Some cars leave a paper trail; the Lotus E21 left a name and a place in Lotus's list. What follows is what can be said with a source behind it. James Allison / Nick Chester / Martin Tolliday / Simon Virrill / Daniele Casanova / Dirk de Beer / David Wheater drew it.
The story
The Lotus E21 is a Formula One racing car designed and built by the Lotus F1 team for use in the 2013 championship. The chassis was designed by James Allison, Nick Chester, Martin Tolliday, Daniele Casanova and Dirk de Beer with Renault supplying the team's engines. The car was driven by 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean, both of whom remained with the team after competing in 2012. The E21 was the first of the 2013 season cars to be launched.
What is underneath
750 hp @ 18,000 rpm is the published figure. It weighs 642 kg, with driver, cameras and ballast. Work it out per tonne and you get about 1168 horsepower — hypercar territory, where the limiting factor is the tyre, not the engine. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Lotus E20; its successor was the Lotus E22. Nearby in the Lotus catalogue sit the Lotus 100T and the Lotus 101.