What was the stock horsepower? 160 to the wheels. Now? 680 from the same 1.8 liter four banger. The world's fastest Lotus is here, except that it's not really a Lotus anymore.
-What's your redline? About 7?
- 85!
That's how conversations usually go with Frank Profera when it comes to his canyon missile, the Ronin RS 211 that started life as a brand new Lotus Elise back in 2005.
He first ripped out the suspension, which is surprising considering that's the only thing Lotus was really good at through1 all those years, and then turned it into the most insane carbon fiber twin-charged Exige the world has ever seen, only to get rear-ended by a keen Porsche driver.
The Ronin RS 211 turns the crazy to 211 with a highly modified Lotus 2-Eleven body sporting the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti's Grigio Medio paint, a beefed up MR2 five-speed and an on-demand E85 system that only switches on once you really step on it and go over 20psi in boost.
Between 20 and 36psi, the car uses the mixture of pump gas and alcohol to increase the octane rating and get those 680 horses at the wheels from that built 1.8 four banger.
What's really astonishing is that it's been on the road like this for more than a year now. While I have no idea what sort of milage that translates to, according to the numbers, such a car should have turned into a fireball at least three times during Jay Leno's video shoot.
Lotus may want to consult Frank about how to make reliable performance cars in the future.