Lotus Evora Sport 410
Lotus Evora Sport 410 £82,000
WE SAY: EVORA GETS TO JOIN THE LOTUS LIGHTWEIGHT GREATS – SO LONG AS YOU’RE HARD ENOUGH
I’m sure my English teacher once told me it’s poor form to bosh out a list early on in a piece of written work, but hopefully Mr Lennie will allow me this one. The Evora’s had some mega attention to detail lavished on it.
Beautiful herringbone weave carbon fbre drops 12kg from the rear deck, 2kg of the roof, 2kg of the front access panel, and so on. Stickers replace badges. The rear windows are now made of carbon. Take it from me, you won’t relish reverse-parking a 410 outside Harrods.
The glass partition between engine room and humans is now one pane thick, not two. Saves weight, and halves the insulation from the stupendous-sounding 3.5-litre supercharged V6, now developing 416bhp, up from 400 in the boggo Evora. Unlike those new turbo Caymans, here’s an engine that rewards revving, building smoothly instead of teasing with lag and then catapulting you directly into a speed awareness course.
Though the springs are carried over from the Evora 400, the fact they’re supporting a lighter car gives an efective increase in spring rate, and the result is a very busy ride on the road. A modern Porsche 911 GT3 is subtle in its trackreadiness. The ultra-frm Lotus is not. No aircon or radio either – re-speccing that ballast costs £2,000.
There are bigger brakes that still wilt on track, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres that don’t, a 5mm ride drop and more negative camber and toe-in. The lighter, re-engineered gearbox now has a delicious shift. And the praise list is only getting started.
I’ve never driven any mid-engined car which gives such clear and honest messages about how much grip you’ve got to play with, and when it’ll mildly push on at the front (easily reined back in by trimming the gas) or arch wide at the rear on corner exit. This is one of the great mid-engined sports car chassis. Its balance is spellbinding, the steering spectacularly crisp and informative.
Worth more than £80,000? Not from a cabin fnish or everyday usability standpoint, but as a pure drive, this is a world-beater. So long as you add a cushion to the spec list.