The world is going nuts over the back-to-basics Porsche 911 R. But there's a company in Britain that has never built anything other than super-lightweight, honest track tools, and that's Lotus.
The Evora 400 is certainly not its crowning moment, but it's not a small footnote either. In fact, it's right up there with the best of them.
Very few units have been delivered and even fewer end up at the drag strip. The one in the video is by no means the best venue ever, as the relatively short dragstrip, doesn't allow the cars to stretch their legs, but in some cases, that can be an advantage for the plucky V6 Brit.
The first race we see is against the popular Mercedes-AMG GT S. On two consecutive tries, the Evora 400 gets the jump on its more powerful German rival. But a missed gear change spoils the outcome.
Despite holding its own against the 2015 Motor Trend Car of the Year, the 400 horsepower Lotus coupe loses quite badly to the old Audi RS3. We think that's because it's the old MTM-tuned model, freshly pulled from the mothballs, complete with its heavily modified 485 horsepower engine and launch control system.
And finally, the white Lotus faces off against a black Porsche 911 Turbo. Is that racist? We don't know. Is the Porsche tuned? We don't know that either.
Is worth mentioning that the Evora 400 is way cooler than the old model Top Gear made fun of. 60% of the car has been revised and that "400" in the name isn't there for decoration. No, it's related to the horsepower number, which is 55 hp higher than the Evora S.
Lotus have installed narrower and lower doors sills, a new interior and new bumpers. The 400 has a top speed of 186 mph, and it will hit the first 62 in 4.1 seconds. But that's only if the guy operating the manual gearbox is as fast as the Lotus test driver... which he will never be.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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