Well, whaddya know? That's the real company name, not a nickname. It was originally derived from "Rotary+Lotus"; the original cars were mostly rotary-engined. They ended up with three variants using Mazda engines (including one with twin turbos!), and some pretty frightening conventional engines (the GM 5.6L V8 or the Buick lightweight 3.8L V8), as well as somewhat tamer (and more sensible) options. Both those big V8s are popular with the after-market car tuners; with no trouble at all you can have well over 300HP under your right foot. Even with improved suspension and much wider and stickier rubber than the original, that's one heck of a lot of power in a car that light. And that's by no means the limit. I'm pretty certain that the Buick engine is the one used in the Grand National, which means that it can be turbocharged in addition to all the other little tweaks. I don't even want to think about what sort of power you could end up with if you really tried. Certainly well over 500HP.
> What are they REALLY called, then? > > keith > > John Francis wrote: > > > > > > > > Caterham has improved them a bit. Many more engine options. De Dion rear > > > suspension. Actual seats that slide forward and backward to adjust for > > > different sized drivers. > > > > > > But, they're still pretty basic, elemental things, that go like stink. > > > > I'm sure it's anathema to mention them in front of true believers, but > > if you really want one that goes like stink the Japanese ripoff (often > > referred to as a Rotus) will run rings round most real 7s. >
