The Cup 430 Will Be The Most Hardcore Lotus Exige For At Least A Month
Remember the Lotus Exige Cup 380? Upon release it was the most extreme version of the Exige ever built, and now it’s, err, not.
Just over six months on from the the 380’s reveal, we have the Cup 430. If you’ve kept even a vague note of Hethel’s relentless stream of new-ish products over the last few years, you’ll know the score: it’s a more powerful, even more focused version of an already powerful and rather focused car.
The 3.5-litre, supercharged V6 now matches the specifications of the Toyota-sourced six-banger found in the Evora GT430, which means 424bhp makes itself known at 7000rpm, while peak torque of 325lb ft is felt at 4500rpm. That results in an Audi R8-troubling 3.3sec 0-62mph time, and a 180mph top speed.
It’s been thoroughly tweaked in the aero department (but you already knew that, didn’t you?), sporting a new lightweight front clamshell with a redesigned front splitter and a drag-reducing “air curtain mechanism”, plus a new rear clam with a particularly serious looking wing attached.
All told, dry weight is down by 12kg to 1059kg, while peak downforce is 220kg. Thanks to these two factors plus the extra power, the 430 is fastest production car to ever lap the Hethel test track. Yep, faster even than the road-going version of the 3-Eleven, by an impressive 1.2 second margin.
The best part is, unlike the Cup 380 - which was limited to 60 units - Lotus won’t be putting a cap on 430 production. It’s available to order now for £99,800 plus on-the-road costs.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Why doesnt anyone buy these?
To be honest even though they keep on upgrading their car and every month i still want one
Meanwhile in 2020: New Lotus Exige 550 Cup that weighs 3 kg
Can someone count the number of times Lotus made a special edition
At least 1
This isn’t a ‘special’ edition so to speak, whereas the Cup 380 was, as it was limited.
(I’d feel dogged if I had just put an order down for a 380 Cup :P )
Just widebody it already
A month? I reckon that’s stretching it…
Forgot to make the 420
Two weeks later…
Lotus releases an even faster Exige, the Exige Cup 430 Performance Pack Edition
Did anyone else sense a time of bleh while reading this, like we’ve already read it many times before?
Matt Robinson , i do seriously love the time and effort put into these articles, and given Lotus’s “New-model”, you could have seriously just copy pasted your previous “New” Lotus article and just changed the model number and the BHP count……………
{P.S.: It’s joke, please don’t take this the wrong way, love your articles}