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Lotus adds lightness to new Exige S Club Racer

If there are two things Lotus is good at, they're trimming weight off already lightweight cars and getting the most out of its existing products. And those are just the talents it's called on to roll out the new Exige S Club Racer. Based on the Exige that's been on the market since 2000 – itself based on the Elise that dates back to 1996 – the new Exige S Club Racer manages to cut an extra 33 pounds off the vehicle's already featherlike curb weight, now down to under 2,600 lbs. The weight reduction comes down largely to the lightweight battery, center console, doors and sports seats. Yet measured at 100 miles per hour, the coupe also produces 93 lbs of extra downforce thanks to the revised aero package that includes a new front splitter, rear wing and flat underbody. Joining the Elise 20th Anniversary Edition (which itself replaces the Elise S Club Racer), the new Lotus Exige S Club Racer packs a 3.5-liter V6 to run to 62 in four seconds flat and on to a top speed of 170 mph. That's some rather impressive performance for a vehicle that only costs GBP56,900 in the UK, which is about what you'd pay for a Porsche Cayman GTS over there that would cost us around $75k. Unfortunately, Lotus doesn't sell the Exige in the US anymore, so this is one further improvement on a model we'll just have to admire from across the ocean. NEW LOTUS EXIGE S CLUB RACER - FASTER AND LIGHTER - Club Racer ethos applied to searingly quick Exige S - Weight reduced by 15 kg - Lotus benchmarks for handling and pure driving experience Applying the Lotus refined Club Racer principles to the already stunning Exige S results in the most inspiring version of an already class-leading sports car. The Exige S is a model that already excels, thanks to its lightweight aluminium chassis-tub and aerodynamically enhanced composite bodywork. Its 3.5-litre supercharged V6 engine delivers exciting performance, benchmark handling and a pure driving experience combined with a 4.0 seconds 0-62mph (0-100km/h) acceleration time and a top speed of 274 km/h (170 mph). Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus plc, expressed his enthusiasm for the new model: "Factoring the Club Racer ethos into the Exige enhances the track-focussed potential of this important model.

Renault considers fielding its own F1 team again

Renault has a long history in Formula One, but while it successfully ran its own team until 2010, these days it participates only as an engine supplier – and just to the two Red Bull teams. That could be changing in the near future, though, as the latest reports indicate that the French automaker is considering fielding its own team once again. According to Autosport, the company has ruled out starting its own team again from scratch, but it is weighing the possibility of buying an existing team. The last time it competed was when it took over the championship-winning Benetton team in 2002, building it back up to win back-to-back world titles in 2005 and 2006. It subsequently dropped in form until Renault sold the team in 2011 to Genii Capital, which has run it under the Lotus banner ever since. The Lotus team continued using Renault engines with limited success until this season when it switched to Mercedes. With Caterham now gone from the grid, that leaves Renault with only one customer: Red Bull, which runs both the Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso teams under Renault power. It's a situation in which the French company apparently doesn't particularly revel, leading it to consider buying a team again and running it in-house. Considering the difficulty the Lotus team it once owned has encountered lately, reacquiring its old operation could prove the most logical step for Renault, but of course that doesn't mean that's what it will ultimately do. It could continue strengthening ties with Red Bull until it acquires a large portion of it (or Toro Rosso) – something which Audi is said to be eying as well. Or it could look to another team altogether. Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams may not be up for sale, but we could easily see Renault taking over cash-strapped Force India or Sauber, or even pouring its resources into getting Caterham or Manor/Marussia back up to speed and whipping it into winning form. News Source: AutosportImage Credit: Franck Robichon/AP/Pool Motorsports Lotus Renault F1

Watch the Lotus Esprit evolve from 1976 to 2004

Seeing a model as long-lived as the Lotus Esprit evolve over time generally requires some clever photography or graphical work, kind of like this. This video doesn't require any of that trickery, though, because it features every single model year of Espirt in one glorious row of awesome British cars.
Taken at the 2013 Lotus Festival at Brands Hatch in the UK, it features Esprits from 1976 all the way to its last model year in 2004. It really puts into perspective the slow evolution of the mid-engined, wedge-shaped Lotus, as it went from a very 1970s design to something decidedly more modern.
We've got the full video below, which starts with a red 1976 model, travels down the line to a silver 2004 Esprit, and then all the way back to the original. Take a look, and let us know what you think.