ALL THE HIGHWINGS

The Lotus Esprit SE High Wing Register

Welcome to the unofficial register for the Lotus Esprit Highwing, a site dedicated to cataloguing all the Highwings still remaining, celebrating this unicorn model, and telling the story of how Lotus managed to create one of the very best iterations of the Esprit during one of its darkest hours.

For those seeking to purchase a Highwing, or simply those interested in the history of Lotus, I hope you find the site an enjoyable and insightful resource.

Ben

About the Highwing

Over a 28-year run there have been many variants of the Esprit and the subject of which is the best has always been a hotly debated topic.

While every class register and owner will give you a different answer, having had the pleasure of experiencing most of them, for me the Highwing, despite never having an official designation, represents one of the absolute sweet spots, blending the Esprit's three defining eras into a one-year-only production run.

Based on Peter Stevens' masterful 1987 Lotus SE refresh, the Highwing is early enough to have retained some of the original Esprit’s iconic features like its glorious boomerang dash, but to have all the quality improvements and chargecooled engine performance of the Stevens model that had finally put the Esprit into the supercar rankings.

Yet it also includes all the features and user benefits that were soon to be launched in Julian Thompson’s restyled S4 model.

As you can read about the in the Model History section, the Highwing, is so much more than just its divisive ‘wing, and for me it’s those other changes that make the difference.

However the ‘wing is this one-year-wonder’s signature and the thing that identifies it so strongly with the iconic excesses of late 80s and early 90s supercars.

During my research into the model variant, I’ve collected many articles which you can find in the Resources section along with numerous references scattered throughout this site.

However I’m always keen to learn more about the circumstances that led up to the Highwing’s launch and to speak to people involved with the Esprit-model-that-never-was, so if you would like to add to the story or make any corrections then do please email me.

Model History

The early 90s were a dark time for Lotus. The departure of their cash rich GM owners, together with the impending retirement of the Lotus Elan in 1992 left the hand-built Esprit as their only production model. Understandably therefore, Lotus had to turn their attention to making the Esprit as competitive as possible in order to keep sales coming in and buy the company time to make their next move (a move that subsequently became the Lotus Elise).

This work would result in the launch of the Julian Thompson restyled S4 model in 1993, but for one short year beforehand, Lotus rolled out all of the S4’s substantial list of improvements on the older SE body design. This S4 precursor kept the existing SE model name and only gained the moniker “Highwing” or “High Wing” from the press as a nod to its most obvious, and controversial, addition – the elevation of the ‘wing way up above the rear of the car.

As well as a dire need to ensure the Esprit sold, the shift in market perspective caused by the launch of the Honda NSX in January 1991 and, perhaps I wonder also, the influences from outgoing owners GM, meant that Lotus must have been given cause to cater to the same shift in customer expectations that their traditional rivals were also having to deliver on.

Not only did a super car need to be fast and nimble with drop-dead good looks, but it now also needed to have a level of user orientation, ergonomics and quality that would accommodate owners who were no longer committed to strapping their feet into driving shoes and shoehorning themselves into awkward environments in return for their thrills.

With this in mind, and with a severe lack of cash to invest, the team at Lotus was forced to look at how they could refine the existing package. The resulting changes were numerous - finally offering a workable version of the impossibly narrow pedal box footwell as well as a user-friendly cabin that felt roomier with wider seats, greater arm room, more storage, increased head height and better sound insultation.

Demonstrating an understanding that these new customers were also no longer prepared to man-handle the heavy steering of their supercars at low speeds, Lotus took the ingenious step of altering the caster angle of the steering geometry which in turn reduced the steering effort without needing to introduce electric assistance, a move that would have damaged Lotus’s famous steering feel as it had already done with other manufacturers.

So why add this controversial huge wing and why mount it so high on the back of the vehicle? Firstly there is a practical reason - because wings lower than this on the Esprit design block almost all rearward vision, but more significantly all Esprit’s produce a significant amount of airflow disruption over the trailing edge of their roofline meaning that the only way to access the clean air needed for downforce is to place the wing high up above this turbulence.

Lotus’s aerodynamicist at the time, Richard Hill, confirmed that the new wing, together with the addition of a rubber front bib, acted not only to improve stability but also resolve the Esprit’s understeering tendencies and help to increase the Highwing’s top speed to 165mph. The significant increase in downforce was highlighted by Lotus sales rep’s at the time who claimed that it achieved enough downforce at 100mph to close the bootlid to which it was attached – quite some feat considering how much of a shove the latches either side of the bootlid require.

