Built with 70-plus years of engineering innovation on road and track, the iconic company unveils its latest, British-built motorsport entry which used the lessons learnt from the previous championship/race winning generation Evora GT car.
Using the same anodised, lightweight aluminium, extruded, epoxy bonded and rivetted high-stiffness chassis architecture as the road car, the Evora GT4 Concept incorporates the latest motorsport safety systems and technology.
Appointed factory drivers, Mr. Cui Yue and Mr. Gaoxiang Fan bring new Chinese racing pedigree to Lotus motorsport.
Both are graduates of the Geely University and have gone through their motorsport apprenticeships with the company’s sponsorship.
The factory drivers will demonstrate the car’s potential through the newly established Lotus Driving Academy in China, with events to be held for the team and members of the public as high-octane driving days, driver training sessions and hot lap experiences, starting later this year.
The Evora GT4 Concept racer has a 3.5-litre V6, 24-valve, water-cooled, all aluminium, charge-cooled engine with Harrop supercharger mated to a sequential 6-speed motorsport transmission, and coupled to Numatics paddle shift system and Torsen type limited slip differential.
Power output is 450hp at 7,000rpm and there's also 510Nm of torque from 4,000rpm.
This Lotus racer will weigh 1200 kg (subject to ballast), while reaching a top speed of 273kph.
It employs the same front clam layout as the Evora GT430 road car, but with a different configuration to allow for the cooling requirements of a race car. This includes removable canards and in-mouth brake ducts, as well as louvers positioned on top of each front wheel arch to reduce pressure above the wheel.
The car’s rear also uses the same set up as the road car, with sculpted ducts behind each wheel to vent airflow as quickly as possible from the wheel arches, but adds a composite, four-vein diffuser and an adjustable, carbon-fibre, flat-plan motorsport wing.
For driver protection, there are an eight-point T45 roll cage, a six-point FIA HANS approved harnesses and HANS compliant seat, FIA compliant electrical kill switch and fire extinguisher.
The car’s instrumentation has also been uprated to including a six-inch TFT colour screen, incorporating data logging and critical issue text alert.
The racer will continue to be developed by Lotus Cars in the UK. Responsible for the development of the company’s competition cars, renowned Lotus test driver and the company’s director of attributes, Gavan Kershaw and his team will spend hundreds of hours on the famous Hethel test track, which has shaped countless racers over six decades.
Further details on the Evora GT4 Concept and Lotus motorsport in China will be confirmed later this year.
