Lotus Emira special edition on the way to celebrate Jim Clark’s crazy 1965 season

Lotus has a wonderfully rich history in motorsport and plenty of it came courtesy of legendary driver Jim Clark in 1965. By way of celebration, it looks as if the Norfolk firm is making a special edition of its Emira sports car. 

A social media post from Lotus rounds off Jim Clark’s 1965 season, including the second of his Formula One World Championships (won in the Lotus 33), the Indy 500 and the Tasman Series, along with the French and British Formula Two titles and several wins in the British Saloon Car Championship. 

The brief video teaser then gives us a glimpse of an Emira with a green and yellow livery and a ‘2 May 2025’ date - suggesting when the full reveal will take place. The livery itself looks to be a homage to the Type 33, with a single yellow line down the bonnet, while the front grille has a yellow outline too. 

Lotus has managed to keep this special-edition Emira under wraps successfully, because this is our first and only glimpse of the car so far. We don’t expect it to feature far-reaching mechanical changes to the regular car, so perhaps just visual tweaks are in store – in a similar fashion to the 12-strong Emira Limited series revealed at the end of last year. 

Those cars were based around the turbocharged four-cylinder engine from Mercedes-AMG. However, while we’ve heard nothing official from Lotus just yet, this special-edition model to recognise one of the greatest British drivers seems more likely to come with the 400bhp supercharged 3.5-litre V6 and, of course, a six-speed manual transmission. 

The Emira has become one of our favourite sports cars over the past couple of years with its precise chassis and supercar styling. It’s no stranger to racing either, because in GT4 form, it won its first international race in Macau, China, back in 2023. 

We’ll surely see Lotus keep the numbers of this Jim Clark special edition low, despite the brand recently building its 10,000th Emira. Pricing for the new Turbo SE edition starts from £89,500 with the V6 starting at £95,000 - so we expect this new limited edition to cost over £100,000. 

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