To help celebrate the brand’s return to the pinnacle of motorsports, iconic British sports car maker Lotus has just announced the release of the Exige S Type 72. As the name suggests, it’s inspired by the Type 72 F1 car, which was driven by drivers like Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx, who took it to 20 victories between 1970 and 75, with two Driver’s World Championships (in ‘70 and ‘72) and three Constructors’ Championships (in 1970, ‘72 and ‘73).

The Exige S Type 72 isn’t anything particularly different, but its rarity (along with its badass paint scheme and wheels) will make it a collectors item. The base car is an Exige S with a supercharged 1.8-liter four-cylinder making 220-hp, helping the little exotic to hit 60 mph in 4.5 seconds.

The black painted Exige gets custom highlights like special light weight black and gold wheels (yum, yum), special ProBax sports seats with “Type 72″ embroidered logos and a special badge commemorating one of the original Type 72’s Formula One victories. And with 20 victories, just 20 examples of this limited edition model will be built.

“The Lotus Exige S Type 72 is an evocative sportscar, combining cutting edge handling and performance with the iconic Type 72 color scheme, one of the most famous racing liveries of all time,” says Luke Bennett, Operations Director for Lotus Cars Limited. “The Exige provides an intense driving experience either on road or track and this limited edition is a worthy car to celebrate such a legendary racing car.”

The Exige S Type 72 will get a Sport Pack as standard, which includes items like traction control, twin oil coolers and an adjustable front sway bar.

Pricing for this collectors item starts at £35,995 (or 40,332 Euro), with 20 initial cars being built for Europe. Lotus has confirmed a limited run for Japan, but there is no word on if this model will make its way to North America.

GALLERY: Lotus Exige S Type 72

Official release after the jump:

Lotus displayed its Exige Cup 260 race car at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The race-ready version of the Exige is powered by the same 257-hp supercharged 1.8-liter 4-cylinder as the street car, while weighing just 1,958 lbs.

Carbon fiber components include the roof, seats, dash-top, tailgate, center tunnel, front access panels, front splitter, side intake ducts and rear spoiler. Additional light weight components include a lighter motorsports battery, ultra-light wheels, a revised rear engine subframe, alloy u-bend pipes for the supercharger and a lightweight flywheel.

The new Lotus Sport forged wheels are the lightest original equipment wheels in the world, weighing just 5.65 kg (12 lbs) in the front and 7.75 kg (17.1 lbs) in the rear.

GALLERY: Lotus Exige Cup 260

As expected, Lotus has announced the release of a cup car version of the new 2010 Exige 260. Powered by the same 257-hp supercharged 1.8-liter 4-cylinder as the street car, the race-ready Cup version weighs just 1,958 lbs, making for what will no-doubt be an outrageously good track machine. Lotus says the Exige Cup 260 can hit 60 mph in four seconds flat.

The standard Exige 260 model already weights 84 lbs less than last year’s model, and the Cup car version sheds an additional 26 lbs thanks to the use of plenty of light-weight material. Carbon fiber components include the roof, seats, dash-top, tailgate, center tunnel, front access panels, front splitter, side intake ducts and rear spoiler. Additional light weight components include a lighter motorsports battery, ultra-light wheels, a revised rear engine subframe, alloy u-bend pipes for the supercharger and a lightweight flywheel.

The new Lotus Sport forged wheels are the lightest original equipment wheels in the world, weighing just 5.65 kg (12 lbs) in the front and 7.75 kg (17.1 lbs) in the rear.

Additional improvements over the past cup car include a Ohlins two-way adjustable shocks and a chassis that is now 30 percent stiffer thanks to a new diffuser and structural “shear panel” that links the rear subframe to the main chassis. The rear spoiler also grows for improved downforce, measuring 181mm (7.1-inches) wider, 46mm (1.8-inches) higher and it sits 61mm (2.4-inches) further back.

