Lotus Exige: Lotus Sport's road racers

Lotus’s racing division, Lotus Sport, unveiled two road-legal but intensely track-focused cars at Geneva.

The first, the Exige GT3, was shown as a concept, but it’s expected to proceed to production by the end of this year in almost exactly the same form, which means a 271bhp supercharged and intercooled 1.8-litre engine that peaks at 8000rpm. That puts it ahead of the Exige S by over 50bhp, and it even exceeds the track-only Exige Cup 255 by nearly 20bhp.

Lotus describes the GT3 as being ‘as bold a road version as we can get away with’, and says that the new car should hit 60mph in under 4sec and reach 100mph in less than 10, putting it firmly into premier-league supercar territory.

To cope with the extra power, the GT3 gets a heavy-duty clutch with a sports-type plate, while drive is laid down through lower-profile 225/40 R17 rear rubber. Meanwhile the rear track has been widened by 101mm and the brakes have been improved over the standard Exige, with uprated four-piston AP Racing callipers at the front and Pagid RS14 pads all round.

The GT3 will also get switchable traction control that works by reducing power rather than braking. While that might offend purists, it’s probably no bad thing for a road-going car this potent.

Other changes for the GT3 include a completely new rear wing, a full-width front splitter and the Exige Cup 255’s full-length roof scoop.

Lotus Sport wouldn’t commit to a price beyond a cagey ‘between £50,000 and £60,000, depending on final specification’, but should the GT3 come in towards the top end of that scale, it would be serious money for a lightweight Lotus, putting it up amongst more refined rivals. Seen as a competitor to the equally hardcore Porsche GT3, however, it might just begin to look like a bargain.

The second new offering from Lotus is the trackday-biased 2-Eleven. Essentially an Exige S stripped down to the bare minimum, it weighs in at a mere 670kg – impressive stuff given that the base car is a not exactly tubby 935kg.

Propelled by the Exige Cup’s 252bhp supercharged unit, the result is a power-to-weight ratio of 382bhp/ton, and unsurprisingly it promises to be breathtakingly fast. Initial estimates from Lotus are that 100mph will arrive in just 9.1sec.

The 2-Eleven is on sale now in two different versions – a track-only car costing £39,995, and a road-legal version that adds an extra £1100. Don’t think the latter option makes the 2-Eleven a poor man’s Zonda, though – this is just so that you can drive it to the track and back, as although the SVA package comes with number plates and road tax, there’s still not even a suggestion of a windscreen.