Lotus 340R

Lotus 340R at a glance

The 340R is a special edition of the Lotus Elise. All Lotus models are in the Lotus catalogue.

From concept to production

The idea came from Lotus chief executive Chris Knight, who wanted a track-oriented road car in the spirit of the original Lotus Seven. According to Autozine, it was developed in a brainstorm with Autocar magazine and chief designer Russell Carr. The company showed the 340R as a concept car at the British International Motor Show in 1998. In 2000 it built exactly 340 cars at its Hethel factory in Norfolk, and every one of them was sold before manufacture began.

Technically the 340R is closely related to the Elise of the time. It uses the Elise's extruded aluminium tub with double-wishbone suspension and unassisted steering, and stiffer springs and better dampers taken from the Elise Sport 190. Most cars were painted silver and black, although some were delivered in other factory colours. Autozine reports that about one third of the cars were sold in Britain, the rest in mainland Europe and Japan.

Body without roof or doors

The most striking feature of the 340R is its body. The designers gave it a custom-built shell with no roof and no doors, which makes the car look very different from the Elise on which it is based. The fibreglass bodywork covers only part of the car: the four wheels stand exposed, small winglets sit at the nose, the side panels are made of frosted translucent acrylic, and the engine, exhaust and gearbox are partly visible at the rear. There are no windows and no luggage space.

The car is about 3,610 mm long and has a kerb weight of only 701 kg.

Engine and performance

The engine is a 1.8-litre Rover K-series four-cylinder in its VHPD (Very High Power Derivative) version. In standard form it produces 132 kW (179 PS) at 7,800 rpm and 172 Nm at 6,750 rpm. With optional parts from the factory accessories range, the output rises to 139 kW (190 PS) at 7,500 rpm and 189 Nm at 5,600 rpm. Power goes to the rear wheels through a five-speed Rover PG1 manual gearbox.

The same engine tune was used in the first-generation Exige, which also produced 132 kW (179 PS) at 7,800 rpm. In the 340R, however, it has much less weight to move, which gives a power-to-weight ratio of about 188 kW per tonne.

The name and the weight

The name comes from the concept's target power-to-weight ratio of about 254 kW (340 bhp) per tonne. The road car did not reach it: Jalopnik calculates about 199 kW (267 bhp) per ton for the production car, and Autozine says that safety, emissions and noise rules lowered the figure. Weights differ between sources - Wikipedia gives a kerb weight of 701 kg, Autozine 675 kg - but all agree that the 340R was clearly lighter than an Elise of the same period.

What testers said

In Autocar's handling test of 2000, the 340R lapped faster than every rival except the Caterham R500, including the Lamborghini Diablo GT and the Porsche 996 Turbo, according to Autozine. Its grip came from the Yokohama semi-slick tyres, large brakes and the downforce of its front and rear wings. Road & Track wrote that its power-to-weight ratio "approaches that of the Ferrari 360 Modena".

The 340R and the Series 1 Exige compared

The 340R and the first Exige were built at Hethel at almost the same time, and both use the VHPD version of the K-series engine. They took opposite approaches. The Exige added a fixed hard top and a rear wing, while the 340R removed the roof and doors.

Tyres developed with Yokohama

For the 340R the company worked with Yokohama to develop a special tyre, the A038R. Its successor, the A048, was later used on the Series 2 Elise 111R and the Exige S2 240.

Legacy

The 340R showed how far the company could take the Elise idea of light weight and simplicity. It has no roof or doors and weighs 701 kg. Wikipedia lists the Lotus 2-Eleven as its successor. More about the brand is in our history of Lotus.