It’s been down-sized, shedding 21kg to 931kg all-up, and gains 26bhp from it’s Toyota-sourced, supercharged 1.8-litre engine. That means the brand new Lotus Elise has a total of 243bhp and 261bhp/tonne, enough for 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds and the title of fastest purely road-going Elise ever. Note that time is to 60mph mind, rather than the 0-62mph we more commonly see these days – so expect that sprint to take 4.3. Still, it’s a quick thing.
Available as a roadster with a hard-top option, there’s also a Carbon Aero Pack which drops a further 10kg, a whopping rear wing and chunky front splitter – Lotus reckons 66kg of downforce at 100mph and 155kg at the 250 Cup’s top speed of 154mph.