Sad news today out of England that Graham Nearn, the man most responsible for keeping the Lotus 7 flame burning bright has passed away. Nearn, who was 76, started out as a “dealer” for the immortal 7 back when they first hit the market in the late 1950s, and later, went on to save the brand, and continue producing them under the Caterham name.
Wait! What’s this I see? Hertz rental cars in Italy is now offering the use of a Lotus Elise? Wait! Not just any Lotus Elise, but the supercharged version? Oh … dear … God … Calm down. Stay Calm. Breath, just breath.
OK, Chris, boss of bosses, holder of the “limitless” Automoblog corporate checkbook, I only have two words for you:
ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!
Yet another rumor that I wish and hop will turn out to be true. Current scuttlebutt is that the next generation Lotus Esprit will get its power from a Lexus sourced V10. Given Lotus’ penchant for lightness, that kind of power-plant could be a serious way to motivate you down the road … wait, Lexus it going to be making a V10?
Sometime last year, a few Photoshop gurus got together and made some very funny “mini” versions of their favorite cars. The trend caught on, and soon lots of people were taking their favorite cars, and through the process of image manipulation, made them mini versions of themselves.
Below, you will find a photo gallery full of these micro machines, in all of their hilarious glory. If you have any you’d like to share, please leave a comment.
Just click on the image for a larger version: Continue Reading…
Carbon Fiber Lotus Elise
Some crazy rich guy (named Jimmy, apparently) wasn’t happy with the scale-busting weight of his Lotus Elise, so he gave it to some tuners in Hong Kong to fabricate a new one - completely out of carbon fiber! Ok, it’s not all made from carbon, but it’s damn close.
As expected, the whole body is constructed from the lightweight and super-strong material, as is a good portion of the interior, the seats, the roof, and the side mirrors. The interior is a mix of raw black and silver carbon so there could be some design element in there, I assume.
So how much weight did Jimmy save from this long and expensive modification? It weighs about 66-88 lbs less than the stock Elise. Doesn’t seem quite worth it, but after all, he now has the only Lotus Elise made almost completely out of carbon fiber.
More pictures below… Continue Reading…
This is just too good to pass up and not mention, Lotus makers of all things light and tossable, have already announced a variant for their upcoming, but not-out-to-the-public Evora 2+2.
Boasting an output of at least 350 horsepower, the Evora variant will use the same 3.5L Toyota-sourced V6 as the base model, only with a blower firmly attached. Torque will also be bumped up to nearly 300 lb-ft mark in production form. Given the cars already light weight, those figures should be enough to scoot the Evora SC to 60 in 5 seconds flat and boost the car’s terminal speed to 175 mph, according England’s to Autocar Magazine. Although it is expected to arrive on the market in May 2009, the super charged version is slated to arrive sometime in 2011.
Lotus is keeping busy with even more versions of the Evora after the jump.
