The year is 1996. At the Geneva International Motor Show, Jaguar steals the limelight with the XK8, a spiritual successor of its legendary E-type.
Lotus just can’t compete with its own premiere, the first in-house V8 engine for its Esprit. By now the Esprit is already an old car, and the brand had announced its other big news just a …
PPG fitted out one of these V8s for their fleet of demonstration cars in about 1997 .
I was given a couple of quick laps around MIS even though the cockpit was very small. We touched 150 mph or so down the front straight.
Given the Lotus reputation for poor quality (e.g. Lotus Europa) I never lusted for this Lotus.
They got similar performance from the Exige 360 Cup from 2000, which used a supercharged Toyota DOHC engine (later 400 bhp in the Emira. More fun to drive, I expect, than to own and maintain....
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