Lotus Sport Exige Cup 255
Brutal performance and with more grip than Bruce Forsythes hairpiece, the Lotus Sport Exige 255 is a more ferocious incarnation of a track day legend. It might be hard work day in, day out, but there is no car with greater capability in this price range. Enough said.
Lotus sometimes appears to have only the most tenuous of grasps on the concept of leaving well enough alone and every car enthusiast can be eternally thankful for it. The Norfolk firms ongoing quest to perfect its stable of fearsome trackday weapons has brought us some of the most exhilarating drivers cars on the planet. Its as if, just when we think that weve seen the ultimate, no-holds-barred, super-focused version of the Elise or its Exige hard-top sibling, the Hethel boffins get itchy feet and indulge in another sustained bout of meddling. The result, invariably, is yet another new benchmark where one never appeared possible, a version with all its dials ratcheted right up to 11.
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The Exige is a devastatingly quick car but, as it transpired, not quick enough for Lotus. The engineers took its Toyota-sourced 189bhp VVT-i engine and added a supercharger to create the 240bhp Sport Exige Cup 240. Now the Exige could embarrass supercars costing two or three times more on the straight as well as round the corners but Lotus couldnt resist making it a little bit quicker. Today, Ferraris, Porsches and Lamborghinis venturing out on track have the Sport Exige Cup 255 to contend with.
"Like its predecessor, this car is designed very much for use on track"
The Sport Exige Cup 255 is a development of the Cup 240 and like its predecessor, its designed very much for use on track. Power comes from the same 1,792cc variable valve timing and lift engine with supercharger that launched the 240 up the road in such a spectacular manner but here its up-rated to 251bhp. The power boost is achieved through a series of measures designed to improve the air-flow into the engine. The Exige trademark roof-top air intake is enlarged to feed the revised intercooler more effectively and a new air box allows it to flow freely into the combustion chamber.
The fuel pump has also been redesigned to improve efficiency and deliver the maximum power output at the screaming peak of the rev range while a level 2 sports exhaust provides a clear exit route. When the car is achieving all this extra velocity down the straights and the braking zones are coming at you like the ground does to a sky diver whos forgotten a key item of equipment, its good to know you have some serious stopping power in reserve. The Cup 255 features four piston front brake callipers with 308mm front discs and 288mm discs on the rear that will arrest your progress in dramatic fashion. The Exige Sport Cup 255s chassis is similarly high end and factors in a high level of adjustability for owners to set the car up according to their preference.
Two-way adjustable dampers from Ohlins and an adjustable front anti roll bar help the car achieve its otherworldly levels of grip and poise through corners. A torque-sensing limited slip differential helps deploy the engines power in the most effective manner and gives the driver more adjustability in high-slip scenarios. In an age when many of the most capable track-day specials look like they were designed by an axeman locked in a shed, the Exige is a thing of some beauty. Its blade-like spoilers and arcing intakes burst with aggression but the essential shape of Lotus from its voluptuous curves to its muscular haunches is well proportioned and nearly elegant.
As frighteningly rapid as it is on the track and despite being perfectly road legal in this country, there are a whole series of issues that make the Exige a less than urbane everyday companion. Theres no boot to speak of, visibility out the back is similarly non-existent and any small objects that are in your pockets when you sit down are consigned to rattle around the inaccessible reaches of the cabin floor for eternity. The major objection though, is the entry and exit procedure which is made significantly more difficult than in the Elise by the presence of that fixed roof. Once in, the driving position is perfect even for taller individuals but getting to it is like climbing into a pillar box via the slot.
Then youve got to get out again. Seasoned Exige drivers tend to execute the whole procedure with some grace but they tend to be little chaps. Exceptionally lofty Lotus fans usually give up after scraping their back on the roof sill and ripping their trousers on the door catch once too often. Inconvenience is part of Exige ownership and if you can live with it, the payback in fun is monumental.
Over £50,000 for something as small and stripped down as the Exige seems like a lot of money but not when you pitch it in terms of capability. In expert hands, theres very little that can touch an Exige Cup 255 on track and even less if you discount specialist cars so extreme that they require trailering to and from the circuit. Thats what Exige buyers are getting for your money and the knowledge that there are plenty of supercars costing well over £100,000 that would struggle to live with the little Lotus when its got a spurt on. The equipment list is short and sweet, the Exige cabin, a space designed for driving fast to the exclusion of pretty much everything else.
An FIA approved six-point roll cage sits overhead and the sports seats get four-point race harnesses. Other than that, you get race-orientated safety features like a mechanical ignition kill switch and an electronic fire-extinguisher system. There are a number of options designed to tame the Cup 255 slightly for road use or rile it up to full race specification. Despite the risk of being seen as a sell-out, air-conditioning is worth considering.
The high performance supercharged Toyota engines close proximity to the back of your neck can make things a tad uncomfortable, especially on a warm day. The Exige Cup 255 takes the lightweight route to world beating performance that has been at the heart of everything Lotus does since day one. Aside from the obvious advantages in terms of acceleration and nimbleness on the limit, this approach also has less obvious advantages in terms of running costs. Compared to the hulking powerplants found in other models with equivalent performance, the Lotus 1.
8-litre engine is both small and economical. The low mass of the Exige also means it treads lightly on its tyres and its brakes which dont take as much punishment, so costs are reduced further. 251bhp in a car as small and lightweight at the Lotus Exige is an exhilarating prospect for any car enthusiast. The Lotus Sport Exige Cup 255 is the latest in a long line of developments on the basic Exige platform and this time you really do have to wonder if we are looking at the ultimate Exige.
We wondered that with the Cup 240, of course, and mainly decided that we probably were, but Lotus has an unerring ability and desire to go one better. As a £50,000 package for lapping racing circuits as quickly as possible, the Lotus Sport Exige Cup 255 has few peers. There are specialist products that will match or even best it on the track but if you want another vehicle with this kind of capability, in this price range, that looks this good and that you could conceivably use on the road on a daily basis, your search will be a long one.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Lotus Sport Exige Cup 255
PRICE: £50,000 on the road [est]
INSURANCE GROUP: 20 [est]
CO2 EMISSIONS: 208g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 160mph / 0-60mph 3.8s [est]
FUEL CONSUMPTION: tba mpg
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 3797/1850/1149mm
