Here's the
deal... anyone who know's anything about the history of the
Lotus Esprit, knows that it has always had room for a V8
I'd always planned to
bring true multi-cylinder performance to the Esprit even
before I owned one - but messy conversions upset the
handling and weren't based on a Lotus designed engine, in
the spirit of the original Project M71
Click the image on the right
for my original sketched plans from 2001
Some have gone
the simpler route of using the Rover 3.5 unit - but a cross plane push rod American
engine is just NOT what you need to compete with Italian
exotics! Click here for some examples
The Lotus twin turbo 918 V8, on the left, was
announced in the late 90s the new though
So, why not take this
engine, which was specifically designed for the Esprit
chassis...
....and fit it to a Giugiaro Turbo Esprit!
While doing this, there is the opportunity to carry out some extensive engine tuning, including higher
boost pressures and the fitting of twin chargecoolers, which
will endow the Giugiaro Esprit with 500+ bhp!!
Sounds like a plan to use my Esprit as the basis of the realisation of the goal of the original Lotus Project M71... and put a Giugiaro Esprit at the top of the performance list for the marque once again
There is an
easy 500 bhp in the Lotus 918 V8 engine... 3.5 litres
normally aspirated would give you 350 bhp with a
workman-like 100 bhp per litre output
With twin turbos much greater outputs are
easily available and with high boost and intercooling
(chargecooling) probably double the Renault gearbox limit
would be achievable (sounds nice for track days!)
More under Engine button in the Mechanics Section
The problem here (and for current production Esprit V8's) is the
gearbox/transaxle - the Citroen unit in the Giugiaro Turbo
Esprit was replaced with a Renault unit in 1988 and this was
improved to
handle more torque and power by the time the Esprit V8
arrived
...but
the V8 Esprit was always limited to 350 bhp by Lotus, as the
Renault gearbox simply cannot accept much more power/torque
than this, without destroying itself - more under Gearbox button in the Mechanics Section
The body shell on the left is
an early Peter Stevens design, which should have virtually the
same dimensions for the alignment to the chassis as a Giugiaro
shell
As the Progress Section shows, a V8 chassis was aquired quite early in the project and its measurements were compared to that of the Giugiaro Turbo Esprit and found to be approximately the same - so the transplant should be possible
The
final test of this, of course, will be when I actually
attempt it...
Click
here for more on the Giugiaro
Turbo Esprit design
and specifications
Click here for production of the Giugiaro Turbo Esprit at the
Lotus factory