Showing posts with label Lotus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lotus. Show all posts

Hennessey Venom GT (2010) first official pictures

Less is more with the Lotus Elise. Hethel’s smallest sports car is sweetest when its lightweight aluminium chassis has a little naturally aspirated engine providing the power; a 257bhp Exige variant is about as powerful as it ever needs to be.

So here’s a 1200bhp version…

What? Someone has built a 1200bhp in a Lotus Elise?

That’s right. Hennessey Performance – a Texas tuner that’s most famous for extracting big power figures from modern American muscle cars – has just unveiled the Venom GT. And although the chassis is derived from a Lotus Elise, power comes from a 6.2-litre V8 powerplant available with up to 1200bhp.

The Venom GT starts life as an Elise, but it’s stretched and strengthened at the company’s production facility near Silverstone in the UK. Meantime Hennessey’s Texas HQ takes delivery of the 638bhp supercharged 6.2-litre V8 LS9 engine from the Corvette ZR1 and gets to work – Venom GT owners can pick from an ‘entry-level’ 725bhp version, or two twin-turbo variants with either 1000 or 1200bhp. The engines are then flown to the UK to be mated to the Venom GT. Incidentally, all the power is sent to the Michelin rear wheels via a six-speed Ricardo gearbox.

Despite having a big, mid-mounted V8 Hennessey claims the Venom GT will weigh less than 1071kg, thanks in part to carbonfibre bodywork and carbonfibre wheels. Ceramic brakes (15in in diameter) also keep the kilos in check. Other highlights include an active aero system with an adjustable rear wing, and an adjustable suspension system.

‘This is not the first time that Britain and America have joined forces to produce a weapon of mass propulsion’, says company founder and president John Hennessey. ‘Over fifty years ago the American-built P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft was flown into history powered by a British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Today the Hennessey Venom GT promises to set a new standard of power to weight ratio in the rarefied air of today's supercar market.'

Production is limited to just 10 vehicles every year (Hennessey claims to have orders for four cars already) and prices for the 725bhp car should start north of £400k.





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Lotus Elise (2010): a new face for evergreen roadster

Lotus has just whisked the covers off the new, sleeker 2011 model year Elise – with a new fish-eyed face inspired by the Evora and a one-off 2007 'concept toy car' made for model car specialists Hot Wheels.

The 2011 Lotus Elise will be shown at the 2010 Geneva auto show next month. It's a modest facelift with those wedgier lamps, LED day-running lights, more pronounced grille and fresh rear bumper and engine deck, but many of the changes are under the skin.

Lotus Elise 2011: the engineering changes

Norfolk continues its engine partnership with Toyota and has swapped the 1.8-litre four-pot for another Japanese-sourced four cylinder, this time downsized to 1.6 for the entry-level Elise S, sporting 134bhp and 118lb ft.

It's the 1ZR engine with Valvematic breathing apparatus and a lower redline than the previous, manic 1.8. This one revs to 7000rpm for a transient, two-second burst. More importantly, it will clip around 30g/km off the existing Elise S's CO2 figure of 179g/km.

Although less powerful than the old 1.8, the new base Elise is in fact quicker – thanks to one fewer gearchanges required to pass the benchmark 60mph in 6.0sec. The ton passes in 18.3sec and top speed stands at 124mph.

So the new Lotus Elise is the exciting way to save the planet?

You could say that. We've been harping on about lightweight Elises for as long as we could remember – and we know your views on saving weight and the associated benefits to handling, performance, CO2 and economy. Although not official, Lotus is promising a mandated CO2 figure of below 155g/km, and the signs are it could even be 140-something. That's neat for a sports car.

And what about the other, gutsier Elises?

The Elise R continues with the 192bhp 1.8 Toyota unit (196g/km of CO2), while the supercharged SC model develops 217bhp and just sneaks under the double-ton barrier with 199g/km of CO2.

The new 2011 model year models land in April 2010, priced very close to today's model. That means from around £26,550 for the starter S, £29,950 for the R and £32,950 for the SC.





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