The Highwing was launched at the London Motorfair in October 1991 shown in a glorious combination of Pacific Blue over Sand. Powered by the same remarkable Chargecooled 4 cylinder Lotus 915 engine as the previous SE model, the Highwing not only saw off its rivals with a 0-60mph time of 4.7 seconds (beating Porsche's 964 at 5.5 seconds, and Ferrari's 348 at 5.6 seconds) but even stole the flag from Ferrari’s range topping 512TR (4.8 seconds).

David Prescott, Lotus’s Sales Director at the time, stated in a press release that “The 1992 Lotus Esprit SE is the latest evolution of this classic sports car. We have taken careful note of our customers' comments to make their driving experience even more pleasurable and satisfying, without diluting the exhilaration that Lotus knowhow and engineering excellence confers”.

I couldn’t agree more.

In better times this car with all its performance and user orientated improvements should have sold well, having met with favourable reviews from the likes of Autocar, Performance Car, and MotorSport. However, to further add to Lotus’s woes, it was released into the depths of a global recession and luxury supercar sales across all brands were significantly impacted.

One ex-employee of Lotus dealers, Bell & Colvill, described to me how they would need to move the display models out of showroom to vacuum the floor around them, such was the infrequency of test drives. And so, despite this being the best Esprit yet, circumstances and a one-year manufacturing run conspired to result in the incredibly small production numbers that have given the Highwing its mythical status amongst Lotus aficionados and the wider car collecting community.

Specification

In my opinion the expression ‘greater than the sum of its parts’ truly sums up the Highwing.

Individually each of the numerous tweaks achieved by Lotus during its development appear fairly inconsequential, but when combined together they result in a significantly improved experience all round, whilst still being wrapped up in the Esprit’s evocative 80's styling.

Here is a list of all of the changes that were made to the original SE model to create the UK Highwing model.

Interior

New cleaner-look door cards.
Wider seats offering more support.
New smaller HVAC control panel with storage bin below.
Door switch gear mounted to backing plates to resolve alignment issues.
Increased headroom, by 5.5” (14cm)
Increased legroom, by 1.75” (4.5cm)
Increased seat-to-wheel clearance, by 3.15” (8cm)
Improved visibility of gauges through steering wheel.
New pedal box to increase distances between pedals & provide a more positive action.
Lower & narrower centre tunnel allowing for wider seats and more armroom.
Inclusion of lift up centre armrest storage (also concealing the fuel door releases).
Improved sound deadening
Improved access with doors that opened an additional 15 degrees.

Mechanical

Reduced caster angle to lighten the unassisted steering.
Lightened clutch mechanism.
Suspension refinements to improve ride comfort.

Body

Addition of a front bib to reduce understeer & increase top speed.
Elevated rear wing to increase downforce and stability.
New louvred tailgate, improving engine cooling and visibility.
Revised Engine Cover Lid to help control exhaust manifold and turbo temperatures.

Production Numbers

Whilst we know that production volumes of the Highwing were extremely low, it is rather difficult to establish how many were actually made. There are 3 main reasons behind this which Andy Graham, Lotus’s archivist, was kind enough to explain to me.

1

Lotus never gave the model a unique identification.

All of the changes and additions were intended for the forthcoming S4 and were simply loaded onto the previous SE model’s body to boost sales as fast as possible in advance of the rebodied S4 launching for the 1993 model year.

2

Lotus only recorded production totals by calendar year.

The Highwing (called the "1992 Model Year" in Lotus speak) started to be built in October 1991 and didn’t cease production until 1993, therefore cutting through 3 different calendar years of Lotus’s production records which make a specific total difficult to derive

3

Highwing’s never received a common specification.

There were several Esprit specifications that were produced with the ‘wing fitted according to different marketplaces across the world – UK, Europe, Canada, Rest of World, an Italian market version with a smaller 2.0 litre engine, and a unique iteration for the US market which was produced from September 1992 to late 1993, I believe whilst homologation of the S4 for the US market was being completed.

Working with Lotus's archivist the best estimate for the total production of Highwing’s by market can be calculated as follows:

UK: 53 Total
Europe, 2.2 Litre Model: 41 Total
Europe, 2.0 Litre Model: 56 Total
Canada: 4 Total
Rest of World: 27 Total
USA: 62 Total

GRAND TOTAL: 243 Highwings