Lotus’ quickest street-legal sports car is now the Lotus 3-Eleven 430.

But there are only going to be 20 of them. Ever.

The 321kW/440Nm Lotus 3-Eleven weighs in at only 920kg, giving it a seriously impressive power-to-weight ratio of 348kW-per-tonne. That figure puts every Lambo in MOTOR’s ‘Hot Source’ list (at the back of each mag issue) to shame.

It runs a 0-100km/h run in 3.2 seconds, and has an astonishing top speed of 290 km/h.

And, of course, the power travels through a six-speed, open-gate manual gearbox.

Michelin Cup 2s help is stay stuck to the ground, with the grip allowing up to 1.5g of lateral force whilst cornering.

Lotus Group CEO Jean-Marc Gales says the 3-Eleven is the ultimate in lightweight performance for a road-legal sports car.

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“It altered perceptions of what was possible at this price category, and today the new 3-Eleven 430 moves the benchmark to remain the ultimate weapon in focused road driving and track work.”

The 3-Eleven 430 will cost UK buyers £102,000 (direct exchange is $181,960), though as only 20 are available worldwide we won’t be holding our breath to see one.