- The Lotus Emira is the last new Lotus with a combustion engine, and the supercharged V-6 version will go racing starting in 2022 in the GT4 class.
- The Toyota engine makes the same 400 horsepower as in the street car, but the Emira GT4 has a revised aerodynamic package and a different suspension setup.
- The Emira GT4 will weigh several hundred pounds less than the road-going car, and Lotus says production for the 2022 season will be limited as the company assesses demand.
Lotus is about to undergo some major changes. The British automaker will soon switch to electric propulsion, with the recently-revealed Emira, a successor to the long-running Evora sports car, being the last new Lotus to be powered by a combustion engine. Lotus also recently declared that its upcoming EV lineup will include two SUVs and a four-door car, stark changes for a company that has, for the most part, only sold two-door sports cars. If you’re a Lotus fanatic who is having a panic attack, it at least appears that Lotus will still stick to its racing roots, announcing today that it will take the new Emira to the track with a new GT4 variant.
Lotus
The Emira GT4 race car will be developed in collaboration with RML Group, a British motorsports firm known for helping Nissan build the GT-R–engined Juke R. While the road-going Emira will be offered with a 360-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four from AMG as a base engine, the GT4 race car will only come with the beefier 400-hp 3.5-liter supercharged Toyota V-6 that is carried over from the Evora. The Emira race car will come with a 6-speed sequential transmission from Xtrac and brake discs and calipers from Alcon. It is expected to weigh around 2778 pounds, a few hundred pounds less than the lightest road-legal Emira.
The Emira GT4 is built to meet FIA requirements and features unequal-length control arm suspension at the front and rear with Öhlins coilover dampers. The car also receives an aerodynamic makeover, with a sizable wing sprouting from the rear decklid. There’s also protruding front splitter, and although Lotus did not show photos of the interior, expect a roll-cage, racing seat, a steering wheel, and little else. The Emira GT4 will have a full-fledged launch later this year at Lotus’ Hethel test track. Lotus says it will build a limited number of Emira GT4s for the 2022 season before scaling up production as needed for 2023.
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