The angular Lotus sports car had straight lines and straight-up impressive acceleration.
I’ll always have a soft spot for the Lotus Esprit. I’ve loved its looks ever since I found out it existed when I was a teenager. My affinity for it grew even more once I saw it on screen during James Bond movies (on VHS), my favorite film franchise.
I’ve known the Esprit is supposed to be a fast car. The above MotorWeek video taught me just how fast it was as far back as 1989.
That’s when the Esprit Turbo SE was out. Thanks to Lotus’s charge cooling system, its 2.2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder generated 264 horsepower and as much as 280 horsepower in short bursts. Those are serious numbers for an I4 back during the days of the first Bush administration.
Engineers coupled that healthy output with a revised suspension, upgraded wheels and tires, aero- and breathing-focused bodywork, and a large rear wing. At the Pocono International Raceway, MotorWeek found the SE to have more grip than the regular Esprit Turbo.
The show wasn’t able to take the SE to its top speed because of bad weather, but it did manage to clock it from 0 to 60 mph. The now-28-year-old Lotus did it in 4.5 seconds. According to Porsche, the current 911 Carrera with a manual gearbox does it in 4.4 seconds and it has nearly 30 years of progress and more than 100 horsepower on its side. Granted it’s a more technologically sophisticated and heavier car, but the Esprit’s time is still impressive. Even the newer, V8-powered C5 Corvette was only able to get a time of 5.0 seconds when Car Driver tested it. Its 13.5-second quarter mile was way behind the SE’s time of 12.9 seconds.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put the Esprit poster back up in my room…
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
