Lotus Sport Exige 240R

General General Lotus Talk
1

Limited Edition Lotus Sport Exige 240R

Highest Performing, Limited Edition Exige:

Lotus Sport, the performance division of Lotus Cars Ltd., has
developed the Lotus Sport Exige 240R, a limited edition high performance
sportscar with total global build volumes kept strictly to 50 cars.

Lotus Sport will build the Lotus Sport Exige 240R within its
facilities at the Group Lotus Headquarters in Hethel, Norfolk. This
facility, located in the centre of the famous Hethel Test Track, has a great
history of producing bespoke versions of Lotus products and can list the
Lotus Sport Exige 400 hp racecar and over 100 Elise and Exige racing cars in
its portfolio.

With a supercharged and intercooled high revving engine producing
over 240 hp and over 170 lbft of torque, the Lotus Sport Exige 240R reaches
60 mph in less than 4 seconds and 100 mph (160 km/h) in less than 10 seconds
before topping out at 155 mph (249 km/h). At this top speed the advanced
aerodynamics produce 113 kg of downforce increasing grip, stability and
safety.
The 50 versions of the Lotus Sport Exige 240R will be built as post
registration official factory conversions of new Lotus Exiges. Up to 40 of
these cars will be sold in the EU and the balance is intended to be
predominantly sold in Japan. The suffix of 240R indicates the approximate
horsepower of the engine, conservatively rounded down from the actual figure
of 243 hp (181 kW, 247 PS). The total unladen weight is approximately 930 kg
and the power to weight is approximately 261 hp / tonne (195 kW / tonne, 266
PS / tonne).

All 50 cars will be built to order and to further identify and
maintain the exclusivity of the Lotus Sport Exige 240R, they will only be
available in Sport Yellow or Sport Black - both unique and exclusive colours
specifically blended to denote the brand colour scheme of Lotus Sport.

The Lotus Sport Exige 240R will be sold at a Recommended Retail
Price of �43,995 (62,000 Euros).

The Lotus Sport Exige 240R also has a unique interior trim in black
with Lotus Sport Yellow highlights in leather. A unique numbered Lotus Sport
build plate is fitted to the aluminium chassis member on the passenger side.
The interior also includes sports seats, driver and passenger four-point
harnesses which are fitted to a cross bar that is part of the motorsport
specification T45 roll bar.
New lightweight five spoke forged alloy wheels are of a slightly
wider section to the standard Exige wheel to accommodate the optional extra
track only specification slick tyres as well as the Yokohama A048 tyres,
which come as standard. These wheels are painted in “Satin Black” for the
Sport Yellow painted version of the Lotus Sport Exige 240R and “High Power
Silver” for the Sport Black painted version.

In addition to the powerful four-cylinder engine, the Lotus Sport
Exige 240R also includes specially developed Lotus Sport parts including
upgraded brakes, stiffer springs and 2-way adjustable Ohlins dampers with
ride height adjustment, an adjustable front anti-roll bar, twin oil coolers
and an Accusump.

Clive Dopson, Managing Director of Lotus Cars Ltd. is very
enthusiastic about the new Lotus Sport Exige 240R: “The Lotus Sport Exige
240R is a classic example of Lotus’ focused attitude to performance through
lightweight. We believe that this car, even though it will be built in small
volumes, is a very significant addition to the Lotus product portfolio and
will go down in history as such. I am sure that the fortunate fifty
customers of the car will agree.”

Chris Arnold, General Manager for Lotus Sport comments: “The Lotus
Sport brand has been around for a number of years, and in that time has
developed a number of performance upgrades for customers. The Lotus Sport
Exige 240R is probably the most complete in-house Lotus Sport product that
has been developed. It is a testament to the capability of the Elise
platform and the competence of the standard Exige that we haven’t had to
make any structural changes to the car to accommodate the power of a 3 litre
engine, albeit in the guise of a 1.8 litre engine.”

Chris Arnold continues: “These fifty cars are unique, both in
appearance and in equipment levels. After we have made these fifty cars, we
will not be building any more to this complete specification. Lotus Sport
has the Lotus product experience to be able to chose the right components
for the Lotus Sport Exige 240R so if customers want the ultimate road going
Exige, I recommend that they do not delay and contact their nearest Lotus
dealer as soon as possible!”

