#02#While watching Lotus's own driving ace, Gavin Kershaw, drifting the Exige 265E around the 'steering pad' at the Hethel test track, it occurred to me that the future may not be so bleak for the sportscar after all. Though this one-off prototype is unlikely to see production, it plays host to a philosophy Lotus has developed for the realistic sustainability of the car as we know it.

The 265E looks and drives much like the Exige S it is based on. If it were not for the application of a few lurid decals, it could be mistaken for the very Exige 240R we tested last year. In fact, the prototype we're in Norfolk to test was created from the remains of that car, after somebody crashed it...

Once the decision was made to create a technology demonstrator, that car was rescued from the scrap pile. A significant amount of work was carried out to the engine and fuel supply system. The aim was not simply to ensure the Toyota-sourced unit could reliably run on bio-ethanol, but to utilise the inherent characteristics of the fuel to enhance performance. Without going into too much detail, the use of bio-ethanol ensures a more efficient combustion process in the cylinder with the result being a potential for increased power, certainly with a well-designed and adaptive engine management system.

Unfortunately, the fuel has less energy per unit volume, so more bio-ethanol is required to produce the same power. Lotus found that the regular car's four injectors needed upgrading to higher flow items, but then that an extra pair were required upstream of the supercharger. The benefit of the latter is the potential to do away with any intercooler, as the ethanol effectively cools the air. #p##01# The net effect was an increase in power to 264bhp (up 46bhp) and torque to 184lb.ft (up 25lb.ft) when running on bio-ethanol. The test car was brimmed with E85 (85% ethanol, 15% petrol) before we were given the keys, so those figures should have been attainable. On the road, the Exige S is already shockingly quick, thanks to the combination of savage supercharged urge and a featherweight body. The 265E manages to impart an even more fierce kick in the back and it's sustained through the rev range too. Needless to say, this Exige's handling is unchanged, with Ohlins two-way adjustable dampers and bigger front discs fitted to the 265E to allow for unrelenting track work.

After our day at the wheel (and watching Kershaw perform for the camera), we were fortunate enough to get a chance to chat to James Turner, Lotus Engineering's Chief Engineer of Powertrain Research. Having co-authored two Society of Automotive Engineering technical papers on the subject, he is well qualified to explain the company's ideas for the future of transport in general.

Lotus believes that the 'Hydrogen Economy' is not a realistic scenario in the foreseeable future, but acknowledges that our dependence on fossil fuels and our consequent emission of CO₂ into the atmosphere must be drastically reduced. Bio-fuels have the potential to be a big part of this picture. However, if everyone switched to bio-fuels in the morning, farmers would not be able to keep up with demand and the amount of land needed to supply that much fuel would cause more problems than it would solve anyway.

However, Lotus believes that technology is moving at a sufficient pace to make synthesis of methanol from CO₂ already in the atmosphere a realistic option on a mass-production scale in the near future. In the meantime, methanol could be made from natural gas, with the next proposed step being the extraction of CO₂ from the industries that already create it by burning fossil fuels. Lotus also proposes that car makers be encouraged to build bio-fuel capability into all their products from now on, in preparation for a time when it is widely available. #p##04# There is no doubt that this all has a very long way to go, but with pressure increasingly on car makers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and indeed the responsibility on all drivers to do their part, this strategy certainly could bear fruit. If nothing else, it has begun a debate.

Summarising, Turner reckons that small volume manufacturers such as Lotus could have a large part to play, by 'sexing up' greener fuels with their use for greater performance, in return perhaps for a little leeway from the government in terms of average fuel consumption, etc. Since we drove the Exige 265E, Koenigsegg has released a bio-fuel-powered version of its CCX supercar and Saab now offers bi-fuel variants of all of its models. The sportscar as we know it could be around for a long time yet. Here's hoping it's as good as this Exige.