Lotus today unveiled its £27,500 1.6 Lotus Elise Club Racer.

The engineers behind the Elise Club Racer took a stripped-to-the-bare-bone approach and used a motorsport-derived lightweight battery and the deletion of noise insulation.

For the first time an Elise variant comes complete with a Sport setting for the DPM (Dynamic Performance Management). DPM combined with improved agility courtesy of Lotus finely tuned sport suspension and an adjustable anti-roll bar will make the Elise Club Racer equally versatile for both road and race track fun.

Wolf Zimmermann, Chief Technical Officer Lotus Cars, said: “The traditional Lotus approach of reduction and purity has lead to one of the most zeitgeist and contemporary sports cars around.

"For over 15 years the Lotus Elise has become an icon in the sports car market, carving out a niche market with a dedicated following of lightweight fans. The new Club Racer will definitely give these people something extra to get their teeth stuck into.

"This car epitomises everything that’s cool about the Elise – it’s fast, raw, responsive and a huge amount of fun to drive.”

Component suppliers such as Eibach for springs and Bilstein for dampers ensure that the Elise Club Racer is a car of substance as well as style.

It comes in a choice of six striking colours - Sky Blue, Saffron Yellow, Ardent Red, Aspen White, Matt Black and Carbon Grey.