Lotus Announces the Exige S Club Racer

2015 Lotus Exige S Club Racer (Credit: © Lotus)

Lotus continues to grow under the careful guidance of Jean-Marc Giles, and the latest new addition to the lineup is the Exige S Club Racer. Staying true to Lotus’ history with the Club Racer title, this special Exige S is all about weight savings and on-track performance.

Lotus began by dropping the weight of the Exige S by 15 kg to 1,161 kg. It achieved this by installing a lightweight battery, a lightweight center console, lighter doors, and lightweight sports seats. These lightweight sport seats are available in either leather or Alcantara.

On the outside, Lotus added in an aero kit that adds 42 kg of downforce at 100 mph. This new kit includes a front splitter, a rear wing, and a flat underbelly. This extra downforce combined with the reduced weight should result in some serious on0track performance credentials for the newest member of the Exige range.

Also standard on the Exige S Club Racer is a new driver selectable drive setting. There are three settings – Drive, Sport and Race – and each one gives the Exige a different feel. Sport and Race allow for additional rear-wheel slippage, plus they adjust the throttle response and transmission’s shifting pattern.

The Exige S Club Racer is available in four colors — Metallic White, Exige Orange, Metallic Yellow and matte black – and the front splitter, rear wing, front access panel, roof panel, wing mirrors and rear transom all come in matte black. The interior is set apart from the rest of the Exige lineup with “Club Racer” decals.

Under the Club Racer’s hood is the same Toyota-sourced 3.5-liter supercharged V-6 as the Exige S, which produces 345 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. This powerplant gets the Exige S to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and up to a top speed of 170 mph, and I expect the Club Racer to have the same performance figures.

This special Lotus runs £56,900 ($84,458), which is just £2,400 ($3,562) more than the base Exige S, and it is available for order now. If you’re looking for some extra goodies, you can get air conditioning for £1,250 ($1,855), a CD player with a USB port and the NVH package for £1,200 ($1,781), the optional matte black paintjob for £2,000 ($2,969), or lightweight two-piece brakes for £1,850 ($2,476).