Just shy of £100,000 before options gets you the new Exige Cup 430 with more power, less weight and more downforce than the Elise-based sports coupe has ever had before.
With the best new 430bhp version of the 3.5-litre supercharged V6 from the flagship Evora under the rear deck, the new Cup car pinches Lotus 0-62mph honours with a sparkling time of 3.3 seconds. The body comes with lots of aero so its v-max of 180mph can’t match the 196mph of the spoiler-less Evora 430. But then with 220kg of downforce, the Cup 430 is far more circuit than autobahn; Lotus says it is the quickest road car ever around the Hethel test track, faster even than the 3-Eleven in road trim.
The supercar-slaying new arrival is the epitome of Lotus’s interminable tweaking to eke out every last drop of performance. Apart from 15 per cent more power than the Exige Cup 380 it succeeds, the 430 is 12kg lighter, now a trim 1,059kg dry weight. That makes for an impressive power-weight ratio of just over 400bhp per tonne.
You can see why Lotus calls it “the most extreme Exige ever conceived” and, for Lotus boss Jean-Marc Gales, “the car we have always wanted to build.”