Emira GT4

[Bibs]

https://www.autosport.com/gt/news/lotus-gearing-up-for-return-to-international-sportscar-racing/6273942/

It's going to be a very capable car! 

[exeterjeep]

Interesting story, may mean they will offer a road going hi spec 131 / gt4 look alike.

[Bibs]

I'd imagine that they will 👍

[exeterjeep]

So by the time they launch it I may be even more retired than I am already.

I'd have to bribe the wife a lot to buy that as well as the gt430.

Article also says 

It is known that the Type 131 retains the Toyota-based V6 of the Evora, again mounted transversely.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Sounds interesting!
By the way, the top image of the Autosport story is actually a GTE, rather than a GT4.

[CaptainSlow]

About time that Lotus get back into motorsport

[NedaSay]

I'm all for motorsport. Lotus belongs in that Arena but something about GT4 tells je that there will be a higher profile program at some point. GT4 is customer racing and Lotus needs a factory effort to raise their profile. GT3 could have done it and GTLM would also allow it but GT4 almost prevents it. Still good to know that the race car is being developed alongside the road car.

[CaptainSlow]

Team up with Prodrive for the race cars would make sense. They know what they are doing. I agree on the statement above regarding classes. GT3 and LeMans series have higher profile.

[silke]

56 minutes ago, CaptainSlow said:

Team up with Prodrive for the race cars would make sense. They know what they are doing. I agree on the statement above regarding classes. GT3 and LeMans series have higher profile.

First of all, good to see you again on Sunday CaptainSlow! For the rest of you, I have been a long time lurker on here...

Maybe one should not disregards Lotus' links with Geely and Geely Motorsport also. Could it be the way forward?! Geely motorsport are closely linked to Cyan Racing and their joint efforts with the successful Lynk&Co 3 in WTCR, hence they do already have a quite significant experience from international racing "within the group". 

Also, Cyan Racing flirted with going racing with Lotus already back in 2018 when they took an Evora out in the Swedish GT4 championship..

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

That really is magnificent lurking. Nigh on 12 years to first post. Possibly a TLF record?

[silke]

1 hour ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

That really is magnificent lurking. Nigh on 12 years to first post. Possibly a TLF record?

Hehe, thanks! Always good with a record right!? 😀 Onto my third Lotus right now, started off with an Elise 111R, going raw with an Exige S1 and now back in an Elise, a late Sport 220. Apologies for topic drift..  

[NedaSay]

Geely is giving Lotus almost complete free rein as to the partner they chose. Lotus has become one of their R&D centre and has the possibility to pursue their own agenda to a certain extent, which is a first for Lotus they have never had that many resources to work with.

We could imagine that Cyan Racing and GGM may get involved with the future motorsport program but RML has a big advantage over Cyan right now, they are located on the same island... Beside that, they have no shortage of knowledge when it comes to endurance racing either under their own name or as a sub contractor.

Having RML running a GT3 factory program internationally while getting Cyan involved in GT4 customer racing support for Europe would be ideal imo.

The good news is that Lotus is going back to racing

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

A couple of people on here have inferred that there will be an Emira GT4 road car. However Lotus only ever produced Evora GT4 race cars, like this face-lift version at the Open Day. Does the much vaunted Cayman GT4 road car have much in common with the race car, or is it just a marketing moniker for a top spec. model.

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Also, what engine will the Emira GT4 race car have? The Evora GT4 was an N/A 4.0 litre Cosworth V6 wasn’t it? Would the turbo 4 or supercharged V6 even be eligible for the category? If not any “GT4” road car, probably wouldn’t have that much in common with the race car.

[Evotion]

The Lotus MD confirmed that there will be a GT4 in his recent interview.

I wonder how long it will be before it turns up.

Bit bloody annoying to be honest as it will mean trading in the 4-cyl for it. Does this also mean there is no real point in stripping it out, adding a roll-cage, etc.

Hopefully current Lotus owners at that time will get preference and the YouTubers don't magically seem to snap them all up.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

The Lotus MD is referring to an Emira eligible for the GT4 race series, like the Evora GT4 shown above, not a road car. They never made an Evora GT4 road car. The race car had a different engine and gearbox for starters. So if you want a track-only Emira GT4 to enter in the race series or have as a track only toy, then Matt Windle would love to hear from you. If you want a “GT4” esque road car, then we’ll have to wait and see if they go down that route and, if so, what engine and gearbox they put in it. I wouldn’t worry about changing either of your two orders just yet.

