► New Lotus Exige Cup 430 launched
► Fastest ever lap time for a Lotus road car
► Costs £99,800, no upper limit on production
If you’ve a sense of déjà vu, we forgive you. Mere weeks after Lotus launched a road car it described as its fastest ever, here’s another one.
The Lotus Exige Cup 430 squeezes the 430bhp supercharged V6 from last month’s fastest ever Lotus, the Evora GT430, into the smaller, lighter confines of the Exige chassis. The result is a car that laps the Lotus factory test circuit at Hethel in 1m24.8sec, the fastest time yet recorded for a Lotus road car. It’s 1.2sec faster than the road-spec Lotus 3-Eleven.
New carbonfibre bumpers, bodywork and aerofoils offer the joint benefits of reduced drag and increased downforce – 220kg of the latter at top speed.
The previous most extreme Exige model was the Cup 380, limited to a very small number of cars. The Cup 430, however, isn’t a limited edition – Lotus will build as many as they can sell.
It’s not cheap – it’s priced at a whisker under six figures, at £99,800.
Lotus Exige Cup 430: key stats
• Dry weight: 1056kg
• 0-60mph: 3.2sec
• Top speed: 180mph
• Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged and intercooled V6
• Max power: 430bhp @ 7000rpm
• Max torque: 325lb ft from 4000rpm
• Power-to-weight ratio: 407bhp per tonne
• Suspension upgrades: Nitron three-way adjustable dampers, Eibach adjustable anti-roll bars
Check out our review of the Evora GT430