2013 Lotus Evora Ips 2 + 2 on 2040-cars

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Lotus hits the track with new Elise S Cup R

If you want to take a Lotus to the track but the Exige V6 Cup is a bit too much to handle, the boys from Hethel have a new offering that may be of interest.
The new Elise S Cup R features all the track-tuned bells and whistles of its six-cylinder brethren, including a competition-spec aero kit, adjustable suspension, Yokohama racing slicks on 17-inch forged alloys, tow hooks, remapped ECU, cross-drilled and ventilated disc brakes and an interior with a HANS-compatible bucket seat, six-point racing harness and quick-release steering wheel. But instead of a heavier and more powerful V6, the Elise S Cup R "adds lightness" with the same 1.8-liter supercharged inline-four with 217 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque as the road-going Elise S. Yet with all that track-tuned gear, it's a good four seconds per three-mile lap faster than the showroom stock version in the automaker's testing.
Interested parties can pick one up in the UK for £39,125 (before taxes, equivalent to about $63k) and either lap it to their hearts' content at private track days or enter it in one of the dozen Lotus Cup series operating around the world. Lotus only released this one photo (click above to enlarge), but you can check out the full specs in the press release below.

China's Geely says it has no plan to buy Fiat Chrysler — as FCA stock leaps

HONG KONG — Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile denied media speculation on Wednesday that it planned to make a takeover bid for Fiat Chryslerk Automobiles (FCA), the world's seventh-largest automaker. Geely was one of several Chinese carmakers cited in by Automotive News, which said representatives of "a well-known Chinese automaker" had made an offer this month for FCA, which has a market value of almost $20 billion. "We don't have such a plan at the moment," Geely executive director Gui Shengyue told reporters at an earnings briefing, when asked if Geely was interested in Fiat. He said a foreign acquisition would be complicated, but he did not elaborate. "But for other (Chinese) brands, it could be a fast track for their development," Gui added. However, a source close to the matter said FCA and Geely Automobile's parent firm, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, had held initial talks late last year, without disclosing their nature. The source confirmed Geely was no longer interested in FCA, noting that the parent company had only three months ago announced its first push into Southeast Asia with the purchase of 49.9 percent of struggling Malaysian carmaker Proton, a deal that also included a stake in Lotus. Geel's denial failed to dent FCA's stock. The price of its Milan-based shares has jumped more than 10 percent to a 19-year high since Automotive News first reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources, that FCA had rejected the Chinese offer as too low. FCA stock on the New York Stock Exchange rose sharply on Monday from $11.60 to $12.38 and on Wednesday was trading at $12.84. FCA declined to comment on Wednesday. FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne has repeatedly called for mergers as a way of sharing the costs of making cleaner, more advanced cars, but he has repeatedly failed to find a partner and retreated from his search for in April, saying FCA would stick to its business plan. He has also spoken of spinning the successful Jeep and Ram divisions off from FCA. Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, and General Motors have both said they are not interested in talks with FCA. On Wednesday, Geely Automobile reported a doubling of first-half profit, above expectations, as cars designed with Sweden's Volvo won over domestic consumers. Volvo is a unit of the Zhejiang Geely group, and has recently announced it will share its technology with Geely.

Elise Time Attack could be most extreme Lotus yet

The Lotus Elise has given birth to some seriously fast and varied machinery. Aside from Lotus' own models like the Exige, 2-Eleven, 340R and Europa, electric vehicles like the Tesla Roadster, not to mention the never-released Dodge Circuit and Detroit Electric SP:01, are all based on the Elise's platform. As were/are the Melkus RS 2000, the Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 and the Hennessey Venom GT. But this could be the most extreme use of the lightweight chassis yet.
This Series 1 Elise has been built by one performance-obsessed Brit with a single purpose: to compete in the UK's Time Attack championship. For those unfamiliar, Time Attack is something like a rally or a hillclimb event, only it takes place on a racing circuit. Each vehicle goes out on the track by itself and sets the best time it can, without needing to worry about other competitors until the finish line is crossed and it's the next racer's turn. That's what drove Lee to modify his Lotus so thoroughly, with more wings, diffusers, flaps and carbon fiber than a Boeing factory. Check it out in the video below.