Driven: Lotus Evora GT4
There has been word on the web recently that Lotus is looking at a hardcore track-biased version of its Evora, but of course that car exists already. Sort of. It's called the Evora GT4 and it's currently doing sterling work in the Avon Tyres British GT championship.So, when we got a phone call to have a go in the car (albeit for a scant few laps) at Snetterton, the answer was a fairly obvious 'er, yes please'. Just to test out the similarities between it and the roadgoing Evora, of course...
Okay, so it'll cost you a solid six-figure sum to buy (something in the region of £125k), and there are some significant changes to make it into a racer. Apart from the obvious aero addenda and the roll cage, the racing Evora has: much larger brakes with four-piston calipers front and rear with adjustable bias, an X-trac 6-speed sequential gearbox with a twin-plate sintered clutch, and a PI Research dash and telemetry system with Cosworth's own ECU.
Which is quite a lot of kit. On top of that, there's also the engine, which has been uprated to 4.0 litres and fettled by Cosworth (and fitted with a bespoke exhaust, intake, and dry sump system) to produce 355bhp at 6500rpm and 328lb ft of torque at 5500rpm.
But before you go thinking that this is barely any better than a silhouette racer, with little commonality between it and the road upon which it is supposedly based think on this: The Evora's forged double wishbone suspension and the bonded/extruded chassis are carried over virtually untouched...
So how does it drive? It's hard to say why, but for some reason it always used to seem to me that the beefier-looking a race car, the harder work it will be to drive fast. Having now had the opportunity for a (sadly all-too-brief) crack at Lotus's Evora GT4 endurance race car, I can safely say that this is an illusion that has been comprehensively shattered.
From the outside, and by my assumed 'the harder it looks, the harder you'll work' logic, the racing version of the Evora looks like it would require a full-on body builder to hustle around a race track. The same applies on the inside. The stripped-bare cabin is deeply intimidating; all harnesses, bucket seats, roll cage and racing instruments.
Once on the move, however, (and once the merciless racing clutch has been successfully overcome) the delicacy of the controls is immediately apparent, and it feels every inch a Lotus. Initially, the astonishingly light steering makes it hard to feel for front-end grip, but as you wind the pace up and you begin to get a bit of heat into the slick tyres (made by Avon, of course) it comes alive in your hands.
Sintered Clutch Plates - News

Apart from the obvious aero addenda and the roll cage, the racing Evora has: much larger brakes with four-piston calipers front and rear with adjustable bias, an X-trac 6-speed sequential gearbox with a twin-plate sintered clutch, and a PI Research

He has managed to go through a couple of clutch and flywheel setups, finally deciding on a Monster sintered iron Level 6, bolted to a billet steel flywheel. A PST 3-inch chromoly driveshaft sends power through the length of the chassis, where it spins
Steel Sintered Clutch Plates - Golden Engineering Co
Golden Precision Products , an ISO 9001-2008 certified company, offers a range of Steel Sintered Friction Plates/Clutch Plates. These are available in a wide range in various sizes, and shapes up to 750 mm outer dia with thickness from 0.4 mm to 10 mm.
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