Lotus EXIGE CUP 240
If youve ever been fortunate enough to drive a Lotus Exige on a race track, youll probably be of the opinion that little could be improved. Lotus, however, felt rather differently and have striven to create the perfect trackday Exige. This supercharged Exige Cup 240 has the power and the poise to embarrass cars costing two or three times as much. Dont expect to cause too many surprises however.
The secrets well and truly out of the bag with the 240R version and this Cup 240 model is merely the icing on the cake.
| Build | |
| Comfort | |
| Depreciation | |
| Economy | |
| Equipment | |
| Handling | |
| Insurance | |
| Performance | |
| Styling | |
| Value |
What youre buying with the Exige Cup 240 is capability. You may also purchase a side order of resentment. Fifty owners of Lotus Exige 240R special edition thought they were going to be the biggest hitters on the block and sole recipients of the supercharged Toyota engine, but it has now reached series production. Another £2,000 gets tacked onto the price tag over the special edition but theres plenty of additional equipment to boot.
Suddenly owners may not be feeling quite so special. If Lotus marketing is a little suspect, the same cant be said of their engineering. The Cup 240 is a beautifully honed thing. A torque-sensing limited slip differential is fitted as standard to give the driver more adjustability in high-slip scenarios.
In English this means that you can drive the Exige rather sideways if youve got the skill. An uprated clutch, stainless steel sports exhaust, adjustable suspension and uprated brakes are also on offer.
"The Cup 240 feels sickeningly rapid on the road. On the wider expanses of a race track its merely crushingly fast"
A small pastille behind the gear lever is a subtle clue that Lotus have embraced technology with this model. Its the traction control button. Some may tut-tut about electronic control systems appearing in the Exige, but the LTC system is well worth having. It activates above 5mph and works through the engine rather than the brakes, reducing power when required to maintain traction.
This system is sharper to react than many more rudimentary traction control systems that rely on braking, often a sub-optimal solution when traction is at a premium in the first instance. Also included are sports seats and a T45 steel rollover hoop/A-frame allowing the aftermarket fitment of four-point harnesses. Fuel and ignition kill switches are a must for any serious track user and are fitted as standard to the Cup 240. A fully plumbed-in fire extinguisher is a reassuring touch should you manage to get things very wrong and an FIA approved six-point roll cage is a no cost option.
This, as you can now appreciate, is hardcore. The Exige Cup 240 runs on ultra lightweight forged split seven spoke alloy rims, track suspension with Eibach springs and Bilstein one-way adjustable dampers, an adjustable front anti-roll bar and a double shear track control arm brace which helps when throwing the Exige over race track kerbing. In addition, theres ultra high end Yokohama Advan A048 KTS tyres and the pedal set has been revised for easier heel and toeing too. The engine is something rather special.
Just about the only complaint that could rightly be levelled at the driving characteristics of the standard Exige is that theres something of a binary nature to the power delivery. The 189bhp Toyota VVTL-i engine is civilised at normal revs, feeling tractable and docile but the magic number to keep in mind is 6,200, that being the rpm where the cams change profile and all hell lets loose. The ability to have a fuel-efficient and refined engine when youre just pottering about and a hard-edged powerhouse when youre really on a mission sounds like the best of both worlds, but in practice it can be a little less than ideal. Constantly judging whether your next upshift will drop the revs below 6,200rpm, taking into account hills that defeat the cars modest torque and so on are not considerations keen track drivers should have to make in the cause of having a good time and extracting a fast lap.
More power and torque spread across a wider range would hugely increase the driveability of the Exige - and thats exactly what the Exige Cup 240 serves up. Rather than opt for the non-linear power delivery of a turbocharger, the answer lay in supercharging. Lotus aim was to extract the sort of power delivered by a decent 3.0-litre engine but without the bulk and weight of a big powerplant.
An initial feasibility study was undertaken in Autumn of 2004 tasked with the job of supercharging what was already an engine in a very high state of tune. The results were better than anyone expected. Lotus claims a sprint to 60mph time of 4.2 seconds and a 0-100 figure of 9.
9 seconds, putting the Cup 240 into the top bracket of performance sports cars. A top speed of 155mph means that on faster racing circuits, the Exige no longer runs out of wind on long straights. The net effect of the supercharger, reprogrammed engine management system and the addition of a fifth fuel injector is to plump up power by 22 per cent to 243bhp and peak torque by 23 per cent to 263Nm. Even more impressive than the peak power and torque figures is the way they are developed.
The dip in torque suffered by the normally aspirated Exige just before the magic 6,200rpm figure has been obliterated and the power curve is just one straight line marching up to the 243bhp maximum, reached at an eardrum-threatening 8,000rpm. Although owners of the Exige 240R may represent vocal opposition, the supercharged powerplant was just too good not to share. The Cup 240 spreads the good news albeit at a price. If theres a better off the shelf road and track car for this money, Ive yet to see it.
Facts At A Glance
CAR: Lotus Exige Cup 240
PRICE: £45,995 on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 20
CO2 EMISSIONS: tba g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 155mph / 0-60mph 3.9s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: tba mpg
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 3797/1850/1149mm
