TLF GT430 Club

[blindside]

I believe that is @DarrylV8’s car. It is definitely a GT 430. He & Mrs swop carbon tailgates to suit the driving conditions. 😎

[Snoopy1969]

On 24/12/2019 at 09:15, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

There is a UK RHD GT430 Sport owner on here. He and his wife bought it new from Central Lotus. I think it’s yellow. We also have one or two LHD owners in Germany or Austria.

If my old brain works, I remember 2 in Germany (1 yellow and 1 grey) and 1 from France

[Black Forest Power]

Here is a collection of the super rare Evoras GT430 Sport as far as I could find and trace them

[KG]

Wrapping (XPEL) it up the transformation guys! Waiting for the new CF GT buckets from Lotus! A few odds and ends next week and I should have complete pics with all the details of what has been done to the car! (A lot!)

 

[Gazm]

15 hours ago, Black Forest Power said:

Here is a collection of the super rare Evoras GT430 Sport as far as I could find and trace them

Nice work!

i think it’s the one to have, better for everyday road use....I’ll have to wait until the UK owners get bored of theirs....it could take a while 😢

Now they are out of production, has  anyone started an Evora 430 registry?

[C8RKH]

If Lotus were to take an order for a new GT430 Sport I'd buy one now, was not in a position to in 2017/2018. I agree with you that as an everyday, non track focused car, they are just sublime. I don't think the GT430's carbon aero splitter at the front would make it up my drive and still struggle with that rear wing, the plain ducktail just looks so more elegant.

Noticed that the very few nearly new GT430's that were for sale at dealers seem to have now mostly gone to new homes. One or two have come to the market lately (Olive Green and a Blue one) but overall looks like quietly they are being snapped up.

[The Pits]

Very easy to unbolt the rear wing and remove splitter if it’s that big of a deal for anyone. The GT430 was launched first and there was enough murmuring about the wing to persuade the factory to release the ‘Sport’ version. Paradoxically it helped sell the winged version but not many Sports. I went through the same process myself. I thought initially that the car was too expensive and that the Mrs wouldn’t get in anything with such aggressive aero but I could enjoy weekends away with her in the Sport. It seemed like a better value deal too compared to the Sport 410 plus Ohlins and Ti pipe that I had on order at the time. When it dawned on me that I could remove the wing if needs be the £8k difference to the full monty GT430 started to look much more reasonable for a car which was offering more than twice the downforce of the 911 GT3. Felt like the GT430 could be a game changer at the time and it is. No other Lotus offers such capability on both road and track. Still can’t get my Mrs in it though but that wing isn’t going anywhere. Utterly exquisite piece of carbon sculpture. Sport 430 would have been wonderful I’m sure and much more of a sleeper but I’m very glad I went all-in.

[C8RKH]

If they had a decent set of "covers" for the holes left by the wing being unbolted then great, I don't fancy driving around with four big open holes in the carbon ducktail - it's too exquisite for that.

But you are correct, and I had not really thought it through that I could just remove the wing and front splitter (it just would not get up my steep drive - that would be the only reason to remove).

Interestingly, when I picked up my new 410Sport from Silverstone, they were prepping a black (I am sure it was black) GT430 to go out to the new customer. That had taken the wing and carbon duck tail off for storage as the new owner had also bought a second duck tail, a la 410Sport as he did not want the wing on for everyday use.  A big cost addition but a good solution. No idea who the owner is/was though.

[PAR]

I see the blue GT 430 in Hampshire for 84k (compared to GTE at almost 100k), if I did not need te +2 of my 400, that would really tempt me.

In fact i am not sure to understand why the 430 should not trade higher than the GTE. Sounds like that the 430 will remain the best ever Lotus for a while so there should be value in that!

[The Pits]

I suppose the GTE is considered rarer at only 20 cars but I don’t believe they ever reached the GT430 production limit of 60 cars, I don’t think the Sport version reached double figures. Just my opinion of course but I put the GT430 head and shoulders above a GTE as a performance car. Problem I guess is the similarity to the Evora 400. Not many 400 owners would consider the differences worth the cost to change and you could easily argue that a 400 is just as good for road use and plenty fast enough (which it is).

Exige Cup 430 and 311 are even faster and more exciting but I think there’s a good case for the GT430 being the best overall. Certainly the most compete and impressive Lotus road car I’ve driven to date. For me the Elise remains the car that best embodies the Lotus philosophy but the fast car game has moved on considerably in recent years, you need 430bhp just to keep up.

