Esprit Evolution

Lotus has launched a new body for its mid-engined Esprit Turbo (215 bhp) and Series 4 Esprit (172 bhp) at Motorfair 87.

Although it has reminders of the previous Giugiaro design which appeared in 1975, there are few interchangeable components with the latest Lotus in-house body.

It features strips of Kevlar reinforcement and a styling differentiation between the Turbo’s “glassed-in” engine bay area and the Ferrari-fashion “flying buttress” appearance of the less popular non-turbo model. Significant drops in wind noise and sharp gains in body strength are reported. Mechanical changes are comparatively few, but Renault now supplies the five-speed transaxle

Performance for the carburettered 2174cc models is claimed to be similar to that of the previous versions (138 mph for the S4, 152 mph for the Turbo) with 0-60 mph reported in less than 5.5 secs for the latter.