{"id":95874,"date":"2015-06-26T09:18:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T13:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=95874"},"modified":"2015-06-26T09:18:14","modified_gmt":"2015-06-26T13:18:14","slug":"lotus-amping-up-the-sports-car-game-with-new-3-eleven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2015\/06\/lotus-amping-up-the-sports-car-game-with-new-3-eleven\/","title":{"rendered":"Lotus Amping Up the Sports Car Game with New 3-Eleven"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lotus unveiled the new 3-Eleven in time for the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It might not be a winning roll of the dice in Las Vegas, but Group Lotus is betting big on the new 3-Eleven it\u2019s unveiling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed today.<\/p>\n

With its distinctively minimalist windshield and extremely long nose, the long-struggling British maker claims the new model will be its fastest production road car ever. Actually, there will be two versions produced, one for the street, another for the track.<\/p>\n

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The Leader in Global Automotive News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“We always say that to make a sports car better, you make it faster and lighter. The new Lotus 3-Eleven carries that philosophy to a new level, and is perfectly in keeping with our brand values,\u201d said Jean-Marc Gales, chief executive officer for Group Lotus plc, during a presentation at the annual Goodwood event.<\/p>\n

To keep weight down to just under 2,000 pounds, Lotus is using an all-new resin-infused composite body sitting atop a chassis of extruded and bonded aluminum. The Road model wraps an integrated roll cage with twin side bars for impact protection around its open cockpit, notes Lotus. The Race version adds additional structure to meet international track regulations.<\/p>\n

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The new Lotus 3-Eleven comes in a road version as well as a race version that is track-ready.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The suspension, meanwhile, is a double-wishbone design, front and rear, with an adjustable front anti-roll bar, Eibach springs and adjustable Ohlins dampers. That will allow an owner to fine tune handling.<\/p>\n

The new Lotus 3-Eleven will be powered by a supercharged 3.5-liter V-6, a revised version of what\u2019s now in the Lotus Evora 400, complete with integrated water-to-air charge cooler. It\u2019s rated at 450 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque, punched to the wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox for the Road model. A Torsen limited-slip differential will be standard fare.<\/p>\n

The 3-Eleven Race model will get a six-speed sequential transmission with a semi-dry sump, oil cooler, paddle-shifters and that limited-slip differential.<\/p>\n

Lotus notes this works out to a hefty power-to-weight ratio capable of launching the 3-Eleven from zero-to-60 in just 3.0 seconds, with a top speed of 174 mph for the Race version and 180 mph for the Road edition.<\/p>\n

(Lotus readying a new model. For more, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The 3-Eleven race version tops out at 174 mph compared with the road model, which hits 180 mph.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In not-so-modest fashion, Gales declared, \u201cThis new car is a giant slayer, capable of embarrassing far more expensive rivals. It condenses our engineering know-how into one, hard-core package, and is so focused that it won\u2019t suit everyone. This is a perfect demonstration of the faster and lighter concept, something which will be crucial to all Lotus cars in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lotus clearly needs a giant slayer. The once-proud British maker has gone through tremendous turmoil in recent years. Former CEO Dany Behar promised to roll-out a fleet of new models before being suspended in 2012, kicking off a series of legal issues and corporate turmoil that had many wondering whether Lotus would even survive. It recently updated the Evora and is now struggling to show that there\u2019s life left in the company.<\/p>\n

(<\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for details about Lotus and its new approach to growth: practicality.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Visually, the Lotus 3-Eleven makes a strong statement with its open cockpit design. Whether it will find a market remains to be seen, of course.<\/p>\n

The British maker isn\u2019t offering fuel economy specs yet. And we\u2019re waiting to hear whether the Lotus 3-Eleven will make it to the U.S. \u2013 which would almost certainly require some modifications to the windshield design to meet federal safety regulations.<\/p>\n

(To see more about the recently revealed power specs for the Focus RS, <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Britain, Lotus says the Road version of the 3-Eleven will go for \u00a382,000, or roughly $129,000. The Race version will bump that to \u00a396,000, or $151,000. The Lotus 3-Eleven will be largely hand-made at the maker\u2019s plant in Hethel, UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It might not be a winning roll of the dice in Las Vegas, but Group Lotus is betting big on the new 3-Eleven it\u2019s unveiling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed today. With a “road” and “race” version, Lotus is looking to make an impact. For details, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95874"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=95874"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=95874"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=95874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}