I’ve seen a lot of really cool engine swaps. Mercedes V12s swapped in Cobra engine bays, 6 rotor RX4s, twin-engine Camaros… Really crazy stuff. But this is one of the few that I’ve seen that just seems like a perfect fit. What engine—aside from maybe the V10 from an LFA—would be a more appropriate complement to the precision driving instrument that is the Lotus Exige. I can’t think of one.
As you’d probably guess, there is a lot of fabrication going into this. The original Exige was built to house a 1.8-liter I4 at most, not the 5-liter v10 behemoth from the M5. That engine put out 500 horses and was able to move the comparatively schlubby M5 from 0-60 in a very unschulb-like 4.7 seconds. More interesting than it’s raw power is it’s character.The E60 M5 was notable for being a very rev happy motor. At the time, reviewers liked it, but considered it an odd pairing with the sedan.
Now picture that immense power and rev-happy motor in something as light and track oriented as an Exige. Yeah. Good times.
Clearly, there’s a lot of fabrication that’s going to have to happen in order to make this work right, but when it’s ready… Man. It’s easy to make comparisons between a project like this and the Henessey Venom as that car is the closest thing to a souped up Exige, but this is still my favorite on principle.
That principle being that home made V10 race cars rule.
