If there’s one street-legal Lotus that truly lives up to founder Colin Chapman’s “simplify and add lightness,” it’s the Exige. And the new 2010 Exige Cup 260 takes Chapman’s mantra to a new extreme.

Starting with the already hardcore 2010 Exige S, Lotus engineers went through and replaced most aluminum body panels with carbon fiber parts. On top of that, they went through and stripped any equipment deemed unnecessary, including carpets, mud flaps, battery covers, the inner rear view mirror (rendered virtually useless by the microscopic rear window), and sun visors...Continued