The new Circuit Car, the fastest Elise-based Lotus so far, will make its debut at this year’s Shelsley Walsh hillclimb, from August 19-21. The new car will make its racing debut on the final day of the event, look out for the first pictures of the car here at autocar.co.uk next week.
Weighing in at just 600kg, the Circuit Car makes the most of its super-light Elise chassisand promises massive performance. Powered comes from either a 189bhp Toyota four, as in the Elise 111R, or by the Exige 240R’s 243bhp supercharged unit. It is claimed that the supercharged unit can propel the circuit car from 0-100mph in just 9.0sec.
Designed specifically as a track day car, production runs of the single seat circuit car are likely to only stretch to 100 per year, with a price of around £25,000. The new car, likely to be eventually given an 'E'-name like Lotus’s other road models, should also be able to be registered for road use.
The Shelsley Walsh event, celebrating its centenary, will also feature the return of an Auto Union Grand Prix racing car to mark the occasion. Auto Union dominated hillclimb events between 1934-39, and an original 1939 V12 ‘D’ Type will run at this year’s Shelsley climb.
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