppose the hope is that someone in Country Life magazine will review the car and say "actually, Lotuses are useable every day".

With interiors like this on display they're not far off that point... slightly more compliant ride, ABS, TC, decent ICE with Nav. Hmmm... new mass market sports car.



Misses the point but would appeal to a lot of people.

[RobM77]

21TonyK said:

RobM77 said:

I guess they're trying to broaden the appeal of Lotus by making their showcase cars more road liveable. I suppose the hope is that someone in Country Life magazine will review the car and say "actually, Lotuses are useable every day".

With interiors like this on display they're not far off that point... slightly more compliant ride, ABS, TC, decent ICE with Nav. Hmmm... new mass market sports car.

<pic>

Misses the point but would appeal to a lot of people.

Yes. This is often seen with companies that sell products to a niche market - they're constantly looking for ways to expand their customer base. I'm not sure it's a wise strategy though, unless selling to that niche is unprofitable. Personally, if I was Lotus I'd be pushing more down the hybrid route. They've done a lot of work so far (the bioethanol Exige for instance), and it would be great to be seen as a market leader in this area. Lotus have always had efficiency and light weight as their ethos, so it makes sense to me.

[jke11y]

I saw one in the window of the London Groups showroom on Friday, and the colour was "challenging" - I wanted to like it as I think it looks cool in the photos, but in real life you would look camper than a row of tents driving a baby blue car.

[Boggy]

21TonyK said:

RobM77 said:

I guess they're trying to broaden the appeal of Lotus by making their showcase cars more road liveable. I suppose the hope is that someone in Country Life magazine will review the car and say "actually, Lotuses are useable every day".

With interiors like this on display they're not far off that point... slightly more compliant ride, ABS, TC, decent ICE with Nav. Hmmm... new mass market sports car.



Misses the point but would appeal to a lot of people.

That car is for the American market Tony

Boggy

[hahithestevieboy]

Boggy said:

21TonyK said:

RobM77 said:

I guess they're trying to broaden the appeal of Lotus by making their showcase cars more road liveable. I suppose the hope is that someone in Country Life magazine will review the car and say "actually, Lotuses are useable every day".

With interiors like this on display they're not far off that point... slightly more compliant ride, ABS, TC, decent ICE with Nav. Hmmm... new mass market sports car.



Misses the point but would appeal to a lot of people.

That car is for the American market Tony

It was very nice though. It had a very ferrari-esque grilles on the front though and does the "california" reference not hark back to a SWB250 Gto or something???

Boggy

[21TonyK]

Boggy said:

21TonyK said:

RobM77 said:

I guess they're trying to broaden the appeal of Lotus by making their showcase cars more road liveable. I suppose the hope is that someone in Country Life magazine will review the car and say "actually, Lotuses are useable every day".

With interiors like this on display they're not far off that point... slightly more compliant ride, ABS, TC, decent ICE with Nav. Hmmm... new mass market sports car.



Misses the point but would appeal to a lot of people.

That car is for the American market Tony

Boggy

I guessed that (wheel and filler sort of give it away a bit ). Makes me think giving them independence was a good thing.