In the world of motorsport, we have seen some pretty incredible creations made for the sake of shaving precious seconds off of a lap time, and this 1,000-horsepower, K-swapped Lotus Exige created by Scura Motorsport deserves to be up there with the best of them. A project over a decade in the making, the vehicle owned by Matt Plowman is being entered into the 2023 Plazmaman Pro-Am Class at the Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge (WTAC) in Sydney, Australia.
Lotuses are easy targets for those wanting to build a race car with great performance right out of the gate due to their lightness and superb handling. In this case, Scura Motorsport wanted to ditch the powertrain in favor of something much more exciting. In place of the original motor is a Honda K20 which has been stroked to 2.2 liters and fitted with a Garrett G35 turbo producing about 1,000 hp while only weighing 2,200 lbs This thing means business and is much more than just a body kit, no matter how cool it is.
The vehicle is dark and brooding by design, with the Scura Motorsport name coming from the Italian word scuro, which means 'to wear dark colors.' Basically, everything is made out of carbon fiber, but that didn't stop the team from adding a black translucent layer to the clear coat, which gives it its dark, menacing appearance. We wouldn't want to see this thing in our rearview mirror, that's for sure (we know, time attack racers aren't going wheel to wheel with each other).
The vehicle's insane aero comes courtesy of AMB Aero Design and is just too crazy not to discuss. The WTAC team spoke with Andrew Brilliant, the aerodynamicist behind the creation, during one of the vehicle's private track days and were given a personal tour of the beast.
Even though he designed the vehicle, he had actually never seen it in person until that day saying, "It's kind of surreal, to have seen this car on screen in CAD drawings to seeing it in the flesh so many years later. This car is a favorite of mine, I truly think this chassis is a cheat code for time attack!"
From the front Infinity splitter with a specially mounted radiator and heat exchanger to the one-of-a-kind rear diffuser and gargantuan rear wing, this K-swapped Lotus is going to be a force to be reckoned with come this September 1-2.
With this project coming to fruition, we can't help but wonder if the team may want to start looking toward new horizons as well. The Lotus Emira may have just gone on sale, but when the first wrecked ones go to auction they'll be picked up for a steal.