Jack Stone

Look forward to 7 Sep

This is a heart-breaking sight for any car enthusiast, but particularly us Lotus and Esprit lovers. Especially when you think how these cars were revered (and priced) when new. Tragic, like the white G Turbo HC still sat decaying outside a house in a suburb of Swindon (for over a decade, at least).

JB gives Tim a tour of his “Brawn” Evija

Presentation of three Evija Fittipaldis to customers in Monterey this week (pic via X @SimonCarGuy). Would love to see an Emira in this colourscheme.

The stillborn Lotus Type 66 has been ‘reimagined’ as a £1m track car, powered by an 830bhp “period-representative” V8, tuned by Lotus. Carbonfibre body and redesigned floor produces 800kg of downforce at 150mph. 0-60mph in under 3s and a top speed approaching 200mph. Motorsport mag reports: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/...otus-can-am-monster-unveiled-as-1m-track-car/

Nice footage of (almost) "all the FE colours" on the move from around 2min 35s point, during Carmel car week

Jenson Button will debut his bespoke Evija during Monterey Car Week at ‘The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering’ on Friday 18 August. Pic via Lotus Cars

Always fun having a Lotus wedding car to add to the excitement of the big day: will her indoors (to be) say "I do/I will"? And will the Lotus start in front of the church/guests/onlookers? (thankfully yes to both in my personal experience!)

Moody Evora pic from this week's BDCCC meet at White Waltham, bombed by my Emira and a few "add lightness" Lotus

Here's one I prepared earlier.... 😁

FYI I've been advised by the London "brand centre" that it should have merch stock and sales set up by "next week".

Made the very same point about dealers last week in the Type 133 thread. Living to the west of London my nearest "agent" choices are Silverstone or "Surrey" (B&C). There is now a London showroom but that's all it is - I don't think they're even planning to facilitate customer hand-overs there ( @Bibs?)

To be fair, PH says “By Lotus standards the dual-clutch is a fabulous auto.” And I thought the Evora 400 auto shift was ok...

The Guardian article is another example of this lazy narrative about Chapman's business MO (admittedly propagated by Hethel in the past): "...famously focused on removing any excess weight to make the cars faster and more nimble than rivals with bigger engines". Chunky's prime focus was getting rich and trying to make Lotus Cars a global success to underpin investment in Team Lotus to win Grand Prix and F1 world championships. In his final years he was steering Lotus Cars up-market, with the "wedge" product range spearheaded by the £20k (1980 £) Essex Commemorative Turbo Esprit. A V8 engine was in the plan from the early 1970s, and while the 2.2L turbo came first (for reasons set out in my Ab Lotus article last year), I think V8 propulsion would have been introduced across the range in the 1980s had things been different. So I think ACBC would be delighted with the product range plans under Geely if it finally makes Lotus Cars a successful and sustainable automotive business...😊

I was meaning more how the manual shifting compares between the two Emira models using paddles (ie is the DCT faster/smoother, even given the road testers' comments)

Thanks @JimH How does manual shifting performance compare between I4 and V6 auto?

With an "Emira 400" (V6) manual in my garage and a long-standing order for an I4, I've been interested to hear the comparisons being made in these I4 reviews. Disappointed that Lotus has tried to carve its own path with the automatic interface (side-to-side manual shifts - what's that all about?) and has somehow managed to sustain its reputation for questionable gear-changes even with a DCT box! I was already not a fan of the fussy switching between tour/sport/track in the V6 (why make two switchings necessary for each mode change?). I view the double selection automatic arrangement Harry and Charlie talk about in the same vein - fussy for fussy's sake. Has anyone compared the I4 with a V6 auto yet? (By the way, despite the grumbles, I do absolutely love my Emira!)

Such a shame given that the Emira is such a fabulous driving machine

I can’t imagine Lotus during Chapman’s era making it so hard for someone to willingly transfer large sums of money over to its bank account 😉

Jay likes it

I had exactly the same problem. I spent several days and many phone calls with Barclays fraud team (and with staff in branch) as they were spooked by the fact they'd never seen the account number before. Eventually, I had to verbally commit to the fraud team that I took full responsibility for the payment if it was a fraudulent transaction agreed to waiver eligibility to recover the funds. Frankly the whole experience was the most frustrating and stressful experience in 3 decades of Lotus ownership!

Niels de Gruijter, executive director of Lotus Cars Europe, on Type 133: "Later this year the car will be revealed, and then sales will start in the course of next year." (He also said: "We now have 17,000 orders for Emira and Eletra combined for the first half of this year, worldwide." (Just need a dealer network now)) https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/lotus-says-its-type-133-four-door-saloon-finished

I4 was gone by Monday - replaced by HY V6 manual (Evija gone too☹️)