1988 Lotus Esprit Turbo 40th Anniversary Edition - Rare #57 Of 88 Made on 2040-cars

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Race Recap: 2013 German Grand Prix is old beginnings, new endings [spoilers]

Just like at Silverstone last weekend, the German Formula One Grand Prix started with Lewis Hamilton putting his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on pole. The only thing missing at the pointy end of the grid was his teammate Nico Rosberg, who lined up beside him in England but back in 11th in Germany because of a team error in qualifying. So instead it was Vettel in the first Infiniti Red Bull in second, his teammate Mark Webber in third, the Lotus duo of Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean.
Again, just like at Silverstone - and Canada - Daniel Ricciardo used his magic beans to impress with the Toro Rosso, lining up in sixth, followed by Felipe Massa in the first Ferrari, Fernando Alonso in the second. Jenson Button in the McLaren, Nico Hülkenberg finished up the top ten.
When the lights went green, it didn't take long for the race to become a black-and-blue affair...

Jay Leno goes old school with 1966 Lotus Elan 26R

On the latest episode of Jay Leno's Garage the guest's are both from inside the garage: the man they call Professor Jim Hall, Leno's master fabricator, and the 1966 Lotus 26R that he spent 18 months building. The Elan 26R was the racing version of the Elan that Lotus founder Colin Chapman began building after watching privateer teams prep their roadgoing Elans for competition duty all over Europe. Built by the factory from 1964-1966, drivers like Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart won silverware in the roadster called "the giant killer."
Hall, a veteran Lotus wrench, started with the 1966 Elan street car and turned it into a 26R that's arguably better than the factory original. Except for the engine block and head, original 26R body and Elan chassis, just about everything is custom built, highly modified or special order, from the fabricated oil pan, brake lines, safety wiring and oval exhaust tubing to the six-speed sequential transmission.
The episode is an unusually-long 21 minutes because, as an in-house build, Leno can go through the process of putting the whole roadster together. When he takes it for a drive and keeps going on about how it sings, you can hear it, too. It's worth the time to check out Mr. Hall's Opus in the video below.

Lotus Emeya concludes winter testing, brings unique treats

Think of the Lotus Emeya as the sedan form of the Eletre SUV, transferring Lotus' newest brand values into a body style closer in spirit to the old Lotus. As the automaker marches toward production later this year, we've got a few more details on what's to come with the English foe of the Taycan competitor. Battery size is said to be 102 kWh; if that's accurate, that would be down slightly on the Eletre SUV's gross 112-kWh battery that provides a usable 109-kWh. Lotus says the sedan's range will be "broadly similar" to the Eletre, which is rated to go up to 373 miles on the WLTP cycle. The sedan, like its brother, is built on an 800-volt system capable of 350-kW fast-charging, and uses two motors to power both axles. A top-shelf Emeya R trim should pack the same power as the Eletre R, 905 horsepower and 726 pound-feet, the Emeya's lower profile and lighter weight taking a coupe of tenths off the Eletre's 2.95-second sprint to 60 miles per hour.  At least two wild specs separate the Emeya from the Eletre: A 55-inch augmented-reality head-up display. Lotus says the projection on the Electre is 29 inches. In addition to being "the largest and most advanced in any Lotus," it offers "a Snow Mode which turns the display blue, helping the driver to see the outline of the road more easily against a white background." Who needs an Apple Vision Pro, eh?  The sedan also fits an active rear spoiler that's four inches broader than the SUV's from front to back, at 11.7 inches compared to 7.7 inches. Adjusting the spoiler's angle on the SUV can produce up to 112.5 kilograms of downforce. The sedan's spoiler rings up a maximum of 215 kg of downforce at speed. The Emeya's top speed is an electronically capped 159 mph, six miles per hour below the SUV's, done to preserve battery health.  Lotus recently concluded a series of winter tests that are part of the company's three-year development testing across 15 countries, working out the Emeya in temps as low as negative 13 Fahrenheit and locking the car in a freezer at -40 F to gauge how its systems performed.  After going on sale in China, the Emeya heads to Europe and then to the U.S., so we shouldn't expect it until sometime next year, joined by the Evija hypercar. Car magazine said it saw a Lotus presentation that mentioned an MSRP of $100,000, almost identical to the base Porsche Taycan's U.S. MSRP.  Related Video: