Lotus Exige Sport 380

[MesTCS]

1 minute ago, 550superfast said:

Gulp....

EXACTLY! But it's titanium, and saves 10kg. 

Akrapovic titanium options for the GT3 are between £6,500 and £8,500 so it's not too bad in context, just for that money you could have an amazing two week holiday in California with a hired GT350 and plenty of posh booze!  

[550superfast]

6 minutes ago, MesTCS said:

EXACTLY! But it's titanium, and saves 10kg. 

Akrapovic titanium options for the GT3 are between £6,500 and £8,500 so it's not too bad in context, just for that money you could have an amazing two week holiday in California with a hired GT350 and plenty of posh booze!  

Good point, well made.

Is it made by Janspeed?

[French Frie]

... but then you come back with 10 more kgs  !

regarding canards, I assume it can be safety related : maybe the plastic ones are softer, whereas carbon is very hard and can break in brittles (right word ? ) ... a good way to make pedestrians moving, though ... a kind of 007 manner !

PS: don't you think that few grams can also be saved by ditching that awful plastic trim and put some metallic mesh instead ? if I knew a company that can form the mesh and surround it with a frame, I 'd already has done it on mine ! even on Lambos it looks weird ...

[TBD]

2 hours ago, The Pits said:

That was the morning well spent!

 

I'd love to see this in the Flame Red that @Martyn has chosen for his car.

[French Frie]

a Hethel hot lap video has just be announced on Lotus FB page,  to be released at 2PM... We'll see what is the fastest Lotus road car on Hethel track  !

 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2016 by French Frie
picture added

[TBD]

3 hours ago, The Pits said:

This is your ultimate Exige for the time being folks.

Here's why I don't think there will be a Cup car.

1. They shut Motorsport.

2. They didn't sell many Cup cars when they were available.

3. The Sport 380 was launched with Cup (360) style red accents. This suggests to me that it was going to be a Cup 380 at one point but they switched it to 'Sport'.

4. There's not much more weight loss to be had. A Cup version would likely weigh the same once the fire extinguisher has been put in.

5. You can already get a more extreme 'Motorsport' trackday car - the 311.

6. Dealers had punters walking in wanting to buy the ultimate Exige, pointing at the V6 Cup and asking for a stereo, leather interior, fit an alarm, get rid of the fire extinguisher and harnesses, 3 year warranty and so on. At first Lotus said no. Then they made the 360 Cup which allowed all of that stuff to be optioned in. I think by then the punters had bought Cayman GT4s! The Cup 360 remains a very rare sight. Based on that experience a Sport 380 can be loaded with stuff that a Cup car shouldn't have. It's a clear flagship Exige. No doubt they think that keeping the Sport badge will make that clearer. I can imagine the frustration at Lotus reading everyone here saying it should be a Cup, you know, the one that no-one wanted when it was for sale!

It's nice to see some love for the Cup cars on here but also sad to see the 'Sport' badge being considered the lesser of the two. It used to stand for 'Lotus Sport' - the original name for Lotus Motorsport! Really the mistake was 'normalising' the Sport badge with the 350. If the 380 had been the first one to wear the Sport badge for a while it would have had much more impact.

Time to put the whole Cup thing behind us. I'd hate to see a watered down Cup, putting a stereo in the Cup 360 was bad enough and I'm not comfortable with them using the badge without a Motorsport Department. The one thing a Cup badge stood for was authenticity. It meant genuine race engineers had been involved in the development and build of the car. Heaven forbid that it should stand for anything else!

 

I think its fair to say the 311 is the proper answer to track enthusiasts and only the lower Exige Cup was ever road legal, not the Cup R.

The different Exige variants seem to be selling very well, so why shouldn't Lotus seize the opportunity?

For me the Exige 380 looks great and has highest potential to replace my lost GTE.

 

[The Pits]

I'm really glad you like it Thomas along with anyone else who was able to see beyond the launch photos. In other (amateur!) photos it already looks much, much better. I was hoping for a Cup car that could outrun a Speciale. Without that context and no Exige Cup in the garage it would be more appealing.

Roadster for me, holy hell what a road car! True shrink-wrapped supercar.

[French Frie]

the video : 

 

[MesTCS]

Wow! That's an official video??? Why is it shot on an old Nokia by someone who appears to have had a heavy night on the sauce the day before?

Couldn't someone have brought their GoPro in for the day?

I get that Lotus don't have any marketing budget but wow, things like this don't do anything for the brand and could be sorted out with a camera mounted in the car, a tripod for the exterior shots and half an hour's editing for a bit of post and to add some still shots into the mix. 

I sound a right miserable old git. 

Love the car. 

[Bibs]

And to think I've a sideline as sales director of a live streaming company that has millions of cumulative views! They could have asked, I'd have been happy to help out as ever 

http://www.seesawstreaming.com/

[MesTCS]

2 hours ago, 550superfast said:

Good point, well made.

Is it made by Janspeed?

