Coys Auction - Fine Motor Cars
Blenheim Palace,
Woodstock,
Oxfordshire OX20 1PX

Saturday 5th July 2008 at 14.30

The Lotus Esprit was first built in 1976 with production ending in 2004. The silver Italdesign concept that eventually became the Esprit was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in 1972, and was a development of a stretched Lotus Europa chassis. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro''s polygonal "folded paper" designs. Originally, the name Kiwi was proposed, but in keeping with the ''E...'' naming format of Lotus tradition, the name became Esprit.

The Esprit V8 used Lotus'' self developed type 918 3.5 litre twin turbo engine, in front of the same Renault transmission as before. Derek Bell developed an uprated gearbox that overcomes the gearbox problems with a much thicker single piece input shaft. Power was up to 355 bhp, with zero to sixty miles per hour in under 5 seconds and a 175 mph top speed.

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