The Lotus Esprit: The Forgotten Supercar

The Elise, Elan, Europa are among the supercars Lotus is famous for, yet rarely is Esprit mentioned. Petrolicious serves up another well-executed video interview with Ritte Cycles founder and creative director Spencer Canon who takes us for a ride in his beautifully updated Lotus Esprit — the two-door coupé silver Italdesign concept car that was designed by one of Italy’s most famous automobile designers, Giorgetto Giugiaro, and later tastefully updated by renowned British car designer Peter Stevens (who was also responsible for the McLaren F1, among others). First released in the early ’70s, the Esprit debuted as one of the earliest models of Giugiaro’s revolutionary ”wedge shaped” designs. “The Esprit is not a well-known car. Car guys know what it is, but they don’t know much about it—it’s a mystery,” says Canon. As a figure in the performance cycling industry, Canon imparts his two cents on why the often-overlooked Lotus model is his first choice sports car to drive. Watch the new interview in the video above.