The Lotus Emira is going racing - Car News

Good news everyone: Lotus is taking the superb-looking Emira racing. The Emira GT4 is being developed with help from RML Group – yup, the company behind the Nissan Juke R currently developing its own reimagined Ferrari 250 GT SWB – and will be ready to compete in 2022.

Power comes from the same 3.5-litre Toyota V6 you can get in the road car. It’ll rev to 7,200rpm and depending on BoP regs, should make around 400bhp. The six-speed sequential transmission is from xTrac, the suspension is by Bilstein, the brakes by Alcon and the tyres by Pirelli. Naturally everything is built to FIA specs.

Lotus says the GT4 “marks the start of an exciting new era in performance GT racing” for the company, and that its “return to world motorsport is a key pillar of the company’s transformation”. Earlier this year Lotus Engineering announced a partnership with Jenson Button’s Extreme E team.

The Emira GT4 effectively takes over from the Evora GT4, which has won many races the world over. The official launch of the new car takes place later this year, and Lotus says it hopes to have the first cars ready for the 2022 season. Production will be ramped up for 2023 in line with demand.