There are a lot of triggers for pure driving endorphins, and each of us is certainly entitled to his or her preferred sources thereof. When the road or circuit to be tamed is a technical one on limited real estate and there's (ideally) a crowd of small-displacement competitors having at it, the Lotus Exige is very difficult to shake off. The fact that so few modifications are needed to make the midengine Lotus track-worthy also makes it an instant favorite.
Each year, Lotus produces an ultimate street version of the Exige sports car that can go straight on to the track without a worry, so we went to Hethel in the U.K. to have at what is called for our market, the 2009 Lotus Exige S 260 Sport. Whereas the long-lived Elise is the company icon and poster child for adding variety to top-down California cruising, the Exige is the real track terror with a nice, firmly bolted-in roof, which improves every dynamic and every aesthetic.
We spent most of our time — as we normally spend most of our time whenever we show up at the Lotus doorstep on Potash Lane — happily perfecting our cornering strategies on the 2.3-mile test track in back of company HQ. It's almost meditative out there as we get further and further into the Lotus Zone and start hitting most of the drifting sections spot on. With the 2009 Lotus Exige S 260 Sport, nirvana is possible.
Making Light of It
Take the proven riveted and bonded all-aluminum 111S-type chassis for this generation Exige and then add 84 pounds of lightness, as it were, in the assembly of this car versus the 2008 Lotus 260 Exige (sold only outside North America). This gives the taut and low-lying 257-horsepower Exige S 260 Sport (the "S" is for supercharged) a curb weight of just 1,962 pounds and a weight-per-hp ratio of 7.63 pounds per horse. This pretty simply demonstrates why the compact midengine Exige is such a terror in this guise. A Porsche Cayman S hauls 9.45 pounds per pony and the Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works coopers around 12.77 pounds for every cooper.
This Exige is a veritable dart; just point and shoot.
Said "added lightness" consists of several touches that go beyond the lightweight, 155-pound aluminum chassis and naturally light fiberglass body. Carbon-fiber plays its part in the roof panel, supportive seats (which are compatible with a driver's helmet-mounted HANS device) and also accounts for the front splitter, hood vents, side scoops, engine cover, rear wing and also the upper dash panel. A lightweight motorsports battery mounted in the wee trunk shaves off 11 pounds alone. Ultralight one-piece forged-aluminum wheels, a lighter flywheel and a composite panel in the rear bulkhead where there used to be a window all combine to help strip away the pounds.
For North America, the 2009 Lotus Exige 260 Sport actually comes loaded with air-conditioning, radio, iPod connection, the requisite airbags and also the acoustic insulation of the Touring Pack with its carpeting (we're such wimps in the U.S.A., aren't we?). So we're looking at just over a ton of curbage, but that's still feathery.
Thank You, Toyota
As with the entire range of Lotus cars these days, this Exige is powered by a Toyota engine connected to a Toyota-sourced six-speed manual transmission. This 1.8-liter inline-4 with variable valve timing is perfectly mixed into the Lotus cocktail and the performance happy hour lasts a lot longer now than when the old, 1.8-liter Rover engine powered this car.
Thanks mainly to the Lotus T4e software for the ECU and an Eaton M62 Roots-type supercharger, the engine's 257 hp hits max output at a sky-high 8,000 rpm and the engine can be revved to 8,500 rpm for up to 2 seconds. We can't think of many Toyota engines right now that sing that high, but everything sounds just as it should and the throttle response is smooth throughout the rev range.
The big manly roof scoop feeds lots of air directly down into the engine intakes with their direct-as-possible ducts, so throttle response at any revs is immediate, although it doesn't knock you around. Though torque is fairly light at 174 pound-feet and peaks at a lofty 6,000 rpm besides, once again the lightness of the 2009 Lotus Exige itself is the secret ingredient.
Added Toys of the Trade
A while back, we also came to Hethel to tear around in the track-only Lotus 2-Eleven, and the opportunity to play all day with the variable launch control and the variable traction control pretty much altered our existence. The Sport Exige also makes these controls available, and the knob on the steering column lets you dial in the right combination for a perfect race start to match the track and weather conditions.
Ignition on but engine off, we floor the throttle pedal and then use the rheostat on the steering column to choose the revs at which we want to launch. In the wet, Lotus engineers suggest about 4,000 rpm, which would correspond with around 30 percent slip from the differential. In ideal conditions like today, we set it at 7,500 revs with around zero traction control intervention. Engine on and waiting for the green light, the ghosts of long-gone Formula 1 drivers come to sit in the passenger seat. Sidestep the clutch with the gas to the floor and then shift fast after launch. The range of slip allowed is between 7 and 100 percent. And it's amazing.
Another bonus here in the Exige Sport 260 is the added double-sheer brace for the track control arm at each suspension corner, which helps withstand the anticipated bump and grind of racing in a pack as well as the occasional curb-hopping stunt. And the forged-aluminum wheels with 16-inch front and 17-inch rear Yokohama Advan LTS tires held up remarkably well under the pressure of lengthy drifting sessions. The suspension is a bit stiff-legged with its adjustable Bilstein dampers and Eibach springs, though it isn't as raw as Lotus cars of old. We didn't stop until we combusted an entire tank of fuel.
About as Niche as Can Be
Away from the track or a winding two-lane road, any Elise or Exige strikes us as feeling out of its element. That's the beauty of Lotus; this company just doesn't make a poseur's car. What the 2009 Lotus Exige S 260 Sport does best, it does better than any other thrill car made. (And it makes a lot nicer sound than any Tesla, by gum.)
If you're thinking about the total track-ready package, the Lotus Cup Pack with its pre-drilled mounts for a bolt-in roll cage, fire extinguisher system, battery kill switch and A-frame brace behind the seats is not planned for North America, but this can be ordered at an undisclosed surcharge if you're really interested. The U.S.-bound 260 Sport does feature the short-throw shift linkage and the capability of accommodating either four- or six-point seatbelts.
The Lotus Cars North America office near sunny Atlanta informs us that only 50 examples of the 2009 Lotus Exige S 260 Sport will make it to us, starting right now at $74,995. Worth it? That's immaterial because, boy, do those 50 customers have something to look forward to.
The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.
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