2

Something tells me that Lotus won’t, at least initially, be offering the supercharger (only) upgrade to existing Elise/Exige owners.

Interested to see how it performs, though.

3

The Sport Exige has a real roof scoop, for the intercooler of the supercharger. Maybe you can fit these elements on an existing Exige, but on the 111R, I dont see how…

4

A few pics here…
http://forum.1-11.org/viewtopic.php?t=1599

new wheels, new colors, new interior.

5

�43,000 , 930 KG … 240hp …

6

Like the idea of 170lbft, brakes (especially if they’ve fixed that brake pedal feel), and the suspension, but that’s only 16bhp/ton more than a 190 S1!..for �43k.

Also rather unsure about it in yellow with those wheels (hey, nothing against yellow Rox, your S1 looks magic in it).

Amused me too how they quoted the downforce at 155mph to make it sound more.

Ian

7

Mike, does this mean we should call our Audi conversions +300R ?

8

Here’s the same story… but �44k for just a supercharged version with optional kit added is still a lot more money.

http://www.channel4.com/4car/news/news-story.jsp?news_id=11862

9

Too expensive, too slow, too heavy, too late, wake the hell up lotus.

10

good point…if u ask me ,the best exige out there must be, exige S1 with honda +supercharger, which got the look and the power

11

Too expensive, too slow, too heavy, too late, wake the hell up lotus.

But apart from that, you like it ? LOL

If it could be tweaked to give another 20bhp or so, and lose some some weight, and get some half decent rear spoiler we could be in business…

good point…if u ask me ,the best exige out there must be, exige mk1 with honda +supercharger, which got the look and the power

Nah, it’s gotta be a 300bhp Audi engined Exige for me…

12

I’m trying to figure out where the additional 55kg over the standard car’s weight comes from? I don’t see how the suspension, brake and engine mods can carry such a weight penalty.

Also, could someone post the link to the company that does the Audi engine conversion? (Can’t seem to find it in a search.)

Thanks.

13

http://www.auto-teknix.co.uk/audi-conv.htm

14

http://www.grouplotus.com/mediactr/pr_download.php?pid=208

15

Lotus are going to sell 50 of these at �10k over a normal S2 Exige. Let’s say the extra bits add �2k, �1k extra margin for the dealer, that makes profit �7k x 50 = �350k. Is that a quick buck or would it hardly cover the development cost? Just a marketing exercise?

I think they’re going to be selling the 240R bits as options/similar versions.

I have to admit that I’d fancy a go in one though.

Ian

16

A few months ago, a dealer told me that if & when a supercharger option on the Toyota engine was to happen, it’d cost up to �7K

Tim.

17

IDG

I think the bits are more than you mention… I’d guess the Ohlins would be about �2500 on their own and the Supercharger must be in the �1-2 k mark ? plus fitting/mapping and Lotus Motorsport setting up time.

18

Rox, I was ignoring labour time, as Lotus would probably be employing the people anyway. Also I suspect the parts are not as much as you’d think for Lotus. Firstly they don’t have to fit the std items, so there’s a few quid back, secondly they’re buying 50 sets, and finally there’s no way a professional automotive buying dept (especially one that’s had to survive on its wits for years) aren’t going to play on their own brand and all the benefits for companies that sell to them.

Plans sells the Ohlins for �1628, I suspect Lotus would get them for half that. And I think they will be paying way less than �1k for the Supercharger, unless it’s special in some way.

Just my thoughts of course.

Ian

19

Firstly they don’t have to fit the std items, so there’s a few quid back

If its anything like the other Motorsport versions they ship as a standard model off the production line move next door to the Motorsport facility, strip off all the standard kit and bolt on all the goodies - don’t ask me why but i think that there are legal reasons maybe as well as economics of the production line involved?

20

Steve is correct, & I believe that the same will happen to get the 240R on the road. It’s probably because they have “type approval” for the standard Exige, but the 240Rs would need to be individually SVA’d if they came straight off the production line.

I think they have made a wise decision to restrict the numbers produced, cos I’m not convinced that there will be too many people queuing up to spend �44K on the car in its current spec.

When the aftermarket SC kit becomes available, expect a price tag of �4k to �5K.