Lotus 3-Eleven
it was due for a show reveal at Frankfurt this September, presumably in a blaze of glory following a hypercar-humbling Nordschleife time. Now that looks set to happen even sooner, with
Autocar
reporting a Festival of Speed debut for the new car.
Like this, made faster. Lordy...
It would certainly tally with Lotus's rather bizarre Goodwood Twitter campaign. Evidently it's not just the F1 team that's prone to weird social media behaviour! Under the hashtags #ItsNotForYou and #FoS, it has posted pictures of a wooden crate, a tyre stinger, skidmarks, a T-shirt and a car in darkness. Right...
Obviously enough because this is a pre-launch appetiser, precious little has actually been revealed about the 3-Eleven. So we're still expecting c.420hp, 900kg and £70K. Which is a fairly heady mix, vastly more potent than anything else currently coming out of Hethel and the previous 2-Eleven.
With the Evora 400 as Lotus's next significant product launch, neither customers nor media will be driving 3-Eleven particularly soon. Therefore while there may well be a physical car debut and perhaps even a lap time imminent, it seems unlikely the car the will be on sale before 2016. But where better to show the latest British sports car than what's now the de facto British motor show? Hopefully there's some official information soon!