Lotus 2-Eleven: In a shed in deepest, darkest Norfolk, something very potent is being brewed...
If you've ever got drunk on the heady Lotus product, the potency of the 2-Eleven
will be very easy to imagine. As much as we try to deny it, the modern Lotus is governed by one simple equation: a total absence of compromise in the search for speed. This means almost no comfort, practicality or refinement. The Elise is a second car at best, the Exige a third car at a push. So the search leads inexorably to the 2-Eleven, a track-day car that can just about be made road-legal. No air-conditioning and CD players here. Let alone roofs, doors or windscreens.
Weighing a paltry 745kg (just 40kg of that being bodywork) and with 252bhp available from that supercharged 1.8-litre Toyota-sourced engine, the 60mph benchmark comes up in 3.8 seconds and 100mph is done in 9.1. Top speed is 155mph, and will cost from £39,995, with production 'scheduled to commence' sometime around now. Various specs are available from the 'Launch Edition', complete with 'three-way' colour scheme and a decal pack.
'Road Going' with front and rear lights, an exhaust catalyst and a variety of other mods to get it past Plod and the DVLA. The alternative is the 'Track Only' car, with brake lights and rear indicators only, a race seat and high-downforce carbon-fibre rear wing and front splitter. That's the purer hit of hooch, if you're mad enough to swig from either bottle.