Fair to say I’ve always been a Lotus Elise fan. Lightweight, apparently simple yet deceptively, even archly intelligent in concept, it redefined Lotus for its era. It’s incredible to think that the El

A Mk1 Lotus Elise… ish ► If you ...

THERE’S CLEARLY a love for Gordon Murray and his obsession with lightweight and fit-for-purpose cars among Octane writers and readers alike. There has also been a bit of coverage of the first hybrid c

SUPERCARS ARE BORING. An unpopular opinion, but mid-engined layouts and aero require largely the same solutions, never used 200+mph capability casting the cars into similar profiles. They’re filled wi

Rivals is probably a stretch for this one – the idea of cross shopping a Noble M500 and a Lotus Emira V6 SE at their relative price and power points something of a weird little fantasy. But what they

‘I WENT A little deep into that corner – ended up in the kitty litter,’ laughs Steve Nichols. I’m sitting in the back seat of a Range Rover Velar, shoulder-to-shoulder with the design maestro behind t