Welcome, everyone, to this week’s special edition Lotuses – the Types 49 and 79. Making their debut at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, these one-off Exige Cup 430s celebrate many things – the 70th anniversary of Lotus itself, the 50th anniversary of Graham Hill winning the F1 Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships in a Lotus Type 49, and the 40th anniversary of Mario Andretti doing the same in the Lotus Type 79.

They’re mechanically identical to the standard Exige 430 – no bad thing, because it’s mighty. You can read our review by clicking on these words. The extra-specialness comes from the bespoke liveries created by Lotus’s ‘Exclusive’ department, which does colour/trim work for buyers who want something a bit different (roughly a third of all Lotuses feature some kind of personalisation). The 49 has solid red paintwork, and the 79 is black. Both get gold details, and matching Alcantara interiors.

See them in action at Goodwood. Then tune in, same time next week, for another episode of “What will the next special edition Lotus celebrate?”. We’ve got good odds on the 10th anniversary of apple crumble being available in the staff canteen.  

Can someone please buy the good people of Hethel that bowling alley, already?