No Reserve - 2012 Evora Ips Executive Demo, Carbon Grey/cognac on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Top Gear caught filming Best of British near Buckingham Palace

YouTuber and car-fan extraordinaire Shmee probably had very little trouble tracking down the Top Gear film crew recently, as the group was putting together an episode that could accurately be described as "excessive." With its flag-waving (literally) Best of British theme, the TG guys gathered a jaw-dropping array of British cars, and parked them all right in front of Buckingham Palace to make extra sure that the point was driven home.
Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were outfitted with a trio of Jaguar F-Types festooned with gigantic Union Jacks, with which to survey the landscape of British motoring glory. In the video below, you'll see that this includes any number of Mini, Aston Martin, Lotus, McLaren, Land Rover, Bentley and Rolls-Royce models (just to name a few), as well as a healthy dose of weird stuff that most people would never guess at being built in the UK. The lawnmowers and military vehicles are especially cool.

Lotus hits the track with new Elise S Cup R

If you want to take a Lotus to the track but the Exige V6 Cup is a bit too much to handle, the boys from Hethel have a new offering that may be of interest.
The new Elise S Cup R features all the track-tuned bells and whistles of its six-cylinder brethren, including a competition-spec aero kit, adjustable suspension, Yokohama racing slicks on 17-inch forged alloys, tow hooks, remapped ECU, cross-drilled and ventilated disc brakes and an interior with a HANS-compatible bucket seat, six-point racing harness and quick-release steering wheel. But instead of a heavier and more powerful V6, the Elise S Cup R "adds lightness" with the same 1.8-liter supercharged inline-four with 217 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque as the road-going Elise S. Yet with all that track-tuned gear, it's a good four seconds per three-mile lap faster than the showroom stock version in the automaker's testing.
Interested parties can pick one up in the UK for £39,125 (before taxes, equivalent to about $63k) and either lap it to their hearts' content at private track days or enter it in one of the dozen Lotus Cup series operating around the world. Lotus only released this one photo (click above to enlarge), but you can check out the full specs in the press release below.

Lotus Exige S gets automatic transmission option

A vehicle as light and agile as the Lotus Exige is all about driver involvement, but those enticed by the nimble sports car's handling and performance who aren't keen on working a stick shift now have another option at their disposal.
Lotus has just announced the availability of an automatic transmission on both the Exige S and Exige S Roadster. For an extra couple thousand euros or pounds sterling, customers will now be able to order a six-speed automatic transmission. The two-pedal setup includes paddle shifters and Sport or Race modes that optimize shifting for "a more spirited drive."
Equipped with the slushbox, the Exige S Automatic is just as quick around Lotus' famous factory test track in Hethel, and even pips the manual version's 0-62 time by 0.1 second, now down to 3.9. Unfortunately, since the Exige isn't available Stateside anymore, however, American buyers can't get their hands on either version.