What is it?
This is the Lotus Exige S 260, the Lotus for track day enthusiasts who, strange as it may sound, think that a regular Lotus Exige S isn't quite hardcore enough.
The Lotus Exige 260 is lighter and more powerful than the standard S, thanks to some details from the Exige Cup race car, including a power upgrade to 257bhp (the regular Exige S has 218bhp, the Exige S 240 has 237bhp). The 0-60mph time falls from 4.1sec to 4.0sec.
There’s a prevalence of carbonfibre, including for the engine cover, dashboard, door sills, and to replace the Perspex partition to the engine bay. The wheels, meanwhile, are of a new design; they are lighter than wheels that Lotus already claimed were the world’s lightest.
There are no airbags, the pyrotechnic pretensioners for the seat belts have been ditched, the stereo has gone, as has most of the sound deadening and the central locking, while there are new, Lotus-made, carbonfibre FIA-approved seats and a lighter motorsport battery.
In all, 38kg has been lifted from the Exige, taking its unladen weight to less than 900kg.
The dampers and spring platforms are adjustable, and the adjustable front anti-roll bar is stiffer than usual.
Join the debate
edoard
Re: Lotus Exige S 260
The interior picture shows a dash with airbags and stereo and a lot of carpeting.
This does not match what you say in the article ??
MarkusMorelli
Re: Lotus Exige S 260
Matt you are a seriously lucky chap. It must be an awesome experience.
Audi Tastic
Re: Lotus Exige S 260
At £42k this is starting to compete with some other pretty serious trackday machinery, and also starts to look a bit pointless as a road car. It's getting towards the pick your own one make series territory, and is more likely to be trailered to the track than ever driven there.
Driving
Re: Lotus Exige S 260
It certainly looks tired and needs a new stlyist team, bar the chassis. I think Lotus's marketing team is just bashing the Elise chassis to death bordering annoyance. Would be interesting to see a list of all the Elise chassised cars since day one, including non Lotus cars such as the Vauxhall, Testa etc. I still think the first 190R is the coolest one, way cooler than any Exige.
Orangewheels
Re: Lotus Exige S 260
[quote Driving]It certainly looks tired and needs a new stlyist team, bar the chassis. I think Lotus's marketing team is just bashing the Elise chassis to death bordering annoyance.[/quote]
I don't think there is much wrong with the chassis, but the bewildering array of different track day specials to eek out every ounce of profitability does bore me a little. The bodywork is fibreglass, which is ideal for low volume production, and cheap and easy to retool, so I'm surprised we haven't seen more changes in the looks dept.
Orangewheels.co.uk
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