German tuner Cam Shaft has been working on some pretty special cars recently. They wrapped a Veyron, and and a racing Renault Clio, and now they’ve come up with this, a Lotus Esprit V8. The car is an homage to the legendary Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, which is why it’s sporting the same John Player Special 97T livery as Senna’s 1985 car that brought him his first F1 win.

That is fantastic, but the tuning program didn’t stop there. The standard Esprit V8 with its 354 hp (260 kW), 400 Nm torque, and 282 km/h top speed is no slouch. But a tribute to Ayrton Senna should be faster and more powerful.

So they got busy with the engine and fitted it with Red Race control device, modified turbochargers, high-performance compressor cooling system as well as two 100-cell structure catalysts. The result is 492 hp (362 kW). That means this beefed up Esprit can go from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 305.

The best thing the have done to this car, however, is ditching the terrible 5-speed Renault gearbox – which has always been the Esprit’s Achilles’ heel – and replacing it with a 6-speed Dog-Engagement gearbox equipped with a longer total ratio. The brakes are also upgraded using AP racing 4-bucket device and perforated brake discs.

Cam Shaft Lotus Esprit is a fabulous car. It’s great to look at, awesome to drive, and with Ayrton Senna’s name on it, incredibly cool.