I was privileged enough to visit the Lotus factory back in 2008, on the very day the last of the first consignment of Lotus Evoras came off the production for their international press launch, to be held the following week in Wales and Scotland. Despite the tight security and warning notices insisting on no photography at any time ever, I couldn’t help but try sneaking a quick cellphone photo of one Lotus Evora in particular, undergoing a final dyno-run.
I got caught and had to report back to the office where the picture was deleted. Awkwardness ensued. The factory tour, however, was mostly finished so I didn’t miss out on anything before going out in a blaze of glory. Much like ex-boss, Danny Bahar you might say.
Lotus was so buoyant and full of positivity over the Evora that week before its launch. They figured it would be the car that officially put them on the map with Porsche and other established sportscar makers and it would genuinely drive like a Lotus Elise with back seats that you could use every day.
Unfortunately, the reality of it all is that four years on, the Lotus Evora, much like their first attempt at a more road-biased car, the Europa, just hasn’t caught on. To remedy this, Lotus is now willing to try a fully-loaded model they’re calling the Evora Sports Racer. It is slightly more expensive, but you get all the optional kit fitted as standard and it’s available for the naturally-aspirated 3.5-litre V6 version and the supercharged Evora S.
The Lotus Evora GTC also recently took victory at the MSA British Endurance Championship, but despite this, there is no performance upgrade to the resultant ‘Sports Racer’. Looks-wise it comes with new gloss black accents on the front splitter, side sills, roof-line and rear diffuser. The brake calipers can be painted in either red or black and customers get to choose from one of these four colours: Ardent Red; Nightfall Blue; Carbon Grey and Aspen White.
Additional detailing comes in the form of some very tasty gloss black forged alloy wheels. The cabin gets black leather and contrasting red stitching for the seats, or they can offer red leather with black stitching as an alternative option.
The Sports Pack is standard and includes Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) that raises the rev limit and increases throttle response. It also contains cross-drilled brake discs and the sporty rear diffuser. The Tech Pack is also included as standard and brings an uprated stereo, 7-inch touchscreen, DVD player, Bluetooth/USB/iPod support, rear parking sensors, cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring system and a reversing camera.
Prices start from £57 900 for the naturally-aspirated model, while the supercharged Evora S will set you back at least £65 900. Not that it is directly comparable, but to contextualise it with a currency conversion, these models come in at R800 000 and R910 000 in South African money. Not exactly a bargain compared to the Porsche Boxster and Boxster S, but probably better value with all the options ticked.