When Lotus refers to GT4, they mean the real race car category, not the looky-likey road cars a la Cayman GT4.

[C8RKH]

1 minute ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

When Lotus refers to GT4, they mean the real race car category, not the looky-likey road cars a la Cayman GT4.

Excellent point. However remember Lotus made the GTN "kit" - parts and body panels - available so you could have similar looks etc etc.

I will be surprised to see an Emira GT4 as a production "road model", but I also would not discount it. However, I expect the "R" version, under the nomenclature that Windle discussed to have some strong "racing looks". 

[Evotion]

2 hours ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

The Lotus MD is referring to an Emira eligible for the GT4 race series, like the Evora GT4 shown above, not a road car. They never made an Evora GT4 road car. The race car had a different engine and gearbox for starters. So if you want a track-only Emira GT4 to enter in the race series or have as a track only toy, then Matt Windle would love to hear from you. If you want a “GT4” esque road car, then we’ll have to wait and see if they go down that route and, if so, what engine and gearbox they put in it. I wouldn’t worry about changing either of your two orders just yet.

When Lotus refers to GT4, they mean the real race car category, not the looky-likey road cars a la Cayman GT4.

Ah, ah, Actually, I just things that are different so am more than happy to have a looky-like if I likey the looky.

2 hours ago, C8RKH said:

Excellent point. However remember Lotus made the GTN "kit" - parts and body panels - available so you could have similar looks etc etc.

I will be surprised to see an Emira GT4 as a production "road model", but I also would not discount it. However, I expect the "R" version, under the nomenclature that Windle discussed to have some strong "racing looks". 

Ah yeah, that is true. So a 4-cyl 'R' might have extra race worthy bits added/removed anyway. All speculatiom still.

I would immediately get any 'Race Kit' when available assuming I had not already done that work elsewhere.

[blindside]

On 04/07/2021 at 09:15, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

 Does the much vaunted Cayman GT4 road car have much in common with the race car, or is it just a marketing moniker for a top spec. model.

Similarities are not just cosmetic, but obviously the track only Clubsport spec is PDK only, has significant engine tune & exhaust flow differences and 100kg + of weight stripped out. Typically you can option it up depending on your budget.

This Swedish car mag comparison video is quite entertaining & informative (if you have the patience to watch anything Porsche related for 20 mins or so)😉

https://youtu.be/DJo8L8z2hRo

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Still keeping an eye out for news on this race programme. Obviously when the original announcement of a GT4 race car being developed by Ray Mallock Racing was made in April, the Emira was 3 months from being launched. Now we know what the regular road car will look like, I can’t wait to see the first photos of the racer. I wonder if it will be revealed at the Autosport International NEC exhibition in January, in advance of a full debut season in 2022?

[NedaSay]

it may look something like this...

...because GT4 is pretty much taking a road going car and getting on track but the Evora GT4 Concept was a tad more extreme. To be honest I think that just like Evora way back when, Emira has what it takes to race in GTLM as it would allow factory racing. The car is big enough, the GR-FE has been developed for racing by Lotus and RML has everything it need to run with manufacturer backing so if Geely sees fit to race " the brand " 

 GT4 is customer teams only and requires more and more factory support at tracks if Lotus can put together the logistics for teams to be successfully racing the car in the UK and continental Europe by year 1 of the program to then spread to North America and Asia Pacific by year 2 and 3. I will say kudos.

[blindside]

Eclectic mix of manufacturers, cars and engine/engineering specs in the current Euro GT4 series: https://european.gt4series.com/cars

As mentioned previously it will be interesting to see which engine Lotus choose to go with if they plan to develop & support a really competitive package downstream. Most if not all of the cars in the current series run with manufacturers own IP engines. The AMG 4 pot would appear to be the most likely choice.

[Evotion]

Wicked. I would so buy that GT4 as  road car.  If they do, it will be a very limited run, may well be over 100k, and there will be a stampede.

[Bravo73]

The Emira GT4 won’t be a road car (as you know!). The Lotus road equivalent won’t be branded ‘GT4’ because Porsche now own that trademark. The Emira version will be branded GT4X0 (just like the Evora was). 

And it won’t bear many similarities to the actual GT4 race car. 

[Evotion]

Ah, pesky Porsche.

Either way, I'd get one -or an Exige Cup...