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Description
The Lotus Esprit is a sports car built by Lotus Cars from 1976 to 2004 at their Hethel, England factory.
The Esprit was among the first of the (near) straight-lined, hard-edge creased, and sometimes wedge-shaped, polygonal "folded paper" designs of the prolific, and highly successful Italian industrial and automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. The Esprit's backbone chassis was later adapted to carry the body of the DeLorean car, another low-bodied, Giugiaro-drawn, sharp-creased, wedge-shaped sportscar design.
The Esprit was launched…
The Lotus Esprit is a sports car built by Lotus Cars from 1976 to 2004 at their Hethel, England factory.
The Esprit was among the first of the (near) straight-lined, hard-edge creased, and sometimes wedge-shaped, polygonal “folded paper” designs of the prolific, and highly successful Italian industrial and automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. The Esprit’s backbone chassis was later adapted to carry the body of the DeLorean car, another low-bodied, Giugiaro-drawn, sharp-creased, wedge-shaped sportscar design.
The Esprit was launched in October 1975 at the Paris Motor Show and entered production in June 1976, replacing the Europa in the Lotus model lineup. These first cars became known as “Series 1” (or S1) Esprits.
In 1978, the revised Series 2 (or S2) Esprit was introduced. The S2.2 was a stop-gap model introduced in May 1980 whose only major difference from the S2 was, as indicated in its model name, having a 2.2 L engine.
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Essex Turbo Esprit (1980) —- THIS VERSION
In 1980 the Essex Turbo Esprit was launched. This special edition model wore the blue, red and chrome livery of the Essex Overseas Petroleum Corporation, the sponsor of Team Lotus from 1979 to 1981. While Lotus dealer Bell and Colvill had been offering turbo conversions for the S2 Esprit from as early as 1978, the Essex Turbo Esprit was the first factory turbocharged Esprit.
The chassis and rear suspension were redesigned, with an upper link added at the rear to alleviate strain on the half-shafts. The brakes were also improved. Giugiaro designed an aerodynamic body kit for the car, 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 new three-piece 15-inch Compomotive rear wheels. Inside scarlet leather combined with a roof-mounted Panasonic stereo for a dramatic environment. 45 Essex Turbo Esprit cars were built, interspersed and followed by a number of non-Essex-liveried but otherwise identical specification dry sump turbo cars.
Thanks to forced induction and improvements to power output, even with just 4 cylinders, the Esprit became a serious competitor for Porsche and Ferrari starting from an increased top speed to better handling and reliability.
Very easy to drive and push hard, the Esprit set the rules for all Lotus cars that followed and remained a success for almost 30 years.
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),
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The Series 3 (or S3) and Turbo Esprit debuted in April 1981. The two models shared a common chassis, and bodywork was based on a common set of moulds.
The final incarnations of the Giugiaro-styled Esprit were announced in April 1986. Higher compression ratios for the engines was indicated by the ‘HC’ moniker. Power output of the naturally aspirated engine rose to 172 PS (127 kW; 170 hp) and 160 lb⋅ft (217 N⋅m) for the Esprit HC, and to 218 PS (160 kW; 215 hp) and 298 N⋅m (220 lb⋅ft) for the Turbo Esprit HC, with more torque available at lower engine speeds.
Another refresh of the car in 1993 penned by Julian Thomson resulted in the Series 4 (or S4). The S4 was complemented in 1994 by the S4 Sport (S4s). Engine output rose to 305 PS (224 kW; 301 hp) and 393 N⋅m (290 lb⋅ft) of torque.
In 1996, Lotus launched the Esprit V8. The car came equipped with Lotus’ own Type 918 V8 engine. The engine is an all-aluminium 90° DOHC 4 valves per cylinder with a flat-plane crankshaft and two Garrett T25/60 turbochargers but with no Chargecooler.
In 1998 the V8 range was split into SE and GT models. The ultimate incarnation of the Esprit was the 1999 Sport 350. Only 50 were made. The ECU in the Sport 350 was remapped to have the same Lotus type 918 power output of 350 horsepower (per the name).
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1980 Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit (man. 5) (model for Europe ) car specifications
Make: Lotus
Model: Esprit 1975-2004
Submodel: Esprit Giugiaro Serie 1976-1987
EEC segmentation: S (sport cars)
Subsegment: S-C (sport coupes) – executive
Class: grand tourer
Body style: hatchback coupe
Doors: 2
Engine manufacturer: Lotus 910
Engine type: spark-ignition 4-stroke
Fuel type: gasoline (petrol)
Fuel system: 2 carburetors
Charge system: turbocharger
Valves per cylinder: 4
Additional features: Dell Orto 40 DHLAH, Garrett T3 turbo 8.0 psi (0.5 bar) / DOHC belt driven
Cylinders alignment: Line 4 2.2L
Displacement: 2174 cm3 / 132.5 cui
Horsepower net: 156.5 kW / 213 PS / 210 hp (DIN) / 6000 – 6500
Torque net: 271 Nm / 200 ft-lb / 4000 – 4500
Idel: 950-1000 rpm
Ignition cut-out: 7300 rpm
Curb weight (without a driver): 1148 kg / 2531 lbs
Weight distribution f/r (%): 42.5 / 57.5
Fuel Tank: 86 Lt (18.9 galls)
Traction: RWD (rear-wheel drive)
Open differential (no LSD)
Transmission type: manual
Number of gears: 5
Gear ratios (overall):
I 2.923 (12.79)
II 1.941 (8.49)
III 1.321 (5.78)
IV 0.97 (4.24)
V 0.757 (3.31)
R 3.154
Final drive ratio std: 4.375
Standard tires: 195/60 VR 15 (F); 235/60 VR 15
Lateral acceleration: 0.81 g (8 m/s²)
Steering: 3.1 turns from lock to lock
Suspension
Front: Upper Wishbone w/Lower Transverse Link, Coil Springs, Anti-Roll Bar
Rear: Double Transverse Links w/Radius Arms, Coil Springs
Brakes:
Front: 267 mm / 10.5-inch discs
Rear: 246 mm / 9.7-inches discs
Braking 100-0 kmh: 46,31m Estimated —— 44,6 m tsa
Performance – Factory claim
Top speed: 245 km/h / 152 mph —— 244 tsa
0-60 mph (s): 5.55
0-100 km/h (s): 5.8 ——- 5.95 tsa
Drag
0-1/4 mile (s): 14.4 ——- 14.27 tsa
0-1 km (s): 26.1 ——– 26.00 tsa
Estimated
Top speed: (theor. without speed governor) 243 km/h / 151 mph
Acceleration:
0-100 km/h (s): 6
0-160 km/h (s): 14.3
0-60 mph (s): 5.5
0-100 mph (s): 14.5
Drag times:
0- 1/4mile (s): 14.1
speed at 1/4mile: 158 km/h / 98 mph
0- 1km (s): 25.8
Official track times:
Willow Springs 1:43.30 (fastestlaps.com 1981 turbo +-100kg plus?) ——- 1:40.614 Essex AC Tested
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