Lotus' exclusive

Deliveries of Lotus’ 3-Eleven series begin in March with production limited to 311 cars worldwide. The race version of the range can reach about 100kph in 2.9 seconds and boasts a top speed of 290kph. With 305kW of power, the road version has a top speed of 280kph and can reach 100kph in 3.3 seconds. “The 3-Eleven is a game-changing car – not only in terms of what has come before it from our heritage of sports cars, but also in terms of anything else comparable brought to market by any other manufacturer,” says Jean-Marc Gales, Group Lotus; chief executive. Marc Basseng, a 3-Eleven driver adds: “It is the perfect car for a fast lap at the Nürburgring and is a sub-seven-minute car in favourable conditions. A time like this puts the 3-Eleven into hypercar territory”. It produces 150kg of downforce at 240kph in the road variant and 215kg in the race version. Along with a bespoke chassis, it features a six-speed manual gearbox and upgraded brake pads in the race variant. Roll bars come as standard on the race version, but are optional in the road car. A new colour TFT instrument cluster can be switched between road and track modes, with drivers able to customise screen pages. There are four bespoke colour schemes for the model, including metallic black with metallic gold stripes and metallic red with metallic gold stripes. Prices start from NZ$183,622 for the road version and NZ$216,080 for the race variant, including on-road costs.