The
Lotus Esprit is a
sports car that was built by
Lotus in the
United Kingdom between 1976 and 2004, as well as a future release in 2013. The silver
Italdesign concept that eventually became the Esprit was unveiled at the
Turin Motor Show in 1972 as a
concept car, and was a development of a stretched
Lotus Europa chassis. It was among the first of designer
Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs. Originally, the name
Kiwi was proposed, but in keeping with the 'E...' naming format of Lotus tradition, the name became Esprit.
S1
The Esprit was launched in October 1975 at the
Paris Auto Show, and went into production in June 1976, replacing the Europa in the Lotus model lineup. These first cars eventually became known as
S1 (or Series 1) Esprits. With a steel
backbone chassis and a
fiberglass body, the Esprit was powered by the
Lotus 907 4 cylinder engine, as previously used in the
Jensen Healey. This engine displaced 2.0 L, produced 160 bhp (119 kW; 162 PS) in European trim (140 bhp (104 kW; 142 PS) in US/Federal trim), and was mounted longitudinally behind the passengers, as in its predecessor. The
transaxle gearbox was a 5 speed
manual unit, previously used in the
Citroën SM and
Maserati Merak; it featured inboard rear brakes, as was racing practice at the time. The Series 1 embodied Lotus’
performance through light weight mantra, weighing less than 1,000 kg (2,205 lb).
The original Esprit was lauded for its handling and is said to have the best steering of any Esprit. However, it was generally regarded as lacking power, especially in markets such as the
United States where the engine was down-rated for emissions purposes. Lotus’ claim of 0-60 mph in 6.8 seconds and a top speed of 138 mph (222 km/h) may be thought of as optimistic - actual road test times indicated 0-60 mph in 8 seconds and a top speed of around 133 mph (214 km/h).
[2] 1977 S1 (modified into "submarine" mode), as seen in the film
The Spy Who Loved Me The S1 Esprit can be distinguished from later Esprits by a shovel-style front air dam,
Fiat X1/9 tail lights, lack of body-side ducting, and Wolfrace alloy wheels. Inside the car, the most obvious indication of an S1 Esprit is a one-piece instrument cluster with green-faced Veglia gauges.
The car gained fame through its appearance in the
James Bond film
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) where it was featured in a long chase sequence, converting into a submarine.
S2
A series of improvements made to the Esprit during its initial run culminated in the
S2 (or Series 2) Esprit, which was introduced in 1978.
[3] The most obvious of these changes are intake and cooling duct "ears" located behind the rear
quarter window, tail lights from the
Rover SD1, and an integrated front
spoiler. S2 Esprits also used 14-inch (360 mm) Speedline alloy wheels designed specifically for Lotus. Other changes included relocating the battery from above the right side fuel tank (under the rear quarter window) to the rear of the car, adding an access door to the engine cover, as well as replacing the instrument cluster made by Veglia with individual gauges made by Smiths and using different style of switches on the
dashboard.
During this era, special edition cars were made to commemorate Lotus's racing victories. Sharing the black and gold colour scheme of Lotus' then F1 sponsor,
John Player & Sons, these cars are commonly known as the
John Player Special (
JPS) Esprits. Lotus' records of production figures are notoriously vague, however best estimates suggest that 149 JPS Esprits were produced.
[4]The
S2.2 was produced as a stop-gap model in 1980, almost identical to the S2 but with an enlarged (2.2 L)
type 912 engine used. This kept horsepower the same, but bumped up torque from 140 lb·ft (190 N·m) to 160 lb·ft (217 N·m). Importantly, the S2.2 also introduced the use of a
galvanised chassis. These cars are extremely rare even among Esprits and only 88 are thought to have been produced.
[1]Turbo and S3 Esprits (1980)
Essex Turbo Esprit
In 1980 the first factory
turbocharged Esprit was launched. Initially, this was another special edition model commemorating F1 ties and reflecting current sponsorship, this time in the blue, red and chrome livery of Essex Petroleum, and is therefore known as the
Essex Esprit. The new turbocharged
dry-sump type 910 engine produced 210 hp (157 kW) and 200 lb·ft (270 N·m) of torque. 0-60 mph could be achieved in 6.1 seconds, with a top speed of 150 mph (240 km/h).
These performance improvements were coupled to a redesign and strengthening of the chassis and rear suspension, where an upper link was added to alleviate strain on the driveshafts, along with brake improvements
[5] The Essex cars introduced a
Giugiaro-designed aerodynamic body kit with a rear lip spoiler, prominent louvered rear hatch, more substantial bumpers, a deeper front airdam, and air ducts in the sills just ahead of the rear wheels, which were 15" Compomotive 3-piece items. Internally, scarlet leather, combined with a roof-mounted
Panasonic stereo, made for a dramatic environment.
