Thank you to @AMP’d UP for having me out to the track to put this fun car through its paces. Don’t forget to check out the Lotus Driving experience here:
Hi everybody i’m randy popest and today i’m at atlanta motorsports park a little bit north of my home in atlanta and we’re gonna try out the lotus ebora gt these cars are new to me i’ve never driven one they’re a supercharged three and a half liter v6 from toyota lotus going to toyota for a drivetrain for reliability and they make about 416 horse 317 pound-feet
Of torque we’ve got a manual transmission version there are automatic transmission versions we’ve borrowed these cars from the lotus driving experience a new program here at amp and in fact the lotus suits amp well this is a windy twisty hilly track very much driver focused just like the history of lotus it’s only about three thousand pounds lotus founder colin
Chapman used to talk about adding lightness light agile you’ve got less mass to move around accelerating braking and cornering lightweight can make a car better in performance in every way so let’s get these cars out on the track today and see what they’re like we’re in the lotus evora gt it comes with michelin pilot sport cup 2 tires standard and that’s a
Tire that has a lot of grip the toyota source v6 is very smooth it’s a revi engine it likes to rev it’s got 317 pound-feet of torque at 3 500 rpm the power peak is at 7 000 so that tells you the car likes to be up in the revs oh it soaks up that big bump and turn 11 at the curb beautifully yep i’ve got everything turned off really turns in for six that’s
Where the avora in general is strong and turning ooh nice balance lotus reminds me a little bit of the 911 and it needs to have a little weight put on the front to get into a corner you got to be very sensitive to your weight management drift with a little power oversteer on the exit we’re going down to second for six kick it in power it out such a nice
Smooth high revving engine light and agile it’s what i call pointy the car responds very quickly to the initial steering input and then when you go to power it transitions to an understeer so if you want the car to be stable you got to get the weight on the nose okay now that was with everything turned off now i’ve turned on the race level of stability control
Real curious to see what lotus has decided to do there oh to let me drift even in race mode exhilarating it’s handling better in the race mode by better i mean it’s it’s more controllable i still feel like i’m the one driving and that’s one thing i like about a stability control if it’s not so intrusive that i feel like i’m being overruled as a driver in the
Mode with everything off the lotus is quite tail happy on entry and it can be fun for the right driver but it’s it’s not easy i found myself being careful when i had everything off and when i had the race mode on i have more confidence and the car just plain handled better it reduced the entry oversteer pretty sweet setup very sporting down into one rotate
It in there over rotate it in there down in the carousel little push hook that front end up a little rotation down into six it’s a driver’s car for sure down into 10 fast sweeper 11 soak up that bump up over the hill use that curve the lotus will soak it up out of 13. hugging it through 14 open up through 15. lotuses have such a light willing
As you’ll feel as you enter a corner and this evor with 400 horse it’s transferring a lot of weight back when i go to the power the supercharged v6 puts power on the back really puts power down well i don’t get wheel spin except maybe in turn one on the exit in second gear and what it’s doing is it transfers weight off the front and we develop a little bit of
Understeer which is really feels good and stable in the long squeakers so an interesting combination of personalities for the lotus evora gt you can drive it with everything off and you you’re dealing with a kind of a lotus inspired entry oversteer or driving with race mode on and you get in a situation where you’re driving a car that’s more controllable and
Really a better experience all around just out of the evora gt on track at atlanta motorsports park and this car and this track are a great match it’s in fact it sinks the best in the tight corners and i like that because it really turns power just climbs close ratio gearbox it’s always got a gear for the corner the braking is immediate and has a firm pedal
I love a good firm brake pedal so we really enjoyed the car our lap time is in the low 130s for a street car that’s fast at amp and i think if i had a brand new set of michelin sport cup twos i could take another second or two off of that so it’s been a great experience today and i want to thank the lotus driving experience here at atlanta motorsport park amp
For letting us borrow this evora gt next time maybe we’ll try the automatic i’m curious how that works and if you want to drive them at amp you can sign up automatic or manual transmission you’ll love it i did
Transcribed from video
Farewell to the Lotus Evora GT! By Randy Pobst