Lotus Exige

 Lotus Elise.

Italian tuner UK Garage is presenting its latest project, the Lotus Exige-based Extrema. UK Garage works on such names as TVR, Noble and Radical. Plenty of work has gone into the Extrema from when it was an Exige up until its current format.

Beginning with engine, buyers are spoiled for choice as they wade through a list that comprises exclusively of GM powerplants. At the entry point is a 2.6-litre with 360hp (265kW) followed by a 2.8-litre making 450hp (331kW) or a 560hp (412kW) 3.4-litre version. All three use a PowerTech V8 engine weighing 95kg. With this engine total vehicle mass does not exceed 750kg.

Moving to the next menu is GM's 2.8-litre V6 turbo that either produces 300hp (221kW) or 350hp (257kW). With this mill fitted the car goes up to 850kg in weight which is still very light. Up the performance ladder is where things get more interesting. UK Garage offers potential customers a register comprised of Chevrolet and Corvette powerplants that will be fitted into their Extremas. Again starting from the bottom there are two Chevrolet LS3s making either 420hp (309kW) or 500hp (368kW) each. At this level weight goes up a notch to about 970kg.

Those who long for absolute Extrema grunt, the 513hp (377kW) LS7 or the LS9 found in a Corvette ZR1 with 647hp (476kW) can be selected. This time vehicle mass reaches 1,000kg. This particular combination allows the Extrema to reach 100km/h from standstill in 2.8 seconds, 0 - 200km/h in 7 seconds and top off at 320km/h. Gearshifts are taken care of courtesy of either a manual or a sequential transmission system.

The Extrema has an aluminium chassis, and buyers can have either fiberglass or a kevlar-carbon composite body fitted. The body has been lengthened by some 20cm to accommodate these big engines. It has also been widened for the bigger tyres and equipped with an adjustable suspension system.

All this comes at a price of €66,000 including taxes for the baseline model while road-legal conversions can be made at extra cost.

Carbon fiber saves a lot of weight and is increasingly used in performance cars. But making a whole car out of carbon fiber may just end up being a tad too expensive. But someone has given it a go anyway.

Pictured here is a 2002 Type 72 JPS Lotus Elise built (or re-built?) to order for a Chinese customer by TW Auto Limited.

The Hong Kong based TW Auto has completely replaced both the interior and exterior with customized raw carbon fiber panels. The weight saved on the already feather-ous Lotus Elise? 66 to 88 pounds (or about 40 kg).

Additionally, the diet also included a lighter KW suspension, Lotus Racing exhaust, JP Racing wheels, as well as bigger air intake and air filter.

The re-working of the Elise took a whole 6 months for TW to complete for customer Jimmy Wong.

One of Project Kahn's major missions when transforming a normal Lotus Elise into what you see here was to help owners of the car stand out from a possible sea of other Elise owners out there. As a 60th anniversary project for Lotus, Kahn went even sportier with the Elise, installing a full aerodynamic body styling package.

Front spoiler, ventilated front wings, side sills, rear spoiler and larger side intake ducts are some of the exterior alterations done. Interior also received some attention with a full leather compliment fitted. In addition Kahn provided a sports exhaust system to improve engine breathing and then improved handling with a lowered suspension with 28 stage dampeners. Improving the handling of an Elise is quite a tall order, given the car's established high credentials on a track, but Project Kanh is confident they have done it.