On The Lightweight Sportscar

Car Throttle  writer James responded to my post about the suspension of the X-Bow by pointing out that "there are a few more than 4 lightweight sports cars." He gave a rather nice list that I'll go over in a moment, but this whole notion of what is and is not a sportscar (one word) is something that has long plagued us.

For example, does adding a back seat to a car demote it from being a sportscar? To me, the answer is yes (and yeah I know that 911s have those notional seats back there, and no I'm not taking them out – exceptions can be made). And even further, the whole notion of a "lightweight" sports car is kind of redundant.

There's no such thing really as a heavyweight sportscar. If you weigh in at much more than two tons, that's too much. And if you ask me, far too many cars are already nudging up against that figure. How much does the Veyron weigh? Pretty close to that, if not over. And the same can be said for various top of the line Astons, Mercs and what not (especially the Germans).

But being lightweight is the real key. To me, 2000 or 2200 pounds is the upper limit for what drops into the "lightweight" category. That's why I love-love-love Lotus 7s of whatever stripe: You can get those little guys down to 1000 pounds! Now were talking.

Anyway, James said that these counted, and were more than four:

Lotus Elise/Exige Lotus Europa/S Lotus Evora Cateram 7/SV (widebody) Westfields (really good Cateram knockoffs) Ariel Atom Donkervoort (Swedish Cateram 7 knockoff) Radical

I might take issue with the Europa and the Evora, great as they are. They tip the scales at more than 2200 as I recall, so I'd scratch them from the list.

Now the sublime Elise on the other hand ... that's an omission that was entirely my fault, and to say that the Elise does not count is just stupid. Those cars are essentially the benchmark of what a modern lightweight is

And I got no problem with Caterams, Westfields and Donkervoorts (which are Dutch, I think), wince those are all 7s. Although those Donkervoorts can have some aggressively ugly bodies now and again.

The Radical falls into the lightweight end of things too, but are those road legal? Last time I checked, and I'm always checking on these things, they weren't – at least not over here. If you can get a license plate hung off the things, than so much the better. One of these days I'll realize my ideal of a street legal Formula Ford.

Now, the Ariel Atom ... if the Elise is not essential the benchmark of what a modern lightweight is, the Atom must be. From the get go, they struck as what the Lotus 7 would be if Colin Chapman had been born a few decades later ... and had done a lot of mescaline. There's a delicious insanity to the Atom that I just can't let go of. The only thing against them for me, really, is that they're about twice the cost of a Seven ... so I'll stick with my Seven fantasies for now.

Photos from Flickr users emdot, exfordy, The Pug Father and FulviaFiend.