2012 Lotus Exige R-GT (Black and Gold)

Tomica 1/64
Tomica No. 10 (2014)

Car: Lotus Exige R-GT
Year: 2012
Color: Black and Gold

The Lotus Exige R-GT was introduced back in 2011 with plans on having it compete in the newly introduced R-GT class in FIA rally competition. One of the notable things under the R-GT regulation is that the cars are supposed to run as two-wheel drive cars, unlike the rather common four-wheel drive that is seen on most rally cars.

The Exige R-GT I believe first appeared in the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show where it was sporting a different livery which was also done by Tomica. This John Player Special-esque livery I believe is based on the version of the car that ran in the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2012. I believe the car only participated in a single race in which it crashed out and was never seen again in competition afterwards. The R-GT class itself I believe isn't really that successful although as far as I know, they lasted until like 2022 or 2023. Sadly my knowledge about rally stuff is rather limited, and even more so regarding not too popular classes like the R-GT class.

The casting by Tomica seems to be accurate to the Frankfurt Motor Show version but is a bit different compared to the Goodwood version. In particular, the fog lights do not appear on the Goodwood version of the car but I can't really find any other major difference really. Tomica would also do another R-GT class car, the Abarth 124 R-GT, which I already posted before.