Lotus is great at two things:

Making brilliant sports cars.
Making sure that most of those cars are impossible to sell in America.

Its latest model ticks both boxes.

Based on the already extreme Exige Sport 350, the Exige 350 Special Edition adds more lightness as well as unique paint and equipment. Behind the driver is still a 345-hp supercharged V-6, which in this trim has 57 fewer pounds to move and is thus able to accelerate this Exige to 62 mph in a claimed 3.9 seconds, before topping out at 170 mph.
Since Lotus is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its takeover of the Hethel RAF field in 1966, you should also know that the Exige 350 Special Edition will lap the automaker’s Hethel test track in 1 minute, 29.8 seconds. That’s mostly down to the fact that, at 2422 pounds, this is the lightest Exige to date. The added lightness comes from a revised front access-panel cover, lightweight carbon-fiber sport seats, lightweight forged alloy wheels, two-piece brake discs, lighter engine mounts and HVAC piping, removal of some sound insulation, and the fitment of a lithium-ion battery.

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The Exige 350 Special Edition will only be available with a six-speed manual gearbox, featuring an exposed gearchange mechanism with machined and cast aluminum parts for your viewing pleasure. The fou...