VIDEO: Lotus 3-Eleven tames the Nurburgring, passes slower traffic in never seen before footage

Lotus has released never seen footage of its fastest and most powerful production car taking on the one and only Nurburgring Nordschleife. The machine in question is of course the Lotus 3-Eleven, piloted by Nordschleife expert and professional racer Marc Basseng during testing and development.

The two 60-second videos aren’t of the 3-Eleven doing the whole lap of Green Hell, but it provides a car’s eye view of the facinating track. Even from videos, you can see the Lotus’ amazing straight-line speed, and its speed and composure in the corners. You can also see how Basseng had to deal with other cars during the track’s evening public sessions – no room for error there.

With a lightweight carbon composite bodywork, the 3-Eleven has a dry weight of just 890 kg and maximum power of 460 hp (Race version with sequential gearbox). This translates to a mad power-to-weight ratio of 517 hp per tonne. That’s good enough for 0 to 96 km/h (60 mph) in 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 290 km/h. The six-speed manual 925 kg Road version gets 410 hp and is good for 3.3 seconds and 280 km/h.

This car is fast, but it will stick like a leech too. At 240 km/h the Road version produces 150 kg of downforce, while Race version with its twin front canards and adjustable rear wing produces 215 kg. Since F1 cars are out of most leagues…

“However, you don’t need to be a professional racing driver in order to tap its potential, and it will embarrass so-called hypercars with six-figure price tags. It remains the perfect template for how we will approach the design of all Lotus sports cars in the future,” said Jean-Marc Gales, CEO of Group Lotus.

It will surely be a driving experience of a lifetime to have a go in one.

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