2005 Lotus Elise - 19.6k Miles - Mint on 2040-cars

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This is how ground effects work in a nutshell

There are two ways to generate downforce. One is with all manner of wings and spoilers on the surface of the vehicle. The other is with ground effects. One you can clearly see, the other remains something of a hidden mystery. Fortunately, the good folks at Lotus and Goodwood are here to dumb it down for us non-engineer types. It's called Bernoulli's Principle, named after Swiss physicist Daniel Bernoulli who literally wrote the book on the subject way back in the 1700s. Countless engineers have spent their careers focused on its study and application, but the crux of the matter is that, as the speed of air (or other "fluid") increases, pressure decreases. Play with the air's increasing speed and decreasing pressure just right and you can generate downforce underneath the body of a car without significantly increasing drag as you would with surface spoilers. For evidence of how Bernoulli's Principle applies in practical terms, just look at the last Ferrari to pack a turbocharged V8 in the middle and the latest one. The F40 had a giant wing on the back, where the 488 GTB has none. But because the 488 uses underbody aerodynamics (or "ground effects"), it generates significantly more downforce than the winged F40 ever could, and at lower speeds. Ferrari, however, was not the first outfit to harness the power of ground effects. Lotus did with the legendary 79 that Mario Andretti drove to the world championship back in 1978. That was the genius of Colin Chapman, and to explain how it all works in layman's terms, our friends over at Goodwood Road & Racing brought in Colin's son Clive Chapman, head of Classic Team Lotus, to put together the video above. Related Video:

A Lotus worthy of the legend | 2017 Lotus Evora 400 First Drive

Lotus is back, both literally and figuratively. After the British brand's two-year absence, the Evora 400 marks its return to the American market. It also shows what's in store as Lotus moves forward after a rough few years. We'll cut straight to the point: The Evora 400 is the best car Lotus has ever made. The heritage of the brand founded by Colin Chapman is centered around the holistic benefits of light weight and simplicity. But historically, light was a synonym for fragile. Heap on the old British build-quality stereotypes like leaking windows and intermittent electrics, and you have the Lotus reputation for brilliant but fickle cars. Owning a Lotus is a badge of honor, the car-culture equivalent of riding a fixed-gear bicycle. And while quality has improved, even modern Lotus models like the Elise, Exige, and previous Evora have a decidedly minimalist approach to comfort. That lack of modern amenities kept sales to a minimum before crash-test standards forced Lotus's hiatus from our shores. And by modern amenities we mean basics like functional air conditioning, a cabin you can climb into without pulling a muscle, and trim pieces that don't fall off from normal use. So when we say the Evora 400 is the best Lotus ever, we mean that in more than one way. It's of a material and build quality befitting the $93,785 starting price, and it retains the almost telepathic connection to the driver while increasing performance on all fronts. The 400 in the name stands for 400 horsepower. Power still comes from a Toyota-sourced 3.5-liter V6, but a new supercharger is now intercooled and delivers about 9 pounds per square inch of boost, up from 5.5 psi. It's a 55-hp jump, with a modest torque increase of 7 pound-feet, to 302. The numerical suffix, though, might suggest this is just a variant, like the Evora S was to the original Evora. Not so. Lotus says over two thirds of the parts are new, including front and rear body panels. The new Evora has a cleaner look, less like an inflated Elise and more like the mid-engine exotic that it is. View 29 Photos But the biggest change to the Evora is the interior. The door sill, perhaps the biggest hindrance to practicality, is now 2.2 inches lower and 1.7 inches narrower. The footwell is also 3.3 inches wider. Getting in and sitting now just feels like it does in most other cars, which, for Lotus, is a revelation. Hey, there's room for a dead pedal to the left of the clutch!

Lotus could build production versions of Renault Alpine, Infiniti Emerg-E

As with one of those blockbuster three-team NBA trades that actually improves the fortunes of every team involved, a report in Autocar indicates that Renault, Infiniti and Lotus are in talks that could benefit both manufacturers and enthusiasts. Renault is considering a production version of the devil-in-blue Alpine A110-50 concept but has said that it "probably needs more than the Renault-Nissan Alliance on its own." Enter Lotus, whose Evora platform could supply the running bits for the mid-engined Alpine revival.
That same Evora platform, in range-extended 414E concept form, is the basis for the Infiniti Emerg-E concept. Even though a decision hasn't been made on the Emerg-E's production, it is still being developed and the company has admitted that it "could be built in Britain." For its part, Lotus has said that it's ahead of schedule on the Evora 414E, with its 408 horsepower, 738 pound-feet of torque and 30-mile electric range. Development funds from both Renault and Infiniti could help make all three cars a closer possibility.