Lotus Project Eagle teaser and 200kW Exige
March 11, 2008 by George Skentzos
Lotus has released its first teaser of Project Eagle, a 2+2 Lotus sports car to be fully unveiled at the British Motor Show in July.
Not quite a conventional reveal, our first glimpse of Lotus’ new sports car showcases the front module of the chassis.
The aluminium front module on its own measures 938mm long, 864mm wide and 387mm tall and weighs in at a featherlight 25kg – establishing Lotus’ trademark design principles.
Project Eagle will be using Bilstein dampers and Eibach springs with unique dual path top mounts for optimised vehicle refinement.
The high performance bespoke Lotus AP Racing four-piston callipers work in tandem with ventilated cross drilled 350mm diameter brake discs to ensure phenomenal stopping power.
Entering production at the beginning of 2009, Project Eagle will enter the market as Lotus’ flagship performance car above the Elise, Exige and Europa.
In addition to Project Eagle, Lotus has also unveiled its first ever Exige to pass the 200kW mark.
Developing 201kW at 8,000rpm and 260Nm at 5500rpm, the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-fuel is the most powerful road-going Exige ever.
It will cover zero to 100km/h in just 3.88 seconds on a mixture of gasoline, bio-ethanol and methanol.
The Lotus Exige 270E Tri-fuel runs the same 1.8-litre 2ZZ-GT VVTL-I engine as in the regular Exige S.
Only small changes to engines are required such as sensors to detect alcohol content, modified ECU software, and a fuel system compatible with alcohol fuels, along with the higher flow rate fuel pump and injectors required to produce the 200kW.
Print it: 
What a beautiful piece of design engineering.
Notice the complete absence of welds – just pure design there.
If I had the money I would have it. As one magazine use to say “Slick and small is the way to hall”
The exige now has the power to go with the handling, what a great piece of engineering.
Equal with Aurion now TP!
What ever turns you on Bret..
TP – this isn’t a match for the Aurion is it mate.
Awesome little track weapon.2+2 whats that 2 people and 2 bags
NoName, Won’t be in town when BM comes over, so yeah classic engineering will have to do it! Oh well back to designing some defence thingy ……..nah we don’t do that in Aus do we TP???
Bret there aren’t any welds because Lotus [or is the plural Lotii?] are glued together with a special polymer adhesive similar to what they use in Aviation.
And its very hard to weld carbon-fibre together which most of the Elise or Exige is made up of
No… an N/A Impreza isnt a match for an Aurion, idiots here who seem to spend more time on the net rather then in cars seem to think it can! The problem hoever with Lotus is they are essentially a track car, not many creature comforts, for their price you can buy a lot better. Still a nice car but, but yeah, not practical.
This car isnt made for practicality anyway!
hands up who thinks lotus though of the family and kids when they designed the exige and toyota though of ball tearing handling when they designed the aurion.
Haha… so many toyota haters…
Look up who makes the engine.
What a machine!!..My friend has a regular S and its damn fast…but this is unreal.
Wheelnut, Nah I was talking about the engineering in the aluminium subframe, not the cars. Yep know all about aircraft engineering too: In the industry.
I love this car!! I agree with comments re the lack of practicality etc, however, who would but this car as a family car?..
This car is for driving enthusiasts. Its a car you can take to Oran park, wakefield or Eastern creek (for NSW/Syd people anyway).
Also, if you can afford to ADD all the optional extras (i couldnt :( ), i guess you could get the Lotus to be more practical… But I wouldnt want that… I would buy this car to enjoy the drive, and whenever possible, a quick lap or 2 around a track..
Good on you Lotus..
i think its a question of bang for your buck.
180kw exige – 150K or 245kw – ELFIN MS8 CLUBMAN for 85K
Mitch,
I agree id rather have a 5.7L V8 (Elfin) (its also cheaper) than a 1.8L car (Lotus)(even though its fast, you cant beat the feeling of a V8).
I know Lotus aren’t supposed to be super cars, but I always believed they could of really done better than 141KW and now a 200KW Lotus is coming out, I think they ALL should of had that power.
Lotus run Toyota engines.
The Elise runs either the standard 1.8 donk found in the Corolla or the high output version that was found in the previous model Corolla Sportivo.
Exige either runs the high output 1.8 (Corolla Sportivo) or a supercharged derivative of that.
Also, Bolwell Nagari runs the supercharged 3.5 v6 that is found in the TRD Aurion.
I was trying to say the aurion isnt a sports as the elise isnt a family car.
Quote TP “not practical”
As for the motors they are the same as the old datsun motors near bullet proof.
I like the MR2 as well, Toyota should give the MR2 to Lexus and then we might be able to see what could be done if given the time and money.
Maybe 141KW or 180KW doesn’t sound like much, but put it in a lightweight super handling chassis and you can chase “supercars” on a track and even beat some. The driver is the main difference, not fancy ESP or gearboxes. Give me a Lotus any day over an Elfin.
Lotus – don’t mess around with the “Eagle” and just bring on the new Esprit
GET A LIFE YOU BORED NERDS.