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Father of Lotus, Colin Chapman, said his secret to engineering racing and sports cars was to "add lightness." An intriguing phrase, to say the least. And one that might well have been lost in time by similar mutterings made by countless other automotive impresarios had Mr. Chapman's cars not kicked ass on the track and the street.
We mention Chapman because underneath the polyester bodywork of the Dodge Circuit, there is large helping of Lotus. Specifically the Lotus Europa, a slightly larger, fixed-roof Elise derivative. But the Europa's 197-hp, 2.0L GM-sourced turbo I-4 and six-speed manual gearbox have been dumped. In their place is a 268-hp DC permanent magnet motor driving the rear wheels through an 8.3:1 planetary reduction gearset. While the base Europa engine is rated 200 lb-ft of torque, Dodge claims the Circuit motor is good for (swallows deeply) 480 lb-ft...Continued
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