Aside from a track, the only place where you can
explore this sort of performance is on a runway.
We’re on an airfield, but this is a taxiway adjacent to
busy NAIA, not an airfield in Sussex. And there’s no
dude dressed in a white racing suit and helmet.
There’s a guy dressed impeccably in white,
though—Captain Perfecto Marin. He is a pilot for
Philjets, a charter business that flies clients via he-
licopter and private plane. The business owns half a
dozen aircraft, and has already flown thousands of
privileged passengers.
Captain Marin prepares a conveyance that’s
undoubtedly faster than any of the supercharged
bullets on the ground—the Eurocopter EC 130 T 2.
You would have seen this in movies such as Jurassic
World and Fifty Shades Of Grey. As we watch it lift
off, we have visions of doing a modern version of
The Spy Who Loved Me. Alas, the chopper doesn’t
have machine guns handy.
Our Lotuses stay land-bound while Captain
Marin flies off. While aircraft use aerodynamic
effects for lift, high-performance cars use them to
stay planted on the ground. Lotus also developed
ground effect in F 1 , using tunnels below the car to
move air more rapidly.
In the automotive sphere, this British carmaker
has a tiny production base, but a huge influence.
Aside from its direct engineering works for other
companies, it has inspired other makers of sports
cars. Gordon Murray reportedly said that his one
disappointment with the McLaren F 1 was that it
didn’t have the perfect steering of the Lotus Elan.
The Mazda MX- 5 , which carries on the concept of
basic, lightweight design and added Japanese de-
pendability to become the best-selling sports car in
history, was likewise inspired by the Elan from the
’60s. That’s how big Lotus’s influence is.
Speaking of which, what’s the origin of the
brand’s name? Chapman named it after the lotus
leaf, which has a hallucinogenic effect when in-
gested. He said that after driving a Lotus, the owner
should forget about other sports cars. Indeed, we’ve
discovered firsthand how the Elise, the Exige and
the Evora deliver a different, purer kind of driving
experience—one that stays in the mind and soul.
‘FOUNDER COLIN
CHAPMAN NAMED
THE BRAND AFTER
THE LOTUS LEAF’
REMEMBER LOTUS’S SIGNATURE
DESIGN ELEMENTS. THEY WILL
BE POPULAR TOPICS IN THE DAYS
TO COME DURING FUN RUNSTHAT BIG EXHAUST PIPE
PLACED IN THE MIDDLE
JUST LOOKS BADASSOKAY, A LOTUS DOESN’T
HAVE THIS, BUT THE FUN
FACTOR IS THE SAME
LOTUS ELISE 220 CUP
Engine: 1.8-liter supercharged I4 Power: 217hp
Torque: 250Nm Transmission: 6 -speed manual
Dimensions (L/W/H): 3,824mm/1,719mm/1,117mm
Wheelbase: 2,300mm Price: P5,350,000
WWW.topgear.com.ph TOP GEAR PHILIPPINES 75