English
Italian
Tested: Lotus Exige V6 Cup
Today was my lucky day. It was supposed to rain and instead a strong wind blew away the clouds letting me have a test drive that I will long remember. The new Lotus Exige V6 Cup is the closest thing to the R version which is, however, only for track use, and it will be in my hands for a whole day across the streets on the Austrian border with the Reschenpass. Lotus says that it has not increased its power, but that anyone driving the Cup would see substantial changes. I can confirm that, having just played with it on a handful of curves: it’s 60 kg lighter, diet achieved thanks to a total of striptease by this English little girl, which comes standard with a set of Pirelli P-Zero Corsa (17″ front and 18″ at the rear); then, choosing these tires also brought Hethel’s technicians to stiffen the suspension. The aerodynamic package (basically similar to that of the Elise Cup, tested a few weeks ago) is definitely the first thing you notice, but this very Exige is not only beautiful, it’s all about how it handles.
After spending at least 10 minutes, trying to get on board without breaking my back, I can finally fasten the four points seat belts, start the engine and leave the parking lot. Fortunately we find a nice 6-speed manual gearbox with reduced gear ratio and a lever very close to my right leg, much to crawl the pants at every 1st-2nd and 2nd-1st. Even the driver’s seat is located towards the center of the car than the passenger one, to emphasize as Lotus has as main objective to satisfy a pure and intimate driving experience, never mind the comfort and the “useless weight” that will sit alongside. It always has been like this, thanks to the founding father, the legendary Colin Chapman, and always will be. After just a few kilometers, I find myself downshifting and throwing my foot on the accelerator, unconsciously going to find the grip limit of the rear tires. This Exige Cup seems glued to the ground, and if cruising around does suffer for stiffness buoyancy, rev it up and you will be rewarded as never you would have expected. The Harrop supercharger works well and hisses at any acceleration, in that moment you are also pushed to the fantastic carbon fiber bucket seats while keeping tight the small steering wheel and on top of that, the wheels read every imperfection of the tarmac. If there is an ant and you go over it, you’ll feel that too. I shot a gear after another and in some cases, with a little ‘tacky surface, I noted a slight understeer, but you can play with the perfect balance of weight and your baby behaves very well. It wants to be driven with gloves (racing gloves) and helmet, perhaps on track, but also manages skillfully to adapt to every day roads, obviously preferring those tortuous and full of corners snakes of asphalt. On wide corners you have to hold down the gas pedal, until almost encounter the breaking point with the laws of physics, then the road straightens and you’re going to output the 345hp out of the 6-cylinder Toyota. Let it scream until 7000 rpm, touch the red line and kiss the maximum torque again after a few moments. It seems that it does know no end, but the road requires you to slow down and notice how there is no brake fading at all, thanks to a weight which stood at 1.100kg.
The Exige is a small work of art, the V6 is one of the best sports car that you can buy; the V6 Cup is a unique experience for all five senses. It will hunger for corners and you’ll be shaken in its shell as a smoothie with fruit, genuine and healthy, like a car that will not make you feel the lack of MP3 players and satellite navigation.
Richi Mackie
LOTUS EXIGE V6 CUP (2014-)
Layout – mid-rear engined, rear wheel drive
Engine – V6 cylinder 3456cc – supercharged
Transmission – 6-speed manual gearbox
Power – 345 hp @ 7000 rpm
400 Nm @ 4500 rpm
Weight – 1100 kg
Acceleration – 4 sec.
Top Speed – 274 kph
Price – from 52.000 €
