BETTER PARTSEven for Lotus madness
Goodwood, June 26, 2015
If even forfeited the ausgebufftesten Lotus fanatics due to some cleverly scattered numbers in ecstatic jubilation, it should be clear what has struck the hour. Welcome with us the new 3 - Eleven, the fastest, most radical and probably the most expensive toy, the Lotus has ever built. Or to put it better, the two fastest, most radical and probably most expensive toys, because the 3 - Eleven, it is both a road and a track variant type ( as if the street version does not look already racetrack moderate enough ).
Nordschleife in under seven minutes?
Common to both is known from Exige and Evora, Toyota-based 3.5-liter supercharged V6, which puts it in 3 - Eleven on daredevil 456 hp and 450 Newton meters. It is shifted by manual road car six-speed manual box. The race car gets a sequential six-speed gearbox from Xtrac. And because Lotus indicates the weight of this maximalbespoilerten Mini - Monsters with less than 900 kilos ( for the racing version ), you can look forward to plenty of absurd performance. The zero - to - 60 - mph sprint ( 0-97 km / h ) should take less than three seconds, top speed is depending on the variant at 280 or 290 km / h. At 240 km / h car generates 215 kilos of downforce and the in-house circuit in Hethel Defeat the 3 - Eleven in 1:22 minutes. He was ten seconds faster than the previous leader Evora 400. Lotus chief Jean - Marc Gales goes even further and says that mandatory Nordschleife lap time should " not far away " to be from the 6:57 minutes of the Porsche 918.
Racing suspension included
Both versions of the 3 - Eleven get fully adjustable Ohlins dampers, a Torsen limited-slip differential and an AP Racing brakes with 332 - millimeter wafers. The street version running on Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, the racing version of Michelin Cup 2 tires. In both cases, in 225/40 ZR18 front and 275/35 ZR19 rear. And just in case you have already packed in a cold sweat: There is also a traction control.
The design escalates
Speaking Fear: The design of the super-Lotus is really not for the faint hearted. While we recognize still a whole chunk Exige, but in an unprecedented escalation level. Massive air intakes endeavor to seek appropriate levels of cooling, the fenders Adrenaline outwards to accommodate the wider track can and there is a cage and irritating major spoilers and diffusers. Interesting body detail: the first manufacturer Lotus uses a composite material, which is to be 40 percent lighter than the usual processed fiber.
interior manageable
Inside, there is room for two, however the passenger may ( along with his seat ) to be removed and exchanged for a clear mono seater fun against a tarpaulin. Behind the removable steering wheel is a TFT instrument display and is sitting on a process developed by Lotus Sport seat with four-point belts. In the racing version of the sports seat against a motorsport derivative is replaced with six-point seat belts. Also on board: a fire extinguisher and a battery - emergency stop switch. You notice here is operated in a serious way racing.
Very fast, very expensive
If you already are looking for all the time for the hook on the delightfully crazy Lotus thing, the search has by now an end. Because this is not only the fastest, but probably also the most expensive of all time Lotus. The road version of the 3 - Eleven starts at 82,000 pounds. This is equivalent to 115,000 Euro. For the racing version will even 115,000 pounds, or about 161,000 euros, due. Who threatened to faint at these sums should listen before even the wise words of Lotus chief Jean - Marc Gales. The calls its new flagship namely a " Giant Slayer " ( ie giant - killer ), " which is able to embarrass far more expensive rivals. " However, the chance to do that is not very big, there are in fact only 311 pieces built. The production of 3 - Eleven begins in February 2016. Delivered is from April . ( sw )