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Lotus Evora 400: The Mountains Have Eyes (Performance Tour)
PERFORMANCE TOUR – EPISODE IV
LOTUS EVORA 400
THE MOUNTAINS HAVE EYES
Words: Alessandro Marrone
Photography: Jay Tomei
It’s been almost two years since my first time at the wheel of a Lotus Evora 400 – two years in which I’ve drove a hundred abundant of sports cars and supercars, and in spite of everything, that black and orange Lotus has always remained clear in my mind, a woodworm who has continued its undisturbed work, waiting for a new opportunity to get to know each other better. That occasion came in, coinciding with the fourth episode of our Performance Tour with Gino Luxury & Motorsport and that is why I wanted to prepare something special to celebrate what I knew it would have been one of the most exciting driving adventures of my life. Even fate seems to have kept in mind that day and made me find a specimen in the same color, but with a substantial difference, the Evora 400 of this test does not have a manual gearbox, but the IPS 6-speed automatic. Unusual, strange, controversial, but in a world where the hundredths of seconds are more important than the good morning message, faster shifting and more ease of use can be useful. Let’s proceed with order, also because the main testing day is long, full of curves and moments that I will carry with me forever.
With summer now turning to an end, hours of light are getting shorter and the overwhelming heat of the last few weeks is quickly leaving room for a fresh air that peeps in the morning and refreshes during the last hours of the afternoon. Over the last two years, Lotus has introduced even more lighter and powerful versions than the Evora 400 – we’re talking about the Evora Sport 410 and Sport 430, but the 400, besides not being part of a limited production, I still think it’s the ideal choice from a performance point of view and for an eventful use in the daily life of a less hardcore Lotus than usual. Its shape is familiar, that lines remind of a supercar, although it costs less than half of any possible high performance vehicle, low, streamlined, with the tail that moves sinuous upwards and that front looking almost as friendly as Lightning McQueen – but reality tells that the Evora 400 is an approaching storm and once rolling it will give voice to the most hardcore heavy metal instrument you’ve ever heard out of Hethel. Part of the great Colin Chapman’s philosophy remains in this model, but the total weight of about one and a half tons is remarkably detached from that omnipresent “less is more” dogma that we accompanies side by side every Lotus. Having said that, and having already been able to taste the capabilities of an Evora 400 makes me feel in advantage – I know it has an exceptionally communicative frame and that even if getting in is not a contortion mission, the dynamics and responsiveness you expect is remained untouched, perhaps slightly filtered, but it is here at our disposal.
Once in the cabin, finding the ideal driving position is a joke, wrapped in comfortable alcantara seats (which I find to be a choice I can’t resist recently), there is space to accommodate the photographer to my side and arrange the equipment on the rear seats, which may also accommodate two occupants (possibly with very short legs). Turn the key, press the ignition button and I immediately press the Sport button, which also opens the exhaust valves – the V6-cylinder stands at a slightly higher revving than it would do in Normal mode, while throttle, steering wheel and automatic gearbox are ready to roll the 3.5cc and feeds more firmly and sharply. Yes, the automatic, a torque converter called IPS (Intelligence Precision Shift Gearbox) that maintains 6 gears and is ready to be tested on one of those roads that once walked changes completely the way you see things. We leave early in the morning, still with the glasses and the roof covered with night frost; after driving a few kilometers on the motorway, enjoying the Evora’s comforting ride, it finally comes the time to go to less crowded areas, aiming at the mountains, the highest ones, toward that cumulus of rocks that seem to know about our arrival and imperturbable wait that our little orange-black coupe would try to break their unnatural silence. After passing through Vinadio, the road begins to climb and change in different modes, increasing the pace with the paddles behind the wheel, not too big in size, but pleasing at touch and exactly where I wanted them to be. The 400 steering ratio is good and the engine has so much torque that, when the pace is relaxed, it is not even necessary to downshift. Another hairpin, foot on the brake, widening, and as I squeeze the nose crossing my arms, I push on the gas – from now on the traffic at the bottom of the mountain vanishes completely and the road is all ours.
