The Encor Series 1 is a rebirth of the iconic Lotus Esprit, a 1970s statement car that united the maverick engineering talents of Colin Chapman with the audacious design vision of Giorgetto Giugiaro. This new machine is a philosophy as well as a car, addressing the modern malaise of porky, complicated, and often too powerful new cars. Encor, which consists of senior ex-Aston and Lotus personnel along with a British engineering firm called Skyships, has managed to preserve the original's form while jacking up the performance. The Esprit S1's body had the structural rigidity of a trifle and minimal rollover protection. This one is made of carbon fibre, the work done by KS Composites in Leicestershire. The engine has forged pistons, new turbos, new impellers, a new throttle body, and an electronic throttle with a bespoke aluminium case. The gearbox has been significantly upgraded, too: there are new gears, rings ...
The Encor Series 1 is a rebirth of the iconic Lotus Esprit, a 1970s statement car that united the maverick engineering talents of Colin Chapman with the audacious design vision of Giorgetto Giugiaro. This new machine is a philosophy as well as a car, addressing the modern malaise of porky, complicated, and often too powerful new cars. Encor, which consists of senior ex-Aston and Lotus personnel along with a British engineering firm called Skyships, has managed to preserve the original’s form while jacking up the performance.
The Esprit S1’s body had the structural rigidity of a trifle and minimal rollover protection. This one is made of carbon fibre, the work done by KS Composites in Leicestershire. The engine has forged pistons, new turbos, new impellers, a new throttle body, and an electronic throttle with a bespoke aluminium case. The gearbox has been significantly upgraded, too: there are new gears, rings and bushes. In comes a twin plate clutch, and Quaife LSD to amplify the original’s handling smarts.
The suspension has new uprights, Bilstein shock absorbers, and Ibax springs. There are new brakes with six pot calipers on the front, four pot on the rear, and the old fly-off handbrake has been replaced with an electronic one. The wheels are machined from aluminium billet: 17in front, 18in rear. The tyres are Bridgestone Potenzas, the most modern rubber usable given the wheels’ old school dimensions.
Lotus is famous for making cars that ‘breathe’ down the road, and this’ll do that too. The Encor has an all new electrical architecture, and the infotainment runs the same setup used by GMA and Pagani. So not only is there connectivity to fry the mind of any Esprit owner, it should also be reliable. That’s Skyships’ bread and butter, after all.
The interior is more extensively reworked than any restomod we’ve ever sat in. The instrument binnacle looks familiar but it’s been fashioned out of two pieces of aluminium billet. The supports are artfully done. The wheel is new but copies the S1’s distinctive design. The entire dash structure is made of carbon fibre, and there’s visible carbon in the sills. That helps simplify and lighten the door structure.
A 360° parking camera is a welcome update, as is a premium audio system, also developed by Skyships. Lotus made 1,237 Esprit V8s, not all of which are in particularly good shape. Encor is confident that sourcing the intended 50 should be doable. It has no intention of butchering the desirable limited run Sport 350 iteration or any other garage queens.
A prototype is up and running, with the first customer car due to be delivered in April. Encor has also financed everything without needing to take customer money upfront to pay for it all. Like Singer and Kimera – Top Gear’s recently crowned PCOTY – Encor intends to provide a full customer experience programme.
The execution here is mesmerising. Just don’t drive it underwater.
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