“Dad was always looking forward. He saw what other companies were doing and wanted to raise Lotus’s game,” he replies. “We had gone from the Elan to the Esprit, but this extraordinary car still had (the Elan’s) handling characteristics… so you had your foot in both camps.”
Wandering around the gathered Esprits gives you a measure of how Lotus sweated the model for all it was worth with, by my reckoning, 22 derivatives produced during its life – possibly even more.
As well as the S1s, all the models from different designers are represented – X180 (Peter Stevens), S4 (Julian Thomson) and last-of-line V8 (Russell Carr) – plus special editions like the black and gold Esprit JPS and blue, red and silver Esprit Essex, both referencing Lotus’s F1 ties.
And what do we find in the manor’s swimming pool? Naturally, James Bond’s Esprit sub – aka ‘Wet Nellie’ – from the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me. In fact, it’s what looks to be a half-scale model, with the actual full-sized prop at the poolside, in front of the Turbo Esprit from the 1981 Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
As I leave the event, heads are turned towards Giugiaro, who is now sitting in an S1 parked next to Lotus’s 2024 Theory 1 concept car.
In 50 years’ time, I only hope that car will prove as influential to Lotus’s future as the Esprit was in 1975.