Climbing up for the Colle della Lombarda is not like drinking a glass of water: the road is narrow and rarely offers discreet visibility, but after leaving the dense vegetation behind, the panorama that draws in front of us is like that of a postcard. The empty void on one side and the rock on the other, enormous unspoiled fields that play with perfectly vertical walls and a sky that allows the sun to glimpse on a valley my eyes admire for the first time. Almost as if a switch had taken off inside me, the pace is much more determined and to avoid traction control cutting the power when the road surface is more slippery, I select Race mode. The Evora 400 is just as I remembered it: responsive, powerful and nervous when you want it and only if you want it. The automatic gearbox does not make the driving experience less enjoyable, even at the end of the day and after more than 500km of mountain road has definitely had the merit of getting me home far from exhausted. The gears work fast enough, losing only a tiny fraction of a second, especially when you go flat out and call the previous gear to make the most of the torque curve, which finds its best between 3500 and 6500 rpm, strong of 410Nm grounded on the bulky black wheels at the back. Impressive precision entering through corners, the rigidity of a chassis that makes driving purity its own goal for life, and power steering that does not follow the road as you may find on the Exige – something that allows you to keep a more fast rhythm, even when the road below is not as smooth as a child’s skin. The landscape around constantly changes and I feel like traveling through different worlds, until I believe that I have landed on Mars, jutting among the walls of jagged red rocks; time to take the necessary stops to immortalize this piece of driving paradise, too narrow and tortuous to accommodate a convoy of drivers, but ideal for those who want to sling in the mountain gut on their own. And the mountain is always there waiting and watching us, behind the vitreous glimpse of a heavily drawn sky.
Then there is that hairpin, that typical hairpin that you do not see, confusing it with a roadside area and so you go with all your strength on the brake pedal and those spectacular AP racing do their dirty work, slowing down by a speed certainly not suitable for this kind of road and allowing me to set the steering correctly a little moment before I was beginning to see the Evora falling from grace. The same fright that struck us when a very strong gust of wind literally wiped the drone away from our heads, moving it for several meters before Jay could regain control and let it land safely and securely with tons of dust on the camera lens. The adventure goes on without any hesitation and after exchanging two chats with two adventurers coming from Holland on their Caterham Seven: a look of understanding, some opinions on our own paths and back on the car towards Europe’s highest paved road: Col de la Bonette. Getting to 2,860 meters with an unstoppable wind, rain and a slippery road that look like a skating rink undoubtedly comes in my top ten of the most crazy moments ever experienced at work, but the satisfaction of never giving up, repays us with every effort and every moment of ordinary madness, as when we stop in the middle of the road to take a couple of photos in the midst of an abandoned and ruined building complex. The Evora 400 is an excellent model and catches the eyes of any person around, curious about that 400 horsepower bucket and that dreamlike car look – even the mountains are staring at us, more than before, from the sky, especially descending on the Route du Col du Restefonde, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful roads on which I have ever laid two pairs of wheels.
Try to imagine: maximum visibility, obscure rocks or almost inexistent vegetation, a perfect road surface and 400 horses to land as if there was no tomorrow. One gear after another, the Evora engine resumes after the break due to the bad weather encountered on the Cime de la Bonette, curve after curve, hairpin after hairpin and some straight afterwards, where we can even touch speeds that for some car represents the end of the speedo, the confidence with this Lotus becomes transformed and from intimate becomes visceral. While the mountains keep looking, they start to approve and give a rich public of marmots, it is as if the metal sound of the exhaust fused to a dreamlike harmony, an unforgettable soundtrack to immortalize and live deeply, retracing these magical miles again and again. Each corner contains a beauty stolen to time, a piece of paradise on earth that seems to have been created especially for those who have that hunger to drive that can be temporarily calmed down, but never and never satiated. In fact, on Restefonde, never as before in my whole life, I felt that the seemingly endless search was probably at its peak and as a dark-enveloped flame all around was illuminating a prices point, the only one feeling the need to be seen again, where I would drive if they told me to choose a single road for the rest of my life. Then I stop the car, with the ticking of the now boiling exhaust, a surreal silence fills my eardrums – not a leaf flying, no more cracking tires or the constant hiss of the supercharger behind my head. This silence is a deafening noise that grows like the end of a lyrical opera, coming to the epilogue of an unrepeatable spectacle, impossible to recreate with the same wonderful arrangement. The applause arrive and the curtain falls, time to go home, tracing the same way with an exceptional sports treasure like the Evora 400, which despite the automatic gearbox does not penalize your driving relationship and knows how to confirm it as a more than a good alternative to the various Porsches, equally fast on the 0-100 (about 4.3 seconds) and capable of reaching 300 per hour without risking your life. It maybe has a less precise interior refinement, it could be less practical due to the small luggage compartment so close to the engine, but it’s able to be the ideal companion for the most beautiful adventures in your life. And that’s fine to me.
LOTUS EVORA 400 IPS (2017-)
Layout – mid-rear engine, rear wheel drive
Engine – V6 cylinder V 3.5cc – supercharged
Transmission – 6-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 405 hp @ 7.000 rpm
410 Nm @ 3.500-6.500 rpm
Weight – 1.532 kg
Acceleration – 4,3 sec.
Top Speed – 300 kph
Price – from € 104.430
Gino Luxury & Motorsport Price – € 69.900*
*(as tested)
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