2005 Lotus Elise Custom Engine Upgrades Must See Turbo on 2040-cars

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2015 Monaco F1 Grand Prix race recap [spoilers]

Lewis Hamilton came to Monaco with a new three-year deal with Mercedes-AMG Petronas and a vow to not let anything, including any "mistakes" by teammate Nico Rosberg, stand in the way of his best qualifying effort. Mercedes reportedly made it rain with a 100-million-pound deal, and Hamilton made it rain right back with his first pole position at Monaco. Rosberg did make a mistake but this time it was behind Hamilton, which meant he stuffed-up the qualifying attempts of rival drivers like Sebastian Vettel. So Rosberg starts second, 0.342 behind Hamilton but 0.449 ahead of Vettel in the Ferrari. Daniel Ricciardo thinks he should have been third, but a communication error with his engineers left him in the wrong engine setting for his final hot lap, so by the very first corner he'd lost the time he would have needed to get higher than fourth on the grid. The second Infiniti Red Bull Racing of Daniil Kvyat slots in behind him, ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi "Not A Very Happy Day" Raikkonen, who just can't get it going lately. Sergio Perez did for the Sahara Force India what the car can't do on its own, which is grab a top-ten qualifying spot. Toro Rosso rookie Carlos Sainz had qualified eighth but missed a call to the weigh bridge, so he's been slapped into the pit lane. Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus inherits his eighth place, ahead of rookie Max Verstappen in the second Toro Rosso, and Jenson Button in the McLaren. Button only got up there because of two penalties: for Sainz, and Romain Grosjean who had qualified 11th but took a penalty for a gearbox change. Want to know how hard it is to do better on race day than in qualifying at Monaco? Even the never-say-die Fernando Alonso said, "Monte Carlo is a train of cars on Sunday, the race finishes on Saturday afternoon." Well obviously, he didn't take Max Verstappen's seek-and-destroy tactics into account. The young Dutchman had made passing look like a real option in Monaco, getting past Maldonado at St. Devote on Lap 7 after a bit of argy-bargy on Lap 6, then taking advantage of blue flags to slink past teammate Carlos Sainz and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas while hiding in Sebastian Vettel's slipstream. He tried the same move on Romain Grosjean on Lap 65, but Grosjean locked him out. Verstappen lined up the Lotus driver over the following laps, then looked like he slipped to the inside at St.

Lotus F1 Team Breaks World Record For Longest Truck Jump

Lotus F1 wasn't content to make just any commercial for their technology partner EMC Industries. It had to be one for the record books. The video released over the weekend shows a truck breaking the world record for longest jump ever completed by a truck. The stunt was obviously geared towards publicity, but while they were at it, they set a Guinness World Record for the longest truck jump at 83 feet, 7 inches. The previous record, according to Guinness, stood at 50 feet, 6 inches, and was set on MTV's Nitro Circus on November 17, 2008, by Gregg Godfrey at Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City. That record stood for six years, but (as best we can tell) was set without the trailer attached, or the F1 car tracking underneath - which only makes this latest stunt that much more impressive. Stunt driver Mike Ryan planned the jump and drove the truck off the ramp and over fellow stunt driver Martin Ivanov as he sped underneath in a Lotus F1 race car. And just so you know no CGI was involved, EMC industries included a making of video on their website.

Lotus pumps Exige up to 430 horsepower

It seems that every few months or so Lotus has yet another lighter, faster version of one of its cars, usually with an emphasis on the lighter part. This time, the latest, fastest Lotus gets a big bump in power. It's the Lotus Exige Cup 430, and it shares its supercharged V6 with the recently launched Evora GT430. That means it makes 430 horsepower, an impressive 55 more than the 375-horsepower Exige Cup 380. It also produces 325 pound-feet of torque. That engine is impressive enough in the Evora GT430, but it becomes pretty breathtaking in the Exige, which weighs about 2,410 pounds. Though that's slightly heavier than the Cup 380, the overall power-to-weight ratio has improved, and Lotus says the 430 can fly to 60 mph in just 3.2 seconds from a standstill. It also boasts a higher top speed than the 380, at 180 mph, which is 5 mph more than the 380. Perhaps more impressive is the fact the Exige Cup 430 is the fastest road car Lotus has tested at its Hethel race track, beating the track-oriented 3-Eleven road car by 1.2 seconds. Among the other interesting features of the Exige Cup 430 are the three-way adjustable shocks as well as adjustable front and rear anti-roll bars. More of the car's total downforce, 45 percent to be precise, acts on the front now, compared with 36 percent on the Cup 380. Four-piston brake calipers are used at each corner. It also comes with a number of weight-saving features as standard, including the lithium-ion battery and titanium exhaust. It can also be optioned to be a legitimate race car with an FIA-legal roll bar and airbag delete. But just the stock car isn't cheap. It has three different price tags depending on whether you purchase it in the U.K., Germany, or France. But the cheapest price in dollars comes from the U.K. where it retails for GBP99,800, or just shy of $131,000 at current exchange rates. Related Video: Featured Gallery Lotus Exige Cup 430 View 9 Photos Image Credit: Lotus Lotus Coupe Lightweight Vehicles Performance