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Lotus 3-Eleven may be the quickest track weapon you can buy

Germany's Sport Auto magazine routinely takes world-beating supercars around the short circuit at the Hockenheimring: Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis... the works. But the top of the leaderboard has now been claimed by something altogether smaller and less powerful in the form of the new Lotus 3-Eleven. The most extreme expression of the Elise/Exige platform to date, the 3-Eleven is a track-focused machine of the highest caliber. At its heart sits a relatively humble 3.5-liter supercharged V6, tuned to produce 460 horsepower. But with composite body panels and a low curb weight, it rockets to 60 in under 3.0 seconds flat, and more poignantly laps the company's own test track ten seconds ahead of the Evora 400. Now it's clocked a lap around Hockenheim – sometimes host of the German Grand Prix – in just 1:06.2, just edging out the previous record held by a Porsche 918 Spyder. It also bests the Gumpert Apollo, and the similarly track-focused Radical SR3 SL... not to mention everything else Sport Auto has ever taken to the track. What's even more impressive is that the magazine's road test editor Christian Gebhardt completed the lap on stock rubber and on a cold track that didn't get any warmer than 46 degrees Fahrenheit. Just imagine what it'd do on even semi-slicks and a warm track surface. Related Video: 'HYPERCAR-KILLING' LOTUS 3-ELEVEN SETS HOCKENHEIMRING LAP RECORD - Lotus 3-Eleven raises the bar by establishing a new "sport auto" production car lap record around Hockenheimring - Lotus 3-Eleven now heads the lap time list which features exotic hyper cars and track-focused supercars from some of the world's most prestigious manufacturers - Lap record set by "sport auto" magazine's top road tester Christian Gebhardt The Lotus 3-Eleven, the quickest series production car to come from Lotus' Hethel Headquarters, has set the fastest lap time ever recorded by the leading and highly-respected German car magazine, "sport auto". Driven by Christian Gebhardt, a highly accomplished driver and Road Test Editor for "sport auto", the Lotus 3-Eleven lapped the Hockenheimring short Circuit in an incredible 1 minute 06.2 seconds. This time was even more impressive considering that the 3-Eleven was on standard road tyres and the fastest lap was completed in less than perfect weather, where temperatures did not get higher than 8 degrees Celsius. Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus plc said, "Christian set a fabulous lap in less than ideal conditions.

Lotus Emira delayed for the U.S. while allocation amount and prices rise

It's Lotus' turn to catch the production and pricing virus, an ailment that's caused almost every automaker to lag on delivery timetables while increasing prices for reservation holders. Last October, Lotus Emiras intended for the UK home market were already trailing delivery estimates by six months. Early last year, Lotus expected to get Emiras tagged with U.S. plates as soon as fall of 2022. Now, CarBuzz reports that Emira V6 First Edition units destined for the U.S. will land on our soil this summer but won't be released to customers until between mid-October and mid-December. According to a letter sent by Gator Motorsports' franchise Indy Lotus in Indianapolis, Indiana, the holdup is U.S. certification.    On top of the delay, prices are going up for all U.S. and Canadian reservation holders except those who have completed paperwork for the initial North American V6 First Edition allocation. Lotus said the various troubles and quagmires around the world have increased the Emira's unit cost by around $14,400. Folding that into the MSRP would make the price $108,300 before destination. We say "initial" about that allocation because Lotus has upped the North American allotment by 600 units, making 1,300 in total to come to come to NA, the U.S.-specific number slightly smaller. When the second tranche becomes open for reservations, they will cost $105,400 in the U.S., that price already on the U.S. retail site configurator. Anyone who reserved the AMG-powered four-cylinder Emira I4 First Edition is going to see their cost rise from the $85,900 announced before. The new price MSRP be revealed until later this year, deliveries not scheduled to commence until Q2 of 2024. Of course, we should expect the cost of the regular series production cars to rise as well. The situation varies by market, so anyone on any of Lotus' lists should check with their Lotus dealer. A lively thread on Emira Forum that started in February is up to 26 pages as global Emira buyers try to figure out who needs to confront what increase. Part of the ire comes from Lotus having promised none of the pricing challenges would be passed on to reservation holders, saying, "The price you're being quoted is the price you'll pay for your Emira."     Ready for the good news? There will be more options to spend your money on.

Lotus renames Russell Carr its head of design

There's been a changing of the guard at Lotus recently. The legendary British sports car manufacturer fired its controversial chief executive Dany Bahar and replaced him recently with Jean-Marc Gales. And now it's named a new chief designer. Or rather, renamed its old one to the post.
That designer is the appropriately named Russell Carr, who had previously held the post until Bahar brought in his former compatriot Donato Coco (with whom he had previously served at Ferrari) and charged him with designing a series of ambitious but ill-fated concept cars that debuted at the 2010 Paris Motor Show and were subsequently axed on Bahar's way out. Now Coco has been shown the door as well, effective at the end of this month. In his place, Carr - who has been with Lotus since 1990 - has been given back his old job after having been demoted to playing second fiddle to Coco for five years.
Although both Gales and Coco both served in senior positions at PSA Peugeot Citroën, Gales didn't join the French automaker until 2009 - the same year that Coco joined Lotus, five years after having left PSA to work at Ferrari.