Roger Becker, Director of Vehicle Engineering for Lotus said, “The Lotus Exige Cup 260 is the epitome of the Lotus brand philosophy of performance through lightweight. Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus, once said “Adding power makes you faster on the straights; subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere” and the Exige Cup 260 totally proves this, being one of the most exhilarating, focused and pure sportscars on the road today.”

So far Lotus has only set European pricing, with the Exige Cup 260 priced at £45,000 in the U.K. We do expect it will make its way to North America, although PR boss Kevin Smith at Lotus Cars USA says there are no official plans yet. Still, we’re certain a few of the competitors in the Lotus Challenge Series would be eager to get their hands on this new model.

GALLERY: 2010 Lotus Exige Cup 260

Official release after the jump:

While Lotus’s philosophy of making its cars as light weight as possible has obvious benefits on the race track, owners of non-supercharged Elise and Exige models can attest to the fact that the tiny Toyota-sourced engines don’t always deliver the sort of thrust one might hope for.

To help remedy this situation Lotus has just announced a new factory engineered, warrantied and 50 state legal supercharger kit. Using the same supercharger and intake manifold as found on the Elise SC, this kit also includes high flow fuel injectors and a reprogrammed ECU which can be bought and installed at any authorized Lotus dealer in the U.S. and Canada.

Compatible with any  Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine the Lotus supercharger kit boost engine output from 189hp to 218hp and torque from 133 ft-lbs to 155 ft-lbs. Torque also comes on earlier at just 5000 rpm (as opposed to 6800 rpm in the naturally aspirated mode) to deliver a stronger powerband.

“Lotus Elise and Exige owners are genuine driving enthusiasts and that’s what has attracted them to Lotus cars in the first place,” said Lotus Cars USA, Director of Operations Arnie Johnson. “They will fully appreciate the dramatically enhanced driving character these Lotus Supercharger Kits will bring their vehicles and the peace of mind from a fully warranted, factory engineered kit.”

Official release after the jump:

When Lotus first showed the Exige 270E Tri-Fuel at the Geneva Auto Show back in 2008 it was seen more as an engineering project than a concept car. That, however, may change.

Recently the vehicle was put on display at the Shanghai Auto Show in China and interest was so high China’s Lotus distributor is pushing for a production model. Youngman Auto, a joint-venture between Lotus and the Chinese government (that’s how they do things in China), has now made an official request to Lotus in the U.K. to build a consumer version of the sports car.

As the name suggest, the Tri-Fuel Exige can operate on any one of three energy sources: gasoline, bioethanol and methanol. It is, therefore, a three-way FlexFuel vehicle.

And that “green” engineering doesn’t come as the cost of performance either. Quite the opposite actually. The Exige 270E Tri-Fuel (again, as the name suggests), makes 270hp from a supercharged Toyota-sourced 1.8-liter four-cylinder. Lotus estimates the car can hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and tops out at 158 mph.

Lotus corporate has not made any claims about the production request but we’ll be sure to bring you news as it develops.

[Source: LotusEnthusiast]

For 2009 Lotus will once again improve the already perfect Exige by adding more power and by further reducing the sportscar’s already anemic curb weight.

Lotus has managed to squeeze an additional 17hp out of the supercharged 1.8-liter Toyota powerplant for a total of 257 ponies at 8000 rpm. Torque is rated at 174 ft-lbs at 6000 rpm.

More importantly, the Exige will drop another 50 lbs thank to the extensive use of carbon fiber. In total it will weight just 2,020 lbs thanks to a carbon fiber front splitter, rear spoiler, roof, engine cover, side air intake ducts, sill covers and even the top of the dash.

Part of the 50-lb weight savings is also due to the use of several other lighter parts including a lightweight “motorsports” battery, lighter 12-spoke forged alloy wheels, a revised rear engine subframe, a lightweight flywheel, alloy piping for the supercharger and intercooler and a composite panel that replaces the rear window.

Unveiled at the 2008 LA Auto Show, the 2009 Exige 260 will retail for $74,995 – a small price to pay for one of the most amazing driving experiences possible.

Official press release after the jump: