by Sniff Petrol on Monday, January 5th, 2015 Lotus has issued an urgent, all-models recall following the recent Top Gear Patagonia special which appeared to suggest that its cars are reliable. ‘What we saw on television involving that Esprit V8 was extremely worrying,’ said Hethel executive Ethel Hexecutive. ‘The car was shown tackling terrain that should instantly cause a Lotus to malfunction, such as gravel tracks, rocky beaches and perfectly smooth roads.’ ‘We must stress that this was probably a fluke,’ Ms Hexecutive continued. ‘But as a precaution we are recalling every car we’ve made in the last 25 years to ensure that some part of it is not working quite as it should or is about to fall off, just as it was the day it left the showroom.’ ‘We must stress again that the Esprit shown on Top Gear was almost certainly a one off,’ Hexecutive concluded. ‘However, we want to give our customers the reassurance of knowing that they should probably think twice before using their Lotus because it’s raining. Or cloudy. Or Thursday.’ The Lotus in Question...this was NOT because it was broken, it was the "ferry" from Chile to Argentina.
Colin Chapman had an obsession with weight-saving on racing cars - and certainly built some light ones. He is supposed to have said that the ideal car was one that fell apart as it crossed the finishing line and if it made it round the cooling-down lap, it was overweight. So "racing improves the breed", said by Sochiro Honda, isn't absolutely always true. Come to think of it, Honda and Chapman would have made a wonderful car between them.
There is nothing more fun to drive on the track than an Exige S, S240 or S260. Nothing. There is something to be said for having to drive a car faster to get more downforce; it's a totally different dynamic and there's nothing like it. If they were more reliable and easier to work on, or there was a shop within a reasonable driving difference other than a bazillion miles a way, and repairs didn't cost an arm, leg, and a vas deferens, I'd own one.
I would have one if I didnt decide to build the R53 back in 2009... I dont regret that decision, because to me the Lotus is just another car that anybody with enough money can go out and buy. My R53 is something unique that nobody else has.
Still, i would have probably wrapped the Lotus around a tree by now... Or it would sit in the garage and never be driven. (Not for the same reason the MINI has been sitting so long... Or maybe the same reason... Who really knows!)
A K swapped Exige went for sale a few months ago in Milwaukee...It took all the self-control I could muster to pass on it, as the guy who was selling it was willing to help with any issues with it, and he's a stand-up guy. But in the end I couldn't see letting go of what I've got.
Having formerly worked in composites, it was the original Lotus Elite that really excited me with its fibreglass monocoque. Not without its problems in true Lotus style, they could be overcome with a bit of carbon fibre these days. And what's not to like about using an engine from a portable fire pump called a 'Coventry Climax'? To put it in perspective, an Exige weighs about 2000 pounds while an Elite, not much smaller, weighs about 1000 pounds. OK, it's narrower and there's no crash protection, ABS or fuel injection on an Elite but, all the same, half the weight? Colin Chapman would never have chosen a lead weight like the K20 turbo, when he could make the car half the weight and use a large Honda motorcycle engine - that Coventry Climax was a 1200cc aluminium four but making only half the power of a modern bike engine.
The Honda K series engines are only like 200 pounds complete... 200+ HP, and will run up to 9000 RPM in stock form. Hardly a boat anchor. Got to figure if you are going through the trouble of doing a K swap from the Toyota motor, its not going to be stock... Use a K-24 block with a K-20 type R head, add a bit of boost and 400 HP comes easy. Still weighing only 2100 pounds with that kind of power on tap with the nice big powerband, and not much is keeping up not even a 1000 pound motorcycle.
And reliable, better than the Toyota engine which surprisingly has a maddening array of issues when thrown in a Lotus. The Exige is 1800 lbs or thereabouts I believe. A tuned, modded k-swapped Exige with that standard aero kit, best Lotus you can buy IMHO.