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Quite a bit of news has come out of the recent LOG (Lotus Owners Gathering), specifically:

Lotus unveiled its US-bound Exige at the recent Lotus Owners Gathering (LOG). Among the critical stats:

It’s pretty fairly priced, as it really IS nothing more than an Elise with the sport suspension and better downforce at high speeds. At lower speeds, the Elise’s lower weight will give it an advantage, though. If you look at the price of an Exige versus a comparably equipped Elise, you find that the Exige is demanding a $4070 premium, not bad considering you get different seats and more radical bodywork.

A ‘240R’ supercharged version of the Exige will almost certainly be appearing as well. Most likely, the supercharger will be a dealer-installed accessory.

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Elise owners of California, take note - there’s a Lotus autocross in the city of Marina this Saturday! Click here for details. Pictures from the last autocross we did at Marina can be found here.

PistonHeads has a nice article on the new Lotus Circuit Car (official name is not yet announced), the latest in a new breed of track day supercars (such as the Ariel Atom). No new news, but more pictures and some quotes from the designers.

Of particular interest are, first of all, the chassis - the side rails are not cut down at the doors like in the Elise as, well, there ARE no doors in this version. This should improve rigidity. Second, they managed to squeeze the intercooler into the space that would otherwise be occupied by a trunk on a standard Elise.

I’ve uploaded a couple hundred pictures from this year’s Concorso Italiano. You can find them in the gallery via the link in the nav bar, or by clicking here.

No, Pressure Drop doesn’t make parts for the Lotus Elise. It’s a company I’ve started up with my brother producing high quality, artistic computer peripherals.

A poll by UK DVD rental company Lovefilm has shown that the Lotus Esprit in the 1977 Bond move “The Spy Who Loved Me” is the most memorable car film in history. This is probably due to that car’s ability to transform into a formidable, battle-ready submarine when needed (link).

From Derek Harling today:

“There are plans to open a Lotus Museum at 7 Tottenham Lane
in Hornsey, where Lotus founder Colin Chapman built his
first cars. The premises are not very large and so there
will be only be around 10 classic cars on display but
former racer John Scott-Davies, who raced Lotuses in the
1960s, hopes that the museum will create some tourism and
an education centre for the area.

Chapman worked at the premises between 1951 and 1959, in
converted stables behind the Railway Arms Hotel, which his
father Stan has been running since Colin was a toddler. It
was there that Lotus was established in 1952 and on the
premises the first 100 Lotus Seven cars were built before
the firm moved to Cheshunt in 1959.”

At last! The first official pictures of the Lotus Circuit Car, a track only special based on the Elise. Weighing a measly 650kg (1433 pounds), the car is powered by either the 190hp Toyota 2ZZGE (found in the Elise 111R), or the 240hp supercharged version of that motor. Surprisingly, the car features ABS and appears to have the same brakes as the 111R, which has received many negative reviews of the brake pedal feel (though the performance of the brakes has always been considered excellent). Suspension changes include Ohlins shocks (which greatly improve the ride of the standard Elise); around 100 cars will be built each year starting in 2006, with prices starting around £25,000 in the UK. Pricing and availability in other markets has not been announced. See the rest of this post for the full press release and more pictures.
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