And so it was called since the fall of 1978. So the Lotus Esprit Series Two. After all, interpreting evolution models with figures is an old British tradition. Series 2, Mark 3. Those kind of things. And that the original is never referred to as Mk1 or Series One? Well…
Your own Lotus engine
With that purebred sports car, Lotus had said goodbye to installing Ford engine blocks. They only borrowed the crankshaft: it came from Vauxhall. Incidentally, it was gambled that the gearbox was identical to that of the then already out of production Citroen SM. The very square square cylinder had a bore x stroke of 95 x 63 mm and a displacement of 1973 cc. Two cam-driven, overhead camshafts turned in the head, which in turn caused four valves to move per cylinder.
With the back against the engine
The Lotus Esprit is a two-seater mid-engine car. The rear window is directly behind the seats. Or better: there is a rear window right behind the seats. Between that window and the "real rear window is a not insignificant storage space. The engine is underneath. This construction works exemplary when damping the engine noise. On the other hand: it wasn't really quiet in a Lotus like that. That was because the ventilation extraction through the rear window pillars was quite noisy at high speeds.
Given and measured power
Lotus gave up the Esprit S2 for a capacity of 160 hp. In a variety of tests from that time, 112-115 were measured at the rear wheels. And that is pretty good for a car below that 1000 kilo. The four-valve DOHC block of just under two liters turned out to be unexpectedly flexible. But it also appeared that the Lotus could have had much more power. The whole handling screamed out. But still: From 0-100 the Lotus trotted in 7,6 seconds. And the thirty seconds that a Lotus Esprit needed S2 to touch the 200 km / h was the same time that an Ugly Duck needed to reach the eighty.
The Lotus did really pull well from 1500 rpm. The maximum torque of 142 Nm was supplied between the 4000-4500 rpm. The maximum power came out at 7.000 rpm. This made the Lotus a pure sports car that could be ridden by any senior. Starting at 65 km / h in its five stretches? No problem! But of course there was no Lotus rider who let his pride run so little. During sporty but sensible deployment, such a Lotus Esprit ran from 1 to 8.
Just a formula car
With all that playing, the Lotus Esprit had an incredibly good and dynamic handling. He steered like a formula car. The seating position was also there, including a lack of foot space at the pedals. That very flat driving position had its drawbacks in busy city traffic. Just like the lack of clarity of the bodywork. With tight parking, the folded headlights were useful parking aids. Backwards in parking could actually only be done by ear. "Boom = Ho!"
And of course Guigiaro's line-up with this car was the icing on the cake. And the best thing was that the Lotus was very cheap compared to what you could call its competition.
