British sports car maker Lotus first introduced the Exige in the year 2000. The formula was simple – add a fixed roof to the hugely popular mid-engine, RWD, two-door roadster known as the Lotus Elise, and let the sales just roll in. Since its debut, the Exige has offered up three successive generations, plus a slew of special variants, including several track day specials. The last time we saw a race-only Exige was with the Cup R, a V-6-powered destroyer of supercars that dropped cover in 2013 at the Autosport International Show in England. Now, Lotus is offering a new one, and it’s called the Exige Race 380. Essentially a stripped down, simplified, and lightened version of the already stripped down, simple, and lightweight Lotus Exige Sport 380, the Race 380 swaps any semblance of road compromise for hardcore performance and competition-spec hardware. Improvements include updates to the gearbox, suspension, aerodynamics, and electrical systems, yielding a laser-sharp weapon that’s perfect for hunting apexes.
The Race 380’s road-legal equivalent, the Sport 380, debuted late in 2016, tempting enthusiasts with Lotus’ traditionally focused approach to performance. Unfortunately, the Exige doesn’t meet U.S. crash standards, which meant stateside speed lovers were left out in the cold.
Happily, federal regulations don’t really matter when license plates aren’t involved. As such, the track-only Race 380 will be sold on these shores, and although it’s ineligible for road duty, U.S. track rats are sure to scoop up their fair share of units.
So exactly how fast is this thing? To give you an idea, the Race 380 posted a time of 1 minute, 23.5 seconds around Lotus’ test track in Hethel, England, besting the Exige Cup R by an impressive 1.5 seconds. That’s the fastest time of any Exige ever at Hethel, so yeah, it’s quick. Read on for the specifics of what makes it so damn fast.
Continue reading to learn more about the Lotus Exige Race 380.
from Top Speed http://ift.tt/2juSA91
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