1983 Lotus Esprit Turbo with prototype active suspension goes to auction

In the 1980s, Lotus was developing active suspension for both race and road cars. One of its prototype road cars is being offered at the Anglia Car Auctions in the UK.

According to the auction listing, the Lotus Esprit Turbo was originally built in pre-production in 1980 and loaned to the Delorean Motor Company (which had received technical assistance from Lotus in the development of the DMC-12). Upon its return to Lotus, the car was transformed into a machine equipped with an active suspension system that was being developed for F1 at the time

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Lotus was a pioneer in active suspension, which, as the name implies, actively counteracted body roll and other factors, keeping the car flat even when cornering. General Motors, which bought the British company, tried to use Lotus' active suspension system in its C4 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1. [However, such a system was never used in the company's production road cars. Lotus had introduced active suspension in Formula One in the 1980s, but Williams perfected the technology with the FW14B and FW15C, which dominated the 1992 and 1993 seasons, respectively.

The Esprit active suspension prototype appeared in the corners of car magazines and Top Gear, but soon outlived its usefulness and was left in a hangar. However, employees continued to hide the car, and management eventually decided to display it instead of scrapping it.

Lotus then sold the car to its current owner, who restored the engine, transmission, wiring, and brakes. The paint and interior are virtually original, and the odometer currently shows only 6,492 miles.