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Watch the Lotus 3-Eleven run down Porsches and destroy the Nurburgring

The Lotus 3-Eleven is the automaker's most powerful production machine to date. Roughly a year ago, Lotus set out to show just how capable the 3-Eleven is by sending the open-top track-focused machine to the Nurburgring. Lotus claims the car set a blistering time of 7:06 around the track. Now in a belated celebration, automaker released two new, short clips of the vehicle sprinting around the Green Hell. There's no questioning just how capable the 3-Eleven is. In both videos, which are shot from the driver's seat, the track car chases down various Porsches at an impressive rate. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. While there's some controversy over how Lotus set the time, the 3-Eleven's claimed Nurburgring pace is quicker than a Nissan GT-R Nismo and is just four seconds slower than a Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SV. Earlier this year, Germany's Sport Auto magazine took the 3-Eleven to the Hockenheimring where the track car managed to set a new record, besting the likes of the Porsche 918 Spyder. With a claimed dry weight of just 1,962 pounds, the 3-Eleven focuses emphasizes lightweight structure over massive power. Still, it's Lotus' most powerful production car with a 3.5-liter supercharged V6. In the right hands, the 3-Eleven can sprint to 60 mph in 3.0 seconds and managed to lap the automaker's test track 10 seconds quicker than the Evora 400. Marc Basseng, the racecar driver piloting the 3-Eleven, claimed the 3-Eleven could go even faster around the Nurburgring with less traffic. After watching these new clips, we would have to agree. Related Video:

Lotus F1 Team reveals new E23 Hybrid

Lotus is keen to leave a lackluster 2014 Formula One World Championship campaign behind it and race forward towards a new era, and this is the car with which it hopes to do so. The new E23 Hybrid is the twenty-third chassis to come from the Enstone-based team. As with the new Williams that was the first new chassis revealed for this year, the principal difference you can see is the more conventional nose to replace the twin-tusk setup of the E22, but there's more to it than that. For starters, it's the first new Lotus to pack Mercedes power after the team parted ways with Renault – the manufacturer that used to own the team and which has powered every car the team has built since Benetton signed with the French automaker way back in 1995. It also packs a completely new suspension setup after the original FRIC design in the preceding E22 was banned mid-season, forcing Enstone engineers to go back to the drawing board halfway through the championship. Word has it that, after earlier rumors suggested the team might not even make it back onto the grid, new sponsors will be added before the season gets under way in Melbourne on March 15 with the Australian Grand Prix. To pilot the new car, Lotus has retained the same two drivers as last year in Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. The team is hoping to perform better this season than it did the last, when it finished the constructors' championship way down in eighth place – the same result it achieved in 2009 under Renault ownership and the worst it had performed since the Toleman days in 1983.

UK car output falls 14% in March, may get worse with no-deal Brexit

LONDON — British car output fell for the 10th month in a row in March, hit by a slowdown in key foreign markets, and the sector stands to suffer a lot more if the country leaves the European Union without a deal, an industry body said on Tuesday. Output tumbled by an annual 14.4 percent to 126,195 cars in March, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. Exports, which account for nearly four out of every five cars made in Britain, were down by 13.4 percent. The SMMT said analysis it had commissioned predicted output would fall this year to 1.36 million units from 1.52 million in 2018, assuming London can secure a transition deal with the EU. If Britain has to rely instead on World Trade Organization rules for its trade with the bloc, which include import tariffs, output is forecast to fall by around 30 percent to 1.07 million units in 2021, returning to mid-1980s levels, the SMMT said. The forecasts were produced for SMMT by AutoAnalysis, a consultancy. Prime Minister Theresa May has secured a delay to the Brexit deadline until Oct. 31, giving her more time to try to break an impasse in parliament over the terms of Britain's departure from the EU. Foreign minister Jeremy Hunt traveled to Japan earlier this month to try to persuade the Japanese government and Toyota, which has a big presence in Britain, that London was determined to avoid a no-deal Brexit. "Just a few years ago, industry was on track to produce 2 million cars by 2020 — a target now impossible with Britain's reputation as stable and attractive business environment undermined," SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. "All parties must find a compromise urgently so we can set about repairing the damage and diverting energy and investment to the technological challenges that will define the future of the global industry." (Reporting by William Schomberg, editing by David Milliken)