Number 167 of 286 UK cars - Two owners from new - Running project car for restoration Take a pedestrian executive car and hand it to the Lotus engineers at Hethel to work their magic and the end result is a 377bhp super saloon able to hold its head high against rivals from the BMW Motorsport and Mercedes Benz AMG.

The base 3-litre twin overhead camshaft 24 valve engine was bored and stroked to 3.6 litres, Lotus strengthened the block, upgraded the cylinder head, replaced the crankshaft, pistons and connecting rods and bolted on a pair of Garrett T25 turbochargers with intercoolers.

With the Opel/Vauxhall standard gearbox unable to handle the huge additional torque (419 lb-ft), ZFs 6-speed enabled the Lotus Omega to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 5.2 seconds, 0-100 in an astonishing 11.1 seconds, going on to a top speed of 186 mph (achieved in 5th rather than 6th gear).

A controversial figure, given that almost all of its rivals adhered to a gentleman’s agreement restricting the top spe...