► Lotus 3-Eleven testing at the Nurburgring
► Video from Lotus documenting its development
► 450bhp track car achieves 7min 6sec lap time
The upcoming Lotus 3-Eleven track car has turned in a (theoretical, admittedly) 7min 6sec lap time around the Nurburgring Nordschleife during pre-production testing. Theoretical because it’s based on fastest sector times from separate laps, that’s nonetheless Not Slow. Lamborghini’s 740bhp Aventador SV recently recorded a 6min 59sec lap, and Porsche’s 918 Spyder hypercar is only a couple of seconds further up the road.
Set by Lotus test driver Marc Basseng, the times were recorded despite traffic to contend with. A faster-still time is believed to be easily achievable on a closed circuit. ‘We want to come back, we want to see what the thing’s really capable of,’ says Lotus chassis wizard and 3-Eleven development engineer Gavan Kershaw.
The time was set during 1200 miles of exhaustive testing over two weeks at the Nordschleife. Watch the video at the top of this page for a flavour of the 3-Eleven’s ’Ringside development phase.
The Lotus 3-Eleven – a recap
Spiritual successor to the bare-bones, track-focused 2-Eleven of 2008, the 3-Eleven packs the same supercharged 3.5-litre V6 from the Evora 400, but with yet more power and torque, up to 450bhp and 332lb ft respectively. Bearing in mind the 3-Eleven weighs less than 900kg, it’s hardly going to be slow. And if the video’s anything to go by, it’ll sound pretty ferocious too.
Available in either Road or Race trim, the 3-Eleven will be available from February 2016, with prices starting at £82,000.
For everything you need to know about the Lotus 3-Eleven, read CAR’s original story here.
