Lotus celebrates the holidays with an unorthodox vehicle for delivering a Christmas tree to the automaker's headquarters. While a pickup or SUV would have a lot more room, the British company somehow packs the tannenbaum into the tiny cargo area of a Lotus Evora GT410 Sport. The driver isn't careful about transporting this festive conifer, either, including drifting quite a bit around the factory campus.
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The Evora GT410 Sport is definitely the star of this show, but a few classic Lotus models make cameos. A classic, white Esprit has an early appearance, and a Lotus 72 Formula One car shows up later in the clip.
The Evora GT410 Sport features a 28-kilogram diet compared to the already special 410 Sport. Some of the biggest weight loss comes from a titanium exhaust that weighs 10 kg less than the standard part, and Öhlins dampers that are 13 kg lighter than the standard parts. As the model name suggests, the supercharged 3.5-litre V6 pumps out 410 bhp, in addition to 310 pound-feet of torque. The one in this clip has the six-speed manual, but Lotus also offers an optional six-speed automatic that adds an extra 12 kg to the sports car.
The Evora shows off its performance ability here with plenty of drifting, including sliding around a trio of Lotus models, before the special model eventually arrives at the main building. We'd love to know how much wire and super glue that the company needed to keep the tinsel, bulbs, and Lotus emblem tree topper from flying off when the Lotus was driving around the factory campus.
Gallery: Lotus MerryDriftmas
19 December 2018
We wish you Merry Driftmas and a Hethel New Year
While many look back over the year during the festive season, Lotus looks sideways in the #DriftmasEvora.
Delivering a Christmas tree with a 410hp sleigh, the engineering elves at Lotus wanted an ingenious way to transport a Christmas tree using an Evora GT410 Sport.
The first-ever #MerryDriftmas video, created by Lotus, sees a festive delivery with a difference - all filmed on site at its Hethel home in Norfolk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFdix4Bj_5Y&t
While most Christmas trees travel strapped to roof racks or stuffed in car boots, Lotus knew it could do it differently with carbon fibre, a little welding and a lot of burning rubber. Using closed roads, and with thanks to an understanding security guard, the two-minute video encompasses the whole facility, and even includes two of the marque’s most famous cars (and a bike). Extra points for your viewers if they can spot and name them.
Intended as a light-hearted way to mark the festive period, the video celebrates Lotus sports cars and the pure pleasure of driving. This film was created on closed roads using professional drivers, and no attempt should be made to recreate the driving shown.
Lotus wishes its customers and fans around the world a very Merry Driftmas and a Happy New Year.
ENDS
About Lotus
Group Lotus plc is based in Norfolk, UK.
Lotus Cars builds world class, high performance sports cars including the Evora, Elise, Exige and 3-Eleven ranges of sportscars.
Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world's OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers and is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy.