The Lotus Exige will forever be considered as one of the finest sports cars ever and a racing team in Europe has just built what could be the most insane example we’ve ever seen.
This particular Exige is a 2012 model that originally left the factory with a 3.5-liter Toyota-sourced V6 supplemented by a supercharger producing 345 hp. That’s a lot of power for a car as small and as light as the Exige but for Team Santilli, it wasn’t quite enough.
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As such, they fitted an enlarged Harrop supercharger and made a handful of modifications that allow the car to pump out more than 500 hp. This engine has also been coupled to a sequential transmission that’s much quicker at shifting through the gears than the car’s original manual transmission.
The aerodynamics have also been thoroughly upgraded. The modified Exige includes an extended front splitter, air louvers on the front wheel arches, extended rocker panels, a small roof scoop, flared wheel arches, a towering rear wing, and a bespoke rear diffuser.
This clip shows the car being put through its paces at a recent event at Italy’s Imola circuit. The driver is able to take some of the circuit’s most famous corners at high speeds with minimal signs of traction loss. It also sounds the part and onboard footage shows that the interior has been stripped-out and extensively modified.