1997 Blue Lotus Esprit Twin Turbo V8 Excellent Condition on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Watch Evo pick its 2015 Car of the Year in this epic video

With just a few days left in 2015, it's the perfect time to check out Evo's annual Car of the Year test to determine the greatest performance vehicle of the last 12 months. The writers' picks for the 11 finalists spanned a breadth of engaging models and included: Peugeot 208 GTi by Peugeot Sport, Lamborghini Aventador SV, Seat Leon Cupra Sub8, McLaren 675LT, Porsche 991 GT3 RS, Porsche Cayman GT4, Honda Civic Type R, Ferrari 488 GTB, Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Lotus Evora 400, and Mercedes-AMG GT S. For the venue to test the mettle of these performance machines, Evo stuck close to home this year and visited the twisting roads at the beautiful north coast of Scotland. Racing brothers Marino and Dario Franchitti also came along for the ride to provide two more voices in the competitive challenge to determine a winner. Evo's video explains why each model deserves to be among such rarified company but doesn't gloss over their faults either. There can be only one winner, though. We don't want to spoil it, so check out the clip for magnificent views of these performance machines through the Scottish countryside.

EVO "2012 Car of the Year: The Track Battles" is a sports car salmagundi

EVO has come out with another gotta-watch-it video, throwing its 2012 Car of the Year contestants around the UK's 1.5-mile Blyton Park track. It's actually a 15-minute teaser for the full-length DVD detailing the magazine's Car of the Year selection, but the tease is worth every penny free second.
Tiff Needell and sports car racer Richard Meaden handle the wheel duties, the two driving five pairs of sports cars: Lotus Exige S vs. Porsche Boxster S, Morgan Three-Wheeler vs. Toyota GT86, BMW M135i vs. Porsche 911, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series vs. Alpina B3 GT3, the marquee event pits the McLaren MP4-12C vs. the Pagani Huayra. After a head-to-head lap with commentary during drifts, Meaden takes each car out to set a representative lap time.
You'll find the verdicts, lots of tire smoke, and lines like "Anything you can do sideways I can do sideways" in the video below.

See the Lotus Evija in detail in this 23-minute video

Henry Catchpole splits his time as a contributor to Evo magazine with on-camera work for Carfection. The ever-gracious Englishmen took to the studio again recently to pore over the brand new Lotus Evija — and his first gift to us is the electric coupe's proper pronunciation: ee-VYE-yah. For a full 23 minutes, Catchpole tours the coming Lotus hypercar with Lotus' head designer Russell Carr. The two men sweep over the car from front to rear, Carr explaining the origins and details of the many shiny bits that attract Catchpole's eye. The spec sheet alone is attention-getting. A 70-kWh battery fuels a powertrain rated at 2,000 horsepower and 1,254 pound-feet of torque. All-wheel drive and torque vectoring are made possible by electric motors motors front and rear, but the setup is novel. A single drive unit on each axle combines a motor and inverter, but we're told each wheel gets its own gearbox. The package is a little shorter and wider than a Porsche 911, but sits seven inches lower than the roof of the German. Scales bend to the weight of 3,700 pounds in spite of magnesium center-lock wheels, that grandeur managed in part by six Multimatic spool-valve dampers, three on each axle. Just 130 Evijas will be produced, starting next year, each one starting at around $2.1 million. Lotus has filled the coupe with visual flourishes. The Lotus badge on the front is metal inlaid into the carbon fiber bodywork. Carr said he wasn't sure the engineers would be able to finalize that for production, but the designers are hoping. Fans inside the headlights keep the lumens cool, while movable DRLs and turn signals angled like the winglets on an airliner make the lumens look cool. Another neat lighting trick: The "T" in the word "Lotus" on the rear fascia acts as the reversing light. Two features we haven't yet seen on the latest batch of hypercars are adjustable seats, and a strip of metal in the headrests that can be etched the slogan of a customer's choice. And in spite of all the firsts for Lotus in this car, there's one holdover from the Hethel carmaker's other compact sports cars: A dearth of luggage space. The only cubbies are polygonal-shaped holes in the rear of the door sills. It doesn't sound so bad when Catchpole explains it, though, so check out the video.