45 Essex Esprits were built, followed by a number of non Essex-liveried but otherwise identical specification dry-sump turbo cars. Two Essex-spec Turbo Esprits - one in white and the other in copper - were featured in the James Bond film
For Your Eyes Only (1981), although these were scripted as the same vehicle; the white one was blown up by an anti-burglar explosion system in
Spain, while the red one was a "rebuild" of the original.By the close of 1980, Lotus were effectively building three different models of Esprit, with distinct chassis designs and body moulds - the Domestic (i.e. UK) S2.2, the Export S2.2, and the dry-sump Turbo Esprit. Introduced in April 1981, the
Turbo Esprit and
S3 (Series 3) Esprits marked a necessary consolidation: both new models had a common chassis, inheriting much of the configuration of the Essex cars, whilst body production was based on a single common set of moulds.
The S3 continued to use the 2.2 L type 912 engine of the S2.2, whilst the Turbo Esprit reverted to a less complex wet-sump lubrication system, retaining the power and torque outputs of its dry-sump predecessor. The interior for both cars was revised and featured new trim; combined with changes to the body moulds this resulted in more headroom and an enlarged footwell.
[5] Externally, the Turbo Esprit retained the full aerodynamic body kit of the Essex cars, and featured prominent 'turbo esprit' decals on the nose and sides; the S3 gained the more substantial bumpers, yet retained the simpler sill line and glazed rear hatch of the S2.2 body style. Both models were supplied with 15" BBS alloy wheels.
In April 1986, the final incarnations of the Giugiaro-styled Esprit were announced, with raised engine compression giving rise to their '
HC' moniker. This increased the output of the naturally aspirated engine to 172 hp (128 kW; 174 PS) and 160 lb·ft (220 N·m) for the
Esprit HC, and to 215 hp (160 kW; 218 PS) and 220 lb·ft (300 N·m) for the
Turbo Esprit HC, with the increased torque available at a lower rpm.
[7] For markets with stringent emissions requirements, Lotus introduced the
HCi variant, teaming the higher compression engine with
Bosch KE-Jetronic fuel injection - the first fuel-injected Esprits.
In 1987, a new version of the Esprit was unveiled, incorporating rounder styling cues given by designer
Peter Stevens of
McLaren F1 fame. A new Lotus patented process was introduced to create the new body, called the VARI (Vacuum Assisted Resin Injection) process, which offered more advantages than the previous hand laid process.
Kevlar reinforcement was added to the roof and sides for roll-over protection,
[8] resulting in an increase of the Esprit's torsional rigidity by 22 percent.
[9] Giugiaro is said to have liked the restyling, claiming it was perhaps too close to his original design. The Stevens styled cars retained the mechanical components of the previous High Compression Esprit and Turbo Esprit, but introduced a stronger
Renault transaxle, which necessitated a move to outboard rear brakes. However, the MY 1988 North American Esprit Turbo kept its
Citroën SM type transaxle used in the previous model year. The car's Type 910 engine retained 215 bhp and 220 ft-lbs, but decreased its zero to sixty from 5.6 seconds to a varied time between 5.4
[10] - 5.1
[11] seconds and a top speed of over 150 mph. The exterior style changes were accompanied by a freshening of the interior, allowing a little more space for the occupants. The Stevens styled Esprit is often known by its project code of X180.
In 1989, the Esprit was again improved with the addition of a water to air intercooler, which Lotus has named the Chargecooler,
[12][13] producing the
SE (Special Equipment). This
inline-four engine was known as the Type 910S. Horsepower was pushed up to 264 with 280 available on overboost and zero to sixty miles per hour times reduced to 4.7 seconds with a top speed of over 160 mph (260 km/h).
[14] Several modifications were made to the body kit as well, like side skirts which are parallel to the body, five air ducts in the front air dam, wing mirrors from the Citroën CX and the addition of a rear wing.
Along with the SE, Lotus produced the little seen
Esprit S, a midrange turbocharged car offering fewer appointments and 228 hp (170 kW), as well as the standard turbo still offering 215 hp (160 kW). The N/A and turbo were cancelled after 1990, and the S in 1991.
In 1993, another exterior and interior revamp of the car resulted in the
S4 which was the first model to include power steering. The exterior redesign was done by Julian Thompson,
[18] which included a smaller rear spoiler placed halfway up the rear decklid. Other major changes were to the front and rear bumpers, side skirts and valence panels. New five spoke alloy wheels were also included in the redesign. The S4 retained the same horsepower as the SE at 264 hp.
The S4 was succeeded in 1995 by the
S4s (S4 sport), which upped power to 300 bhp (224 kW; 304 PS) and 290 ft-lbs of torque, improving all-around performance while retaining the comfort of the previous version. Top speed was increased to 168 mph, skidpad increased to 0.91g, an increased slalom of 61.7 mph
[19] and a 0-60 mph time of 4.6 seconds.
[20] Although the engine kept its 2.2 liter capacity, many modifications were added to improve engine performance. Some of the changes were enlarged inlet ports, cylinder head modifications, a re-calibrated ECM and a revised turbocharger.
[21] The most visible external styling changes was the addition of a larger rear wing taken from the
Sport 300.
This car was to be the end of the line for the Esprit but a cancelled project for a front engine car had left Lotus with a compact V8 and no car to put it into.
