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The first glimpse is a revelation. In the half-dark of a small warehouse, the M250 stands, extending its desirable tail towards the driver. This is it then, the Lotus of the future. Not as spaced-out as the florid 340R, not as fanciful as the Elise. But instead sublime, elegant, and nevertheless full of dynamic strength. This car is a seducer par excellence.
The idea for this breathtaking coupé arose at the Lotus development center. Here dream sports cars are not only sketched: they are put on the road. When the public saw the concept car for the first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the response was so robust that the first customers wanted to pay five-figure deposits before even leaving the stand. And at that time, the dream sports car consisted only of clay, and there wasn’t even an interior yet. Progress has been made since then. While there is still no name for the former concept car (it will begin with “E”) and future production car, the design of the handsome M250 will certainly be 90% adhered to.
It speaks for itself. The eye glides ecstatically over the clear, simple lines, absorbing the elements of typical Lotus styling. The radiator outlet vent in front of the windscreen, the side air ducts, and the restrained rear spoiler is integrated with the engine cover. Everything has its logic, everything its purpose. The car is to be fast, light, and good-looking. The rear wing serves simultaneously as a handle for opening the enormous engine cover. In the huge maw, the gleaming engine is revealed. A 3.0-liter six-cylinder unit was putting out 250 bhp. The name for the design project was derived from the power output.
Since its engine development would have been too costly for Lotus, the intention is to buy in an outside unit and refine it according to Lotus requirements. Who will supply the power unit to Lotus is still unclear. The power pack from the Renault V6 currently has the best prospects, but an Opel unit is also being talked of. For the planned US launch, it is essential that the engine complies with the exhaust standard there. Prototypes of the M250 are currently being put through their initial paces with both engines.
The M250 will enter the contest for customers’ favor between the Esprit (with eight cylinders) and the Elise (with four). Between 3,000 and 4,000 vehicles, a year are to be built. Orders accompanied by deposits can already be placed with selected dealers. From spring 2002, the first coupés will come on to the roads. With the declared objective of making things hot for some Porsche 911s. While with its 300 bhp, the icon of the sports-car building will have distinctly more power than an M250, in the duel, the Porsche will probably see only the tail lights of the Lotus. The dynamic British-made car is intended to pass 100 km/h in under five seconds. In another six seconds, it will reach its maximum speed of 250 km/h. Only then will the 911 have the chance by its higher top speed (plus 30 km/h) to make up lost ground.
Theoretically, the M250 too could be driven in a speed range significantly above 250 km/h. But more speed would require at the development stage too many compromises in chassis and gear ratios. After all, this English sports car is intended to be not a motorway racer but a perfect driver’s car. A car, therefore, in which sporting pilots get the greatest possible driving enjoyment. To this end, it will have, according to Lotus boss Graham Peel, “the best handling characteristics of any sports car we have yet built.” Speed is measured not on the straight but bends.
The equipment for a test drive is largely complete. The basis is a frame of adhesive-bonded aluminum sheets, which is extremely light and, at the same time, enormously rigid. The chassis, which Lotus is buying completely from the Swedish company Hydro-Aluminium, weighs about 75 kg. The frame is spanned by a 4,137-mm long, 1,817-mm wide, and only 1,166-mm high body made of composite material. Together with the wide-opening gullwing doors, the body must weigh just about 40 kg. The eye-catching door concept is to be retained to facilitate getting into and out of the low seat-well. This concept has proved its worth outstandingly in the Elise; with altered dimensions, it is now to be applied to the M250.
Theoretically, the larger body would have allowed the construction of a 2+2-seater coupé. But Andrew Hogg, responsible for the project at Lotus, was against this. According to Hogg, a second bench-seat is only “excess extra weight” in a sports car. So those in front were given more room, a compartment for two golf bags was made in the back and further space left in the engine compartment. So after the V6 an eight-cylinder unit might be put into the M250.
The M250 is to meet comfort and safety expectations with an equipment level lavish by Lotus standards. They are, after all, taking on Porsche & Co. So it is to be given at least two airbags, ABS, air conditioning, electric windows, and central locking. For an additional charge, there will even be a satellite navigation unit. Lotus promises to keep the weight below the magic 1,000 kg limit. For comparison: an Elise 111S with 143 bhp weighs 714, but the Porsche 911 weighs 1,320 kg.
The small sports-car builder’s special attraction is lightweight construction, which distinguishes its cars from mass-produced sports cars. This combination of low weight and extreme rigidity is the 50-year-old marque’s hallmark. Only in this way, according to Lotus, can “a suspension tuning be found which makes perfect flexibility and agility possible.” Anyone who in an age of ever heavier vehicles has ever had an Elise underneath him knows what Lotus means by this. To everyone else, a test drive is recommended.
The driving experience is to be the M250’s characteristic feature along with the eye-catching design. Therefore, all kinds of electronic aids to driving dynamics are consistently renounced: faith is put in the customers’ skill. Should his direct driving sensation tell him that the margins are being crossed, he must react with a practiced hand.
The price for this traveling work of art of aluminum and carbon fiber is in the region of £35,000. This would make the M250 significantly less expensive than a 911. Moreover, you get a car which (to quote from the Lotus press kit) “is so beautiful that you’d like nothing better than to sit all day in the M250 and take pleasure in the lovingly formed details”. That says it all.
Sources: www.classicdriver.com; Lotus Cars Ltd.