Luscious Luso pays tribute to Lotus

Colin Chapman would have loved this car

The founder of the illustrious Lotus marque was a big believer in minimising weight to maximise performance, and this mantra is exemplified by the LusoMotors LM23 -- a minimalist sportster inspired by the classic Lotus 23B racer of the 1960s.

The tangerine orange creation pictured here is the creation of Portugese designer Ernesto Freitas, who shot to prominence last year by conceiving a modern-day interpretation of the Ferrari 246 Dino, which he dubbed the Vinci Sport.

The Vinci Sport was a well-considered melding of retro styling cues and new-age design, and the same applies to the open-topped LM23.

Conceived as a relatively low-cost track-attack weapon, the LM23 is built around a steel spaceframe chassis that's clothed in double-skin aluminium alloy sheets and these, in turn, are riveted and glued with inner foam reinforcements.

The swoopy Le Mans racer-inspired two-seater's outer skin also makes extensive use of fibreglass and carbonfibre to minimise weight, with the result that it tips the scales at a paltry 400kg.

Motive power is provided by a mid-mounted 110kW 1.0-litre four-cylinder engine purloined from a Honda CBR1000 motorcycle, and this unit is hooked up to a six-speed sequential gearbox.

Even with the high-revving Honda motor the LM23 offers a steroidal power-to-weight ratio of 275kW/tonne, but Freitas says he can crank up the intensity significantly by slotting in a four-cylinder turbo engine sourced from a Subaru Impreza WRX.

Pricing for a complete kit car (minus the engine) starts from a not unreasonable $24,000, and this isn't the only body style available as Freitas can reportedly conjure up other shapes based on customer requirements.

We can only conclude that it's an appropriate tribute to Colin Chapman's 23B racer, a car that embarrassed Porsches, Aston Martins and Ferraris with significantly more power in the competitive arena -- so much so that it was banned from Le Mans.

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