[Black Forest Power]

In deed, the GT430 Sport/GT430 story is a very paradox one. Before ordering my GT430 Sport I went through all the  same considerations as The Pits did. The beautiful line and elegancy (the air vents in the front wheelarch you can not get rid of with a GT430) and the way I use it made me decide on the Sport. My dealer and I, we realized that there will be only a very small time window for ordering this exotic from Lotus factory with personal specifications. Therefore, I ordered mine immediately at beginning of October 2017. The prediction was that all the GT430s will be sold out very quickly and instead of buying a GT430 Sport which was considered to be too expensive for its power etc. the better deal would have been a 400. But as it happens a lot with forecasts the same here: In Germany about 10 new GT430s were hanging around on offer on the internet during 2018 with prices coming down. Still, you can find 3 of them (mobile.de), one with only 32 km, another with only 50 km, and one with 1.200 km on the clock. Almost new cars after two years, but registered by dealers due to enhanced emission regulations in Germany from September 2018. Never a GT430 Sport I have seen on the free market in Germany, neither new nor used. The most grotesque thing is that my dealer could have sold two more GT430 Sport in 2018 to slowly woken up customers after production at Lotus had ended with the limited edition GT430. That’s how life goes!

For me it was and still is the right choice independently of any market perceptions. It is a dream car for me and who ever owns a GT430 Sport, your are such a lucky guy! If you want one and get the very rare chance to get one - take it, you can’t do anything wrong with it.

[Hakim0v]

Having driven a 400 for 2 years and a GT430 for 1year+ now, I can confirm, with all modesty, that the drive is not comparable, neither on track nor on any road. GT430 makes you feel... different, better, more confident, quicker... I’d sell a 400 any day but not the 430 with its surf board...

[blindside]

8 hours ago, The Pits said:

Still can’t get my Mrs in it though but that wing isn’t going anywhere. Utterly exquisite piece of carbon sculpture.

😄 Fortunately my Mrs loves the carbon buckets and ‘the passenger experience’ as long as it’s touring on road and not hooning on track!
Totally agree that the wing is a beautiful piece of engineering design that fully complements the other aero features. It certainly makes the car look more track focused and aggressive. 

[KG]

IMHO the differences in the Evora spec’s between the various models comes down to the high quality components the GT 430 is equipped with. Having driven the US Evora GT the last 4 months while undergoing a significant transformation to get it to the GT 430 spec there were obvious differences in the driving experience of the car with two primary enhancements; 1) the Ohlins, if there is one modification every single Evora driver needs, this is IT,  the experience is sublime and transforms the handling of the car, and 2) the jhooks, stops the car on a dime. The other modifications come down to the enhancement of the cars performance at high speed, the CF front bumper with the appropriate CF air ducts is considerably more aero dynamic and weighs a lot less than the stock grp 410 bumper. It also adds considerable downforce and looks spectacular. The CF rear wing which requires a new CF hatch with holes actually slows the car down on a straight away but it does corner like hell.  The Ti exhaust removes weight and sounds a bit more aggressive with a decat pipe. There are a couple of other items I did not change like the lithium ion battery which I will do when I get the car back next week. The other pieces like the CF rear quarter window glass are just not worth it and Lotus informed me that they actually made them glass on later GT 430 models during my visit at Hethel. The rear bulkhead single pane of glass makes no sense to swap out either.  Interestingly LOTUS now makes the Euro 410’s front bumper out of grp and not CF so it retains the look but not the weight savings.....wonder why they did not bring that to the US????? 

Bottom line for me, the GT 430 is the car Lotus could have, should have but failed to leverage to compete with other car brands.......and mass produce or sell a phenomenal car. I love mine and how it has turned out and drive it everywhere!

[PAR]

13 minutes ago, KG said:

.  Interestingly LOTUS now makes the Euro 410’s front bumper out of grp and not CF so it retains the look but not the weight savings.....wonder why they did not bring that to the US????? 

 

I think they had a homologation issue (either on crash test or something to do with the open bits) so rather than redesign, they went with the already approved 400 one. Time will tell what people will prefer long term.

[The Pits]

Correct that later GT430s were built with glass rear 3/4 panels. The carbon panel was introduced with the Evora Sport 410 and saved only 0.8kg. Given they also came at the cost of some visibility at oblique junctions, head says one of the easiest bits of the original GT430 spec to live without. Heart says carbon fibre good, glass heavy. Might be a touch cynical but I wouldn't be surprised if they had a batch of carbon 3/4 panels to use up having not sold as many Sport 410s as they were hoping (still brilliant, the car that convinced me I had to have an Evora). Once the box was empty they switched back to glass and I don't think many people noticed in truth. One guy did though! @Sizona insisted his GT430 had the CF panels. As such may well be the only auto with them.

