00 Lotus Esprit Twin Turbo V8 on 2040-cars

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Lotus Elise Cup 260 celebrates the automaker's 70th anniversary

Lotus rides the special edition train nearly as often as Jeep. When you only sell a few models, you need to make the most of what you have. Today, Lotus announced a new very-limited-edition variant, the Elise Cup 260. Just 30 examples will be built and, based on pricing, it doesn't look like it will be coming to America. Hey, the cars are likely all spoken for already. The Elise Cup 260 builds on the Cup 250 and takes influence from the Lotus Evora GT430 and Exige Cup 380. Lotus says this car is even lighter than the already pint-sized Cup 250. Downforce is the name of the game with the Cup 260. The car makes 397 pounds of downforce at 151 mph (44 percent better than the Cup 250), helping the car maneuver around a circuit with copious amounts of traction. The key components here are louvered front fenders, a carbon fiber front splitter and a carbon fiber rear wing that wouldn't look out of place on an FIA-spec GT car. All of the lightweight performance options from the Cup 250 are standard equipment on the Cup 260. The sill covers, roll hoop cover, front access panel and engine cover are all made of carbon fiber. It also uses a polycarbonate backlight glass to save more weight. The Cup 260 has two-piece rotors and two-way adjustable Nitron dampers at all four corners. Strangely, the Elise uses AP Racing calipers up front and a set of Brembo clamps out back. The Elise Cup 260 is powered by a supercharged 1.8-liter inline four making 250 horsepower and 188 pound feet of torque. In the right hands, the Lotus will hit 60 mph in just 3.8 seconds. Top speed is listed as 151 mph. Lotus' Hethel track is the true benchmark of any car to wear the green and yellow badge. On it, the Cup 260 is 2.5 seconds faster than the Cup 250. The exterior has been done up in gold and features a couple of wreaths meant to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Lotus' first car. The car comes standard with Alcantara upholstery, but if it were our money we'd spring for either the yellow or red Tartan trim pack. As befitting any Lotus, weight savings was first and foremost. Things like air conditioning, carpeting and sound deadening material are all optional extras. Pricing has only been announced for Europe, but the UK base price converts to roughly $77,800. Not cheap, but few if any cars provide the pure, unadulterated driving experience of a Lotus. Related Video:

Tesla Model S Easter egg turns car into submarine

When thinking about Elon Musk, the first thing that comes to mind may not be his sense of humor. However, the Tesla boss is embedding a pretty funny Easter egg in the company's cars that references a part of his own collection. Musk famously purchased the Lotus Esprit submarine from the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me for about $967,000 in 2013. At one point, he even intended to install a Tesla powertrain and make it fully transformable. From anyone else that plan would sound like pure fantasy, but Musk has the money and the means to make it happen, if he wants. Now, every Tesla Model S driver gets to share in just a little of that very cool ownership experience. A person on YouTube filmed how to access the Easter egg, and it's extremely easy. Just hold down the T on the infotainment screen for a few seconds, enter the appropriate code 007 and check the suspension settings page. Instead of seeing a Model S, Bond's submersible Esprit now appears. As another cool touch, users can set the vehicle's depth in leagues, and the options max out at 20,000. This is almost certainly a subtle reference to the classic story 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Maybe someday Musk can get the Lotus' conversion complete, and we can see it working for real. Until then, this a neat way to show the unique car off. Related Video:

Lotus will let Evija buyers configure their 2,000-hp electric car on their couch

The men and women who reserved a Lotus Evija will have the opportunity to configure their 2,000-horsepower electric car without getting off their couch. Several aspects of the coupe are customizable, so the company created a digital, touchscreen-based configurator to let clients design their car without leaving their home. Online configurators have been around for over a decade, but Lotus explained its software is more advanced and life-like than what's normally found on a manufacturer's website. It relies on a powerful graphics processor and software gleaned from the gaming world to display extremely realistic images of the car that almost look like they're photographs. Enthusiasts can see the Evija from every angle, inside and out, and they can pelt it into different worlds to check how a specific color looks in the shade or in direct sunlight. The configurator's last party trick is what the firm calls a 360-degree fly-through film which looks like it was shot with a drone. Lotus Evija configurator View 10 Photos When they're done, customers can hit save to send their configuration to Lotus headquarters in Hethel, England. They won't take delivery immediately, the Evija is a limited-edition car built largely by hand, so the company will whet their appetite by periodically sending them gifts. It hasn't revealed what it will ship clients, though it's not too far-fetched to imagine a scale model will be in one of the care packages. Each customer will also receive a personalized build book showing the car at different stages during the production process. Lotus will make 130 examples of the Evija, and it's planning to launch production before the end of 2020. The first year's allocation is already spoken for, according to the firm, so act fast if you want to add one to your collection. Alternatively, Lotus told Autoblog the Evija is a trailblazer that will influence future models, notably in terms of design and technology, so you're in luck if you like what you see but want it at a cheaper price point. Those of us who aren't waiting for a ticket into the Evija club will need to wait for their chance to spec one. "At the moment, [the configurator] is only for customers," a company spokesperson told Autoblog via email. Related Video: