Its September already and we have a fabulous 2018 Lotus 380 Sport from Stewart Dench to share with you! In his own words:
"I am told that I had an interest in cars from a very young age and as I was brought up in Sidcup and Chislehurst in Kent I was a frequent visitor to Brands Hatch with my father. Some of my earliest memories are of the Race of the Champions and the Formula 1 Grand Prix which was hosted on alternate years by Brands Hatch and Silverstone from 1964 until 1986. The Grand Prix was normally at the end of the school summer term in late July and invariably I would be missing from the last couple of days of term. I remember the 21 bus ran from Sidcup past Brands Hatch and in those days it was possible to watch practice for free so it was an easy choice as to where to be. I remember seeing the Team Lotus Gold Leaf and John Player Special cars’ success in Formula 1 and other series during the 60’s and 70’s.
I have always been an admirer of Lotus cars, including their road cars and after retiring one of the criteria when we moved home was to find a house with a double garage. I already had a classic car which rarely comes out in winter so a second space was the ideal opportunity to get the Lotus which I have always dreamed of.
With the Lotus Elise being constructed with a bonded extruded aluminium chassis with a fibreglass body shell it was also an ideal choice to use 12 months of the year while the non-galvanised Italian car is locked away for winter and away from the rain and salt. I will caveat that to say there was no plan to drive the Lotus in wet conditions but on a crisp winter morning it is an ideal car to go for a drive with the roof out of course.
After looking at several cars I bought an Elise Series 3 220 Sport from Lotus Silverstone to fill the empty space in other half of the garage. I think once you have owned or driven a Lotus you understand quite why they are so good to drive on the road and track. When they announced the end of production of the Elise, Exige and Evora and the move to the Emira I decided to put down a deposit an Emira given it was to be the last of their ICE cars. It was a frustrating wait for the first Emiras to be delivered and the wait for my car to be built. I did have the opportunity to test drive an Emira and it was only then I realised my mistake! We drove down in the Elise with the roof out and test drove the Emira. The Emira was just too comfortable and I just loved the open top and agility of the Elise so the Emira order was cancelled and yes, the deposit was refunded.
Having owned the Elise for several years I did get the itch to make a change and it was in early 2024 that I found the Exige 380 Sport that I now own at Bell and Colvill, near Guildford.
The Elise Series 3 had a 4 cylinder 1.8L Toyota 2ZR-FE Supercharged engine in a body weighing just over 900kg which means it wasn’t just quick it was also very nimble. In many ways the Exige is very similar to the Elise and the passenger area is almost identical but the change to a 6 cylinder 3.5L Toyota 2GR-FE Supercharged engine producing between 350 and 430 hp provides a lot more shove although the weight ballooned to a mere 1076 kg. Yes, there were both Series 1 and Series 2 Exiges but the Series 3 saw the move from 4 cylinders to 6 cylinders.
How did the Series 3 Exige come about? When Lotus was developing the Evora, their 2 door coupe, they needed a test mule for the Evora’s V6 engine, which required a wider and longer subframe to accommodate the larger engine. Without an Evora chassis at the time, the solution was to bolt a larger subframe to the Elise chassis and this led to the V6 being adopted for the Series 3 Exige until it went out of production in 2021.
Yes, the 2GR-FE engine’s heritage is from a Toyota Camry.
The 380 Sport produces 375 hp and 410 N⋅m of torque which means it’s pretty quick and the extensive use of carbon fibre helps keep the weight down. The car I have is a 70th anniversary edition which essentially means it has additional stitching on the seats and a number of decals. The only changes I have made are to add decals to the end plates of the spoiler and the change of the exhaust from the standard Lotus fit to a 2bular exhaust. Yes, the standard exhaust is too loud for all track days as the exhaust valve opens at 4000 rpm taking the 1 metre decibel reading to around 110dB. The 2bular exhaust means it can get on to 105dB days but it is still too loud for 98dB days. It is strange how Lotus managed to produce such a track focused car that is too loud for all tracks.
The Exige comes standard with a solid roof which should be in place for high speed driving but it can be easily be removed for road use. During the summer my hard top roof comes off and is stored in an old wardrobe in the garage. The Exige can be fitted with conversion kit which means the soft top from a Series 2 or Series 3 Elise can be carried in the boot and fitted in minutes when it rains. Yes, there’s nothing like running the car without the roof during the summer ….. and also during winter of course.
Finally, there is an art to getting in and out of both an Elise and Exige given how low it is and the size of the sills so if you want some light entertainment then watch one of the videos on YouTube which show the art of getting in and out of them."
