Lotus 3-Eleven

Lotus 3-Eleven at a glance

The 3-Eleven shares its engine family with the Lotus Evora and sits alongside the lightweight Lotus Elise in the Lotus line-up of the time. All models are listed in the Lotus catalogue.

History and the name

Lotus unveiled the 3-Eleven at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2015 and began deliveries in 2016. The car was designed under Russell Carr, who also led the design of the Evora. The original run of 311 cars was built from 2015 to 2018. In February 2018 Lotus added the 3-Eleven 430, of which 20 were built in 2018 and 2019.

The name recalls one of Lotus's most successful early racing cars, the Eleven of 1956–1958. Designed by Colin Chapman with a body by aerodynamicist Frank Costin, the Eleven weighed from 412 kg and used Coventry Climax engines such as the 1,100 cc FWA. About 270 were built. An Eleven finished seventh overall at the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans. The model also took several class wins at Le Mans and Sebring, and a 750 cc version won the Index of Performance at Le Mans in 1957. In 1956 Stirling Moss set a class world record of 230 km/h at Monza in a streamlined Eleven.

Road and Race versions

Lotus sold it in two forms with clear differences:

The Road version is registered for public roads; the Race version is a pure track car, 35 kg lighter and with more power and torque. Both have the same open body.

Engine and performance

The engine is the 3.5-litre Toyota 2GR-FE V6 that Lotus also used in the Evora, here fitted with an Edelbrock Roots-type supercharger. In road form it produces 306 kW (416 PS) at 7,000 rpm and 410 Nm at 3,000 rpm. The race engine delivers 343 kW (466 PS) and 525 Nm. The 3-Eleven 430 of 2018 produced 321 kW (436 PS).

With less than 1,000 kg to move, the car is quick. Wikipedia gives 3.3 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h for the Road and 2.9 seconds for the Race. Both reach 290 km/h. The power-to-weight ratio of the Road version is about 331 kW per tonne, and of the Race version about 385 kW per tonne.

Cockpit, practicality and price

The driver sits in an open cockpit with no roof, no windscreen and no doors. Practicality is not the point: the Road version exists so that a track-focused car can also be registered for public roads.

At launch in 2016 Lotus priced the Race version noticeably higher than the Road version. Both prices were published in pounds sterling for the UK market. No official euro price is available in the sources used here.

The 3-Eleven and the Evora

It is closely related to the Evora: Wikipedia lists it as a related model, and both use the same supercharged Toyota V6. In the Evora GT430 of 2017 this engine produced 321 kW (436 PS), the same output as the 3-Eleven 430. The difference is in what surrounds it. The Evora is a 2+2 coupé weighing more than 1,250 kg. The open car strips away the roof, doors and windscreen to stay under a tonne.

Timeline

Legacy

The car picked up the idea of the 1950s Eleven — a light, open car built for speed. Lotus combined it with the most powerful version of Lotus's supercharged V6 of its time. With only 331 cars in total, it remained a rare, specialised model. For the brand's history see our history of the Lotus car company.