New Lotus 3-Eleven gets 450bhp and costs from £82,000: Goodwood Festival of Speed

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The new Lotus 3-Eleven has been revealed today at the Goodwood Festival of Speed with 450bhp and costs from £82,000 for the road-going version.

The new Lotus 3-Eleven is the quickest production car ever built by Lotus, with 450bhp from its 3.5 litre V6 engine – a massive 500bhp per ton – and will cost you from £82,000 for the road-going version. It ain’t cheap – but it’s very, very quick.

Weighing in at just 900kg, Lotus say the 3-Eleven will get below 3.0 seconds to 60mph, with the road-going car surging on to 180mph and the track version 174mph with the difference down to gearing; the road car gets a six-speed manual ‘box and race versions a six-speed sequential.

The car gets 18 and 19″ alloys, suspension from lightweight wishbones front and back, adjustable springs, Ohlins dampers and 215kg of downforce on the track car thanks to the front splitter, rear wing and rear diffuser.Brakes are 332mm discs with AP Racing calipers, and traction is helped by Bosch ABS and Lotus Traction Control.

The light weight of the 3-Eleven is thanks to composite materials and resin glues which are 40 per cent lighter than glassfibre, and the car has a bonded and riveted aluminium monocoque. There’s not even a passenger seat – although it is an option.

Inside is no more than is needed, with a new colour TFT instrument pod, sports seats, four-point harness and quick-release steering wheel, with Race versions getting six-point belts, a data logger, battery switch and fire extinguisher.

Jean-Marc Gales, Lotus CEO, said:

We always say that to make a sports car better, you make it faster and lighter. The new Lotus 3-Eleven carries that philosophy to a new level, and is perfectly in keeping with our brand values.

This new car is a giant slayer, capable of embarrassing far more expensive rivals. It condenses our engineering know-how into one, hard-core package, and is so focused that it won’t suit everyone. This is a perfect demonstration of the faster and lighter concept, something which will be crucial to all Lotus cars in the future.

The new Lotus 3-Eleven goes in to production in February 2016, with first deliveries in April 2016. The road version costs from £82,000 (taxes included) and the Track version from £96,000 (plus tax).