Go on then, which one of these new special Lotus is your favourite? Is it the black/gold, as inspired by the John Player-liveried Type 72D in which Emerson Fittipaldi won five grand prix in 1972? Or maybe it’s the red/white/gold car, which pays tribute to the Type 49B Graham Hill raced in 1968?

Could it be the blue/white car celebrating the Type 18 of 1960, which Sir Stirling Moss drove to Lotus’ first F1 pole and win? Or the blue/red/silver homage to 1980’s Type 81, as driven by Nigel Mansell, Elio de Angelis and Mario Andretti?

No more than 100 of these Classic Heritage Edition Elises will be built, and priced the same regardless of which of the four liveries (which are carried over to the interior) you go for.

The split will not be even – Lotus won’t simply build 25 cars in each colourway. Rather, “the final numbers of each variant dictated by customer demand”. So get a build slot and you ought to get the one you want.

The base car is the Elise Sport 220, which is good for 230km/h and 0-95km/h in 4.2 seconds. The 1.8-litre supercharged engine gives 220hp and 250Nm.

The Classic Heritage Edition costs more than the standard car, but Lotus claims you’re getting a lot more extra equipment for your money, so besides looking good and being quite rare, they’re actually decent value. Tempted?

STORY Tom Harrison