The Fastest Production Lotus Ever

Lotus has unveiled a low-downforce version of its top-end Evora GT430 sports car. It’s the GT430 Sport and has all the features of the “normal” GT430, minus the big rear wing and front splitter. Because of that, it’s a super light-weight 430-horsepower Evora with no drag-inducing pieces with a 196-mph top speed. That makes it the fastest Lotus road car ever.

The use of carbon fiber and titanium along with no big body pieces gets the weight down 22 pounds. It’s as light as a Subaru BRZ but over double the power. It’s powered by a 3.5-liter supercharged V6 engine that produces 430 horsepower and 325 lb.-ft. of torque, sent to the rear wheels. Not a bad time to be a Lotus fan.

This week on PowerNation Katie welcomes Rodney Beasley, owner of Designer Street Rods and two of his builds. First is a 1937 Ford truck owned by Bill Bowen. In a 4 year build, Rodney’s team did a lot of rust repair, built a custom chassis, dropped in a 392 Ford Stroker making 430 horsepower and gave the pickup a very classy Oak wood bed floor. They sprayed it with a custom PPG metallic almost Green color with a custom leather interior by Paul Atkins.

The second is a 1957 Chevy Bel Air owned by his father Ray. Again the team did some rust repair, dropped in 350 LT-1 making 425 horsepower and gave it a cool paint treatment. It looks like Black, but it’s Valspar’s “Deep Blue Black”. It too has a custom leather interior by Paul Atkins. Lots to take in this weekend including some great hands-on tech from our shops. See you this weekend PowerNation!

Source: Road and Track