Americans: this black’n’gold Lotus Evora Sport 410 is for you

This handsome wedge of Norfolk-honed excellence is the new Lotus Evora Sport 410 GP Edition. As you’ll recall from when we drove the lighter, faster, more hardcore Evora last year, this is one hell of a fine handling, raw-sounding sports car. A machine capable of looking Porsche’s sublime Cayman GT4 square in the eye and not blinking. 

The special edition is painted black and gold – aka the John Player Special colours – but it’s not the classic Lotus F1 livery that makes this Evora interesting. It’s the orange reflectors and squared numberplate recess. Those are requirements for American sale. Oh yes, the lightest, most hardcore Evora is coming to you, America. You’re very welcome. Our pleasure.

After the Evora 400 went down a storm in the USA (it racked up 400 orders before it’d even been officially launched, and propelled Lotus to its first ever operating profit last year), Lotus has green-lighted the more track-focused Sport 410 for a trip across the Atlantic.

The federalised version is 132lb lighter (that’s 60kg for us) than the standard Evora 400, thanks to a liberal use of carbon panels, forged wheels, a lithium-ion battery and even a new windscreen surround, which shaves 3.4kg from the kerbweight. It’s also lower, stiffer, and generally more no-nonsense.

Because of the strict American crash legislation mandating extra airbags and the like, the Evora 410 isn’t quite as light as the European version – our one chops out 70kg from the Evora 400’s mass. On the plus side, the car develops 140kg of downforce at its 190mph Vmax no matter what market you’re buying in. Serious stuff. 0-60 is dealt with in 3.9 seconds along the way.

Only 150 Evora Sport 410s will be built for the worldwide market, so if you’re an American who’s been biding your time awaiting a truly lightweight high-performance Lotus to splash $104,200 on, you’d better be speedy. Meanwhile, this more exclusive GP edition, complete in Senna-spec colours, is a delightfully round $110,000. 

Come on, you’re all bored of Corvettes now, right?