No idea mate. Is that who makes them normally? Bit of a low brow company to choose if so. A hot hatch specialist isn't really in keeping with the brand! 

2 hours ago, French Frie said:

... but then you come back with 10 more kgs  !

regarding canards, I assume it can be safety related : maybe the plastic ones are softer, whereas carbon is very hard and can break in brittles (right word ? ) ... a good way to make pedestrians moving, though ... a kind of 007 manner !

PS: don't you think that few grams can also be saved by ditching that awful plastic trim and put some metallic mesh instead ? if I knew a company that can form the mesh and surround it with a frame, I 'd already has done it on mine ! even on Lambos it looks weird ...

Ha! Every time I come back I've gained a bit of belly!

Canards, hmm... maybe. Seems utterly crazy to put all that carbon aero on but have those bits in plastic though! Loving the Bond style side defenders, but they were probably ditched as unnecessary weight...

As for the plastic mesh, I thoroughly agree. The bit around the access panel looks much better to me. Plus it seems an easy few grams to shave off!  

Just now, Bibs said:

And to think I've a sideline as sales director of a live streaming company! They could have asked, I'd have been happy to help out as ever 

http://www.seesawstreaming.com/

Exactly Bibs! 

I'm sure there are plenty of folk around here and the other forums who would be only too happy to help out if asked. 

I'd gladly offer my services FOC if I thought it would help. I'm sure I'm not alone. 

[Arregueti]

47 minutes ago, MesTCS said:

Wow! That's an official video??? Why is it shot on an old Nokia by someone who appears to have had a heavy night on the sauce the day before?

Couldn't someone have brought their GoPro in for the day?

 

I admit I stopped watching the video because of this. Not exactly encouraging, IMO.

[MesTCS]

Although it's a bit of an assault on the eyes, it's worth watching, it sounds IMMENSE!!! 

 

[Arregueti]

Ok. Will take your advice. Will give it a try later, in a more acoustics friendly environment.

[NedaSay]

35 minutes ago, Bibs said:

And to think I've a sideline as sales director of a live streaming company that has millions of cumulative views! They could have asked, I'd have been happy to help out as ever 

http://www.seesawstreaming.com/

I guess the PR person wanted to try a facebook live thing... You can broadcast over iphone or other smartphone using your phone camera in portrait mode, which is alway going to be shaky at best.  And as it is live the signal must have dropped the minute the car went over 100mph... LTE or not the signal can't cope with that kind of speed.

Edited November 24, 2016 by NedaSay

[550superfast]

Bad video and only 120 or so watching actually live.

PR person has failed.

[The Pits]

Brutal quality. That is not going to help them sell £70+k cars.

[NedaSay]

Lotus has decided to be proactive about their online presence which is a good thing, considering they can't provide journos with enough incentive to get as much coverage as their competition. In a way it is a good thing, Their PR person is dedicated and showing a lot of creativity and on a shoestring budget too.

 Still one thing that would should be on DRB-Hicom high priority is too put on display a brand they are trying to sell, don't you think? Organizing a press launch in a "nicer climate" place at this time of the year would/should make financial and strategic sense. They should have done it for the Evora Sport 410 too. I'm still questioning the point of launching this car now Geneva is almost here already...    

I think catering for the needs of Pistonhead TV, Carfection, Evo's Youtube channel, or Steve Sutcliffe's AutoExpress or God forbid, Chris Harris on cars for Top Gear would serve the brand better in my opinion. 

Edited November 24, 2016 by NedaSay

[Snoopy1969]

as you do not see even the Option list of the 410 on lotuscars, but a "new" exige-derivat is announced I wonder if all steps of the Marketing game are really calculated.............. 

[The Pits]

4 hours ago, TBD said:

I'd love to see this in the Flame Red that @Martyn has chosen for his car.

It's not an accurate representation but gives you a rough idea. Mazda and Alfa also do a very nice red along similar lines. Pick the one you like best!

TLF configurator happy to be of service!

[C8RKH]

The red one does it for me but then I am biased. i must be the only one who likedthe original silver grey/red photos though too.

Just needed the red wheels like the cup!

[SFO]

70 secs of effectively a still shot of the car .. followed by a video take by an inexperienced joyrider. 

Terrible 

[alias23]

Said before will say it again... Lotus have possibly the worst marketing and PR team I have ever know. Absolute shambles. The team should genuinely be ashamed of themselves having 'marketing' or 'PR' in their job title!

Absolute JOKE

[DJW]

Just go direct to 2m10s .  Imagine it's hard to stream live hq video via mobile signal out there ?

Edited November 24, 2016 by DJW

[RedViper]

Why Not just record a video and put it on YouTube or get one of the many youtubers with hundreds of thousands followers to go in and do it for them for free. 

That video is embarrassing. They would have been better posting a picture with a LapTime. 

Come on Lotus 

I do hope they can offer the engine upgrade on older models. 

Anyone emailed lotus yet?