Lotus 3-Eleven review

Car buffs tend to love numbers, and it’s as if the new Lotus has been designed just to keep them happy.

For starters there is the name. Then there is the power output – 450bhp. Then there is the time for a lap of the Nurburgring, which is 7mins 6sec with the driver reckoning if he’d had the circuit to himself he could definitely have got below 7mins. So that’s a time not far off a £1m Porsche 918 Spyder. The 0-60mph time is just 2.9sec, so that’s McLaren P1 sort of times.

Add all that lot up and you get what Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales claims ‘condenses our engineering know-how into a hardcore package that won’t suit everyone. But it is a perfect demonstration of the concept crucial to all future Lotus cars’.

The car comes in two guises, Race and Road. The Road version gets a six-speed manual box with racing clutch while Race has an Xtrac sequential six-speed paddleshift. The slightly lower gearing in the Race version means a top speed of 174bhp, while the slightly taller gearing in the Road version will go on to 180mph.

The supercharged 3.5-litre V6 engine delivers 453bhp at 7000rpm (404bhp for the Road version) and 332lb ft of torque at 3500rpm. The engine is fitted in the middle of the tub, transversely. The tub is an aluminium monocoque, covered with a new type of material that is 40% lighter than normal fibreglass. Even the roll bar plays its aerodynamic part.

Both models have independent suspension all round, with forged alloy wheels carrying AP Racing four-piston calipers on discs that have been cross-drilled and vented.

The cockpit is minimal, of course, and the racing pedigree is underlined by the fitment of just one seat, a lightweight bucket seat with quick-release steering wheel and four-point harness. A passenger seat is an option. It promises to be an electrifying place to be.

So, a final couple of numbers. The Road and Race versions will cost in the region of £82,500 to £116,500 depending on the level you spec it to. One final, final number. They’re going to make 311 3-Eleven cars, which is a bit twee, but a lot better than them making only three or 11.