Weekend warriors who opened their wallets to buy a Lotus Emira GT4 racecar are finally about to take delivery, almost two years after Lotus revealed the track-only version of the Porsche Cayman rival.
But those buyers will get even more than they’d bargained for because Lotus has significantly improved the specification of the GT4, giving the entry level racer more power and an enhanced aero package.
Lotus quoted 400 hp (298 kW / 405 PS) for the Toyota-sourced V6 engine at last year’s VIP event at the Hethel factory, but it now gives the output as 455 hp (461 PS). The 3.5-liter motor features a Harrop TVS 1900 supercharger and Motec engine management system and now routes its power to the rear wheels through a new Hewland six-speed paddle-shift sequential racing gearbox instead of the Xtrac unit mentioned at launch.
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Lotus and its motorsport partner, RML Group, who is building the cars on Lotus’s behalf at a dedicated production site in Wellingborough, have also been working hard on the Emira’s aerodynamic aids. The duo say they have optimized the interplay of scoops, fins and wings to work on both tight, twisty circuits and fast, flowing tracks, without saying if the previous setup was too focused on one of those environments. The brakes, springs, dampers and cooling system have also received attention.
The Emira GT4 takes over where the old, and highly successful, Evora GT4 left off. Though it has specifically been designed and homologated for global GT4 racing, the Emira GT4 can also be configured to suit other race series by dipping into the options list.
The first customer cars are being shipped to buyers in the UK, Europe, China, Australia and the U.S. this summer, but Lotus says there is no limit on the number of cars RML can churn out. So if you fancy a crack at GT4 racing you can order a turnkey Emira for £179,000 ($224,000) plus taxes and delivery.
