In a move that should surprise no one, Lotus has raised the bar once again by lightening the Evora in order to develop the sensational Evora Sport 410. Reflecting what Lotus does best, it demonstrates the company’s principle of ‘adding lightness’.
Following on from the recently announced Elise Cup 250, and the Exige Sport 350, Lotus‘ famous Lightweight Laboratory has been hard at work cutting the weight of the Evora 400 by a massive 70kg(150lbs). The reduction in weight comes about due to a host of carbon fiber components now coming as standard. The Evora Sport 410 shares the 410 hp supercharged engine with the track-bred 3-Eleven. The car provides an impressive 309 hp/tonne and consequently makes the 0-60 dash in 3.9 seconds and it will keep going till it reaches its way to a top speed of 186mph.
Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus plc, commented, “We couldn’t help ourselves, and many may have guessed what we were planning following our recent announcements. We wanted to make the Evora even better: lighter, faster and sharper, but our team has exceeded our expectations. Lotus has distilled what makes the Evora so special into something that’s even more focused. The result is dynamically excellent and nothing short of superb.”
The significant drop in mass, and a power boost, means the Evora Sport 410 is capable of lapping the company’s Hethel test track in 1 minute 28 seconds – an impressive 3 seconds faster than the Evora 400.
The high-performance, carbon fiber components have played the single biggest role in the evolution of the Evora Sport 410. These include front splitter, roof panel, tailgate, and rear diffuser as well as race-derived sports seats and a revised front access panel. The one-piece carbon tailgate incorporates a louvered section, inspired by some of Lotus‘ most-famous heritage models, and together with carbon rear quarter-light panels help provide the car with a sleeker, fastback- style trailing roofline. These changes have also improved the car’s aerodynamic downforce by 15% with no increase in drag.
Appealing to purists, the Evora Sport 410’s manual gearbox features a low inertia flywheel, to help ensure swift changes, while a Torsen-type limited slip differential (LSD) gives better traction, and faster exit speeds when cornering. Available as an option, the automatic transmission offers gear selection via lightweight aluminium paddles mounted to the steering wheel.
The new Evora Sport 410 also features Lotus‘ Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) which, selected via a dashboard switch, provides ‘Sport’ and ‘Race’ settings. Proportionally increasing throttle response, lowering traction slip thresholds and removing understeer recognition, it allows enhanced control before the system intervenes.
The Lotus Evora Sport 410 will be limited to a global production run of one-hundred and fifty vehicles per year and will be available in all major markets from June 2016. A specific North American version of the Evora Sport 410 will be announced later in 2016. Prices in the UK start at the equivalent 79,900 pounds or just over $110,000 at current exchange rates.
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