Lotus Exige GT3 Road Concept Car

Reprinted with permission from ACP Media (Autotrader)

Lotus Sport, the race car performance arm of Lotus Cars, has unveiled the Lotus Exige GT3 concept road vehicle.

The 203kW Exige GT3 is a bold performance machine. Lotus CEO, Mike Kimberley, says the Exige GT3 concept road car “is a fantastic showcase product from our race car performance division, Lotus Sport.

“The car’s racing background becomes immediately obvious from its aggressive stance, extreme width of rear track and innovative three-dimensional rear wing.

“The foundation of all Lotus products is phenomenal handling and ride characteristics, but the Exige GT3 takes these into another dimension altogether where supreme road holding and outrageous acceleration come evenly matched with sensational stopping ability.”

The Exige GT3’s pure bred racing brother will be again competing in the GT race arena in 2007, taking over the mantle from the 2006 British GT3 Championship-winning car.

A new one-piece front clam-shell with fully masked front wheels and wheelarch venting leads the aerodynamically cleaned silhouette of this car.

A menacing stance is enhanced by the aggressively flared rear wheelarches and aero-efficient three-dimensional rear wing and blended endplates.

The roadgoing GT3 uses the same charge-cooled supercharged engine as the GT3 race car driven through 10-inch wide rear wheels with 255 width tyre.

Maximum speed (257km/h) and peak torque have been electronically limited but acceleration is left untouched and unimpaired. The up-rated front brakes and brake pads all round ensure that on road or track this car’s stopping ability is more than capable of harnessing its acceleration performance.

The endplate mounted three-dimensional rear wing is highly efficient and fully complements the widened and flattened rear deck shape in reducing the overall drag as well as maintaining front to rear downforce balance.

“The performance of this car will amaze and reward all drivers with incredible road holding (developed with the help of its two-way Ohlins adjustable dampers together with Lotus Sport adjustable front stabiliser bar and rear suspension double-shear track control arms) and stunning acceleration,” says Kimberly.

Lotus says it intends developing the Exige GT3 concept road car into a full production car

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