This is the Lotus you probably have never heard of before. Why? Well, to start, there was only 20 road-legal homologation cars produced plus an additional 5 fully prepared SCCA/IMSA race cars. This is the 1991 Lotus X180R finished in white over a charcoal interior. This specific X180R currently has only 499 miles on the odometer from new and is part of @wearecurated’s “time capsule collection” of cars that they just recently acquired, all from the 1980’s and 90’s & all extremely low-mileage and well preserved. The X180R is special for numerous different reasons. To start, the Esprit X180R was the last factory-built race car fitted with a full roll cage that was considered road-legal and sold new in the United States. Unlike the standard Esprit cars, the X180R featured many racing inspired enhancements and upgrades including a fully adjustable racing suspension, blueprinted engine, specialized and deleted parts for significant weight savings, and a variety of other competition upgrades. The issue for Lotus & the X180R when they actually needed to sell and market these cars. In order to assist them in this process, with the success of the race version of the XK180 (internally designated type 105), they decided to name the road cars the ‘World Challenge Edition’ cars after the series Lotus raced in. Only minimal comfort changes such as sport seats, glass windows, heat/AC, radio were added to the road-cars, so really the X180R was truly a racecar for the road.
How many made? Just 20 total units with 5 additional racecars built to compete IMSA’s Bridgestone Supercar Championship. This is believed to be car 04 out of 20.•Engine: a turbocharged 2.2-liter DOHC inline-four paired with a five-speed manual transaxle good for around 285 horsepower.
Debut: With Lotus rushing to homologate 20 road cars to qualify for the IMSA Bridgestone Supercar Championship series, to my knowledge, the road cars did not have a proper public debut.
Top Speed: around 163mph
0-60mph: around 4.1 seconds
Photo credit: @wearecurated
Research: @rarecarsonly