Lotus’ Elise Race 250 is one seriously focused track machine

By Stephen Edelstein Published July 28, 2016

Lotus doesn’t plan to bring the enthusiast-favorite Elise back to the U.S. as a street-legal model until 2020, but in the meantime it’s whetting appetites with a track-only version of the nimble sports car.

The Lotus Elise Race 250 aims to live up to its name with a no-frills approach to performance. It’s powered by a 1.8-liter supercharged four-cylinder engine that produces 243 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. That power is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission, and doesn’t exactly have a lot of weight to push around.

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Lotus claims the Elise Race 250 weighs less than 900 kilograms (1,984 pounds) dry. That’s thanks to things like carbon fiber race seat, forged alloy wheels that are lighter than what you’ll find on a typical Elise, and a lithium-ion battery, which alone saves 10 kg (22 lbs), according to Lotus. An optional Carbon Aero Pack cuts weight further by replacing the standard front splitter, rear wing spoiler, rear diffuser, and side-floor extensions with carbon fiber pieces.

Read more: Lotus Evora Sport 410 sheds weight, adds power

The aerodynamic aids generate up to 155 kg (341 lbs) of downforce at 154 mph, says Lotus. The Elise Race 250 also gets uprated brakes and suspension, the latter including and adjustable anti-roll bar and dampers. The result is a car that can lap Lotus’ test track in Hethel, England, in 1 minute, 33.5 seconds. Lotus says that makes the Race 250 the fastest racing version of the Elise ever.

Make no mistake, this car is built for racing, not just playing around on a track. It includes a full roll cage, racing harness, fire extinguisher, battery isolator, and front and rear towing eyes. Lotus even blanked off the headlights with composite panels, since exposed glass headlight covers aren’t allowed in many race series.

The starting prices for the Lotus Elise Race 250 is $76,200, but non racers will have to wait a while to get a new Elise for the street. Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales recently said the Elise will return to the U.S. in 2020, and that the car will stay true to its roots as a lightweight, fun-to-drive roadster. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

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Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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Audi halts vehicle deliveries to the U.S. as it mulls impact of tariffs

2021 Audi Q5

If you’d been thinking of buying an Audi, now might be the time. The German brand, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has announced it would halt shipments to the U.S. in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imported vehicles.
Audi is currently holding cars that arrived after the tariffs took effect, on April 3, in U.S. ports. But it still has around 37,000 vehicles in its U.S. inventory, which should be able to meet demand for about two months, according to Reuters.
Automakers on average hold enough cars to meet U.S. demand for about three months, according to Cox Automotive.
Audi should be particularly affected by the tariffs: The Q5, its best-selling model in the U.S., is produced in Mexico, while other models, such as the A3, A4, and A6 are produced in Germany.
Holding shipments is obviously a temporary measure to buy time for Audi and parent company Volkswagen. If tariffs stay in place, vehicle prices would likely have to go up accordingly, unless some production is shifted to the U.S. Volkswagen already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. That latter plant, however, isn’t expected to be operational until 2027 and is currently dedicated to building electric vehicles for VW’s Scout Motors brand.
Other global automakers have also taken drastic measures in response to Trump’s tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover on April 5 said it is pausing shipments of its its UK-made cars to the United States this month. The British sports-luxury vehicle maker noted that the U.S. market accounts for nearly a quarter of its global sales, led by the likes of Range Rover Sports, Defenders, and Jaguar F-PACE.
And on April 3, Nissan, the biggest Japanese vehicle exporter to the United States, announced it will stop taking new U.S. orders for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs, the QX50 and QX55.

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Waymo faces questions about its use of onboard cameras for AI training, ads targeting

Two people exit a Waymo taxi.

In an iconic scene from the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, on-the-run Agent John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, struggles to walk through a mall as he’s targeted by a multitude of personalized ads from the likes of Lexus, Guinness and American Express, everytime hidden detectors identify his eyes.
It was clearly meant as a warning about a not-so-desirable dystopian future.
Yet, 23 years later that future is at least partlially here in the online world and threatens to spread to other areas of daily life which are increasingly ‘connected’, such as the inside of cars. And the new testing grounds, according to online security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, might very well be automated-driving vehicles, such as Waymo’s robotaxis.
On X, Wong unveiled an unreleased version of Waymo’s privacy policy that suggests the California-based company is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including interior cameras, to train generative AI models and to offer targetted ads.
“Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests,” the Waymo’s unreleased privacy statement reads. “You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless it’s necessary to the functioning of the service.”
Asked for comments about the unreleased app update, Waymo told The Verge that it contained “placeholder text that doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose”.
Waymo’s AI-models “are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads,” spokesperson Julia Ilina said.
Waymo’s robotaxis, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, do contain onboard cameras that monitor riders. But Ilina says these are mainly used to train AI models for safety, finding lost items, check that in-car rules are followed, and to improve the service.
The new feature is still under development and offers riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection, Ilina says.
But as we all get used to ads targeting based on everything that’s somehow connected to the web, it seems a once-distant vision of the future may be just around the corner.

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Waymo’s driverless cars are about to begin an overseas adventure

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Waymo’s autonomous cars are about to appear on streets outside of the U.S. for the first time.

The company on Wednesday announced on social media that its autonomous cars will be driving onto the streets of Tokyo, Japan, “soon,” with some reports suggesting the rollout will begin as early as next week.