Lotus has revealed a new GT4 version of its recently unveiled Emira sports car that it hopes will be taking on the category next season — and beyond.
The Emira only made its global debut two months back, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It’s part of the new “Vision80” product strategy from Lotus which has seen it retire some of its loved but elderly models like the Elise/Exige to modernize the brand leading into its 80th anniversary in 2028.
Among the various arms of that strategy is a return to global motorsport after a little pause, and Lotus has teamed up with renowned motorsports specialist RML Group to create the Emira GT4.
In fact the Emira is a pretty solid base for a GT4-class racer anyway. The standard car produces around 400hp when equipped with the supercharged Toyota 3.5-liter V6, and that’s what will power the GT4 car.
That mates to a six-speed sequential transmission from Xtrac, which drives the rear wheels through a limited-slip differential. The car also gains specialist motorsport equipment like Ohlins coilovers, an Alcon braking system, and smaller, 18-inch wheels with Pirelli GT4 tires.
Lotus’s use of composites and that famous bonded aluminum chassis pioneered by the Elise means that the regular Emira isn’t exactly heavy, but the GT4 strips some 150lb (70kg) from that. Of course the car’s fighting weight depends on balance of performance, but it comes in at a dry weight of just over 2,775lb (1260kg).
The car is scheduled for an official launch later this year at the company’s home at Hethel, near Norwich, UK, with Lotus planning to build a small number of machines for homologation ahead of a race debut in the 2022 season.
After its maiden year, Lotus will then increase production to supply customers with Emira GT4s, all hand built, for the 2023 calendar.
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I’m not a big race car fan, but that Emira is so gorgeous. I love pretty much everything Lotus makes.
Hopefully it’ll be added to acc.
I’ve always preferred GT4 cars over GT3.