Lotus Elise Club Racer to Make Australian Debut

The new special edition Lotus Elise Club Racer is to make its Australian debut in February 2010, combining new and exclusive colour schemes, bespoke interior and lightweight components in a high performance, world-class, low-emission sports car.

Based on the popular Elise S with a 100kW 1.8-litre four-cylinder, weighing just 860kgs, the special edition Club Racer takes retro design cues by featuring four of the classic colour schemes used by Lotus in the 1960s (Elite Yellow, Carbon Grey, Sky Blue and Old English White). It combines them with exclusive Club Racer interior and exterior design features to give a stunning sports car that beautifully morphs function and form.

Along with the four bespoke external colours and ‘CR’ badging, the Club Racer gets lightweight six-spoke alloy wheels that are anthracite anodised and shod with bespoke Yokohama AD07 LTS tires, to complement key interior components.

The firm and supportive Elise Club Racer seats are clad with lightweight microfibre comfort pads perfectly positioned to give the right amount of support with the minimal amount of weight, but still keeping the body coloured seat shell partly exposed.

The exterior body colour theme is carried over to the transmission tunnel and, combined with silver and black paint highlights, bisect the cockpit and tie together the whole sporty theme unique to the Club Racer.

Other exclusive interior design features of the Club Racer are the anthracite anodised gearknob and handbrake sleeve, the Club Racer (CR) logo hand embroidered on the seat headrest and the unique anodised aluminium flooring in the driver and passenger footwells. The small 320mm diameter leather rimmed steering wheel also has an on-centre marker, enabling the more spirited driver to quickly and safely identify the straight ahead position of the front wheels.

Luke Bennett, Director of Lotus Cars said: “Special editions of the award winning Elise have always proved popular with our customers around the world, and I expect the Elise Club Racer to be no different. We have taken colour schemes from our past, used on the Elite and Elan in the 1960s, and cleverly brought them up to date with a modern feel to the interior. The whole design package is contemporary with a classic feel, which of course matches the peerless ride and handling of a Lotus and the convertible experience of the Elise perfectly.”

Recommended retail pricing of the Lotus Elise Club Racer is $72,990 plus dealer delivery, statutory government and on-road charges. Customers can select one of the four colour options available at no extra cost.