Just when you thought the sports cars coming from Lotus couldn't any lighter, tauter, and faster, they seemingly whip out another little track monster for hardcore enthusiasts. This time around, they sought to revise the outgoing 2008 Exige Cup Car through the substantial use carbon fiber and other materials to help give the car an edge over its bigger, more powerful competitors. Unlike some of Lotus' other track-focused rides, the new model, called the 2009 Exige Cup 260, is homologated specifically for both road and circuit duty in Europe and Asia.
As mentioned before, the extensive use of carbon fiber was employed by engineers on the Exige-based racer. To do this, engineers had to painstakingly take apart last year's Cup Car in order to determine which parts needed some pound shedding. If that wasn't hard enough, added to the mix was the team's goal of keeping the car's cost at a reasonable price for consumers. What they ultimately came up with is a full-blown track and street car weighing in at a slim 890 kg (1558 lbs) -- some 38 kg (83.6 lbs) lighter than the outgoing model -- and costing 45,995 pounds (around $78,000).
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