[KG]

26 minutes ago, PAR said:

I think they had a homologation issue (either on crash test or something to do with the open bits) so rather than redesign, they went with the already approved 400 one. Time will tell what people will prefer long term.

I want to believe they tested the CF GT 430 front bumper which we were told by US dealers failed the NHTSA tests but they never tested the GRP front bumper and to date have not done so in the US. In any case.....I have the CF front bumper now and it is a piece of art when exposed....I will upload better pics of it next week.

@The Pits if I did not have to take apart the whole car to swap out the quarter rear window panel, I would..... 😎

[The Pits]

At least you know the factory did a number of genuine GT430s with glass panels and they definitely consider them to be real GT430s! Gets you a pass I reckon. Looking forward to some more pics of the GT+++ next week!

 

[DarrylV8]

12 hours ago, The Pits said:

Correct that later GT430s were built with glass rear 3/4 panels. The carbon panel was introduced with the Evora Sport 410 and saved only 0.8kg. Given they also came at the cost of some visibility at oblique junctions, head says one of the easiest bits of the original GT430 spec to live without. Heart says carbon fibre good, glass heavy. Might be a touch cynical but I wouldn't be surprised if they had a batch of carbon 3/4 panels to use up having not sold as many Sport 410s as they were hoping (still brilliant, the car that convinced me I had to have an Evora). Once the box was empty they switched back to glass and I don't think many people noticed in truth. One guy did though! @Sizona insisted his GT430 had the CF panels. As such may well be the only auto with them.

No our GT430 auto has the CF panels, think we were (about) number 22 of the British cars

 

On 24/12/2019 at 13:46, blindside said:

I believe that is @DarrylV8’s car. It is definitely a GT 430. He & Mrs swop carbon tailgates to suit the driving conditions. 😎

Yes I wanted the full fat version and Mrs H wanted discreet, especially as we use the car as the daily during the summer. It takes just over half an hour to swop which includes the HL brake light.

[blindside]

23 hours ago, The Pits said:

I suppose the GTE is considered rarer at only 20 cars but I don’t believe they ever reached the GT430 production limit of 60 cars, I don’t think the Sport version reached double figures.

I agree Jonny. If the UK total production run was 21 x GT430’s (& 1 x 430 Sport) then it’s very unlikely that they made any more than 25-30 of both models for the RoW obviously excluding the US. 

The GTE is certainly rarer by number produced and is beautiful to behold, but does not have the  performance (or official factory approval) of the GT430. How prices hold-up over the next few years will be interesting. I suspect that well documented, maintained & specced 430’s will be highly collectible. Perhaps not achieving the same enhanced price range as GT2, GT3 Pork, but should still hold their value pretty well.

[C8RKH]

GTE has full factory approval and was made by Motorsport so they are special.

I agree though the "highest performant" Evora is the GT430 and I do keep looking - but then for the cost to change up I could keep the 410 Sport AND get a nice Esprit Turbo!!!  Argh..........

[Julian73]

On 04/01/2020 at 12:09, KG said:

...  Interestingly LOTUS now makes the Euro 410’s front bumper out of grp and not CF so it retains the look but not the weight savings.....wonder why they did not bring that to the US????? 

Bottom line for me, the GT 430 is the car Lotus could have, should have but failed to leverage to compete with other car brands.......and mass produce or sell a phenomenal car. I love mine and how it has turned out and drive it everywhere!

The GT410 Sport front bumper was never cf, but did always have the 430 shape.  I wondered why they didn't try this unit for the US parking lot crash tests.

[KG]

Transformation of GT 430, done! Details of changes to come, lots and lots of work!

[au-yt]

I know there are more than one 430GT in Australia I need to ask Richard.

As for the difference, here in Australia the 430 was 50% more than a 400, due to our Luxury car tax!

[The Pits]

Can’t be many more than one then!

@KG that bumper makes all the difference. Wow, what a sight that must be over there. Really love that colour, considered it myself having owned a nightfall blue Elise. I don’t think we have a GT430 in that colour over here. Not 100% sold on the red wing mirrors as they look solid red in the photo, the red cat scratches are metallic would prob go body colour there but you’ve done an incredible job no two ways about it. They said it couldn’t be done, but yeah I like them apples! 👍👍👍