原作者：Toby Thyer

原標(biāo)題：From Japan With Love: 3 Lotus Esprits In?Tokyo

It’s pouring with rain. I’ve got a WRX transmission in my kitchen and a backlog of stories to write. I make the hard call and decide not to drive down to Lotus Day Japan at Fuji Speedway.

外面正下著瓢潑大雨。我身處廚房，手里攥著個(gè)wrx的變速器，以及一整堆積壓已久的稿件。是啊，決定不開車去富士賽道參加路特斯賽道日是個(gè)艱難的決定。

I missed out that day for sure, but luckily I got my dose of Lotus last month. In fact, I got a triple injection of the lightweight British sports car.

無疑，我錯(cuò)過了那次賽道日，但我已經(jīng)在上個(gè)月欣賞了幾臺(tái)路特斯。事實(shí)上，那次我一共看了三臺(tái)這種英國的輕量化運(yùn)動(dòng)跑車。

It’s all thanks to Masahiro Yamada, the owner of this green 1988 Esprit Turbo HC. “Wouldn’t it be cool to get a few generations of the Esprit together?” he asked me. “Does James Bond always get the girl?” I replied in my head as I typed the answer: “Absolutely!”.

這一切都要感謝Masahiro Yamada，也就是這輛1988年的綠色Esprit Turbo HC的主人。“把幾代的Esprit放在一起不是很酷嗎?”他問我。

"詹姆斯·邦德總能得到女孩嗎"我一邊打字一邊在腦海中回答:“當(dāng)然!”（路特斯Espirt曾于1977年作為邦德座駕出演007.海底城——譯者注）

I wasn’t sure where exactly to shoot this iconic car, but I knew it had to be classy and a little glamourous. Like a Bond villain, I lured Masahiro-san to an alleyway under the old railway bridges that lead to Tokyo Station. There isn’t much old stuff in?Japan’s capital city?accessible to the public, but these bars and shops nestled under the arches make for a nice backdrop.

我不確定應(yīng)該在哪里拍攝這輛標(biāo)志性的車，但我知道它必須顯得優(yōu)雅的，有點(diǎn)魅力。像邦德里的反派一樣，我把Masahiro先生“引誘”到一條通往東京站的老鐵路橋下的小巷里。在日本首都東京，向公眾開放的老建筑不多，但這些坐落在拱門下的酒吧和商店同樣可以構(gòu)成絕佳的背景。

Nonetheless, as Masahiro-san and I made our way through the narrow streets, I immediately fell in love with a car that has been in my subconscious since I was very young. The soft leather interior made me feel more intellectual than I am, and the sound of the vent-to-atmosphere blow-off valve hissing whenever Masahiro-san came?off the gas made me feel?like my lack of intellect is somehow OK.

當(dāng)我和Masahiro先生在狹窄的街道穿梭時(shí)，我立刻愛上了這輛從我小時(shí)候就扎根在我潛意識(shí)里的車。柔軟的皮革內(nèi)飾讓我不由自主地感到公爵般高貴，而每當(dāng)雅弘先生關(guān)掉暖氣時(shí)，排氣管的吹氣閥發(fā)出的嘶嘶聲又讓我覺得自己只不過是個(gè)流浪的小孩。

As a child, I can remember one day having a flu and needing to stay home from school. My dad was home to look after me, and together we watched two films. One was Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, and the other was?The Spy Who Loved Me.?The Lotus Esprit submarine car in the James Bond film was the coolest thing I had ever seen. And quite honestly, it may well still be.

當(dāng)我還是個(gè)孩子的時(shí)候，我記得有一天我得了流感，不得不呆在家里不去上學(xué)。我爸爸在家照顧我，于是我們一起看了兩部電影。一部是《星球大戰(zhàn):絕地歸來》，另一部就是《007：海底城》。那部邦德電影中的蓮花Esprit潛艇車是我見過的最酷的東西。說實(shí)話，現(xiàn)在很可能仍然如此。

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find an S1 Esprit like the one in?The Spy Who Loved Me, but Elon Musk has the original submarine car, so I’ll keep sending him emails until I get a reply.

遺憾的是，這臺(tái)S1 Espirt并不像電影里那輛白色的潛水車，但我知道艾倫馬斯克買下了電影里的那輛原型車，所以我估計(jì)會(huì)一直向他發(fā)郵件請(qǐng)求，直到收到回復(fù)（笑

Heading up the expressway to the parking area, the car pulled surprisingly well for something 10 years older than its driver. But given the Esprit only weighed 1,067kg from factory and made?218PS from its turbocharged inline-four engine, it’s no wonder it feels spritely. You can knock a few more kilograms off Masahiro-san’s car thanks to the carbon fiber composite roof panel a previous owner installed.

這輛車沿著高速公路駛向停車場(chǎng)。對(duì)于比它的車主尚年長(zhǎng)10歲的一臺(tái)車而言，它的動(dòng)力驚人地好。但考慮到Esprit出廠重量只有1067公斤，而其渦輪增壓內(nèi)聯(lián)四引擎的功率高達(dá)218馬力，它給人的震撼于駕駛樂趣也就不足為奇了。而前車主安裝的碳纖維復(fù)合材料車頂，甚至讓Masahiro-san的車又減幾公斤。

‘Simplify, then add lightness’?continues to be the ethos of this car, long after Colin Chapmen coined the phrase.

“簡(jiǎn)化，還要更加輕盈”自從科林·查普曼（路特斯品牌創(chuàng)始人——譯者注）創(chuàng)造了這個(gè)短語，路特斯就一直沒有偏離它的初心。。

Despite being 35 minutes early to Tatsumi, the other two Esprit owners were already there with their cars. This is Japan of course, and 10 minutes early is five minutes late. What a sight to behold.

盡管我們?cè)缌?5分鐘，但其他兩名Esprit車主也已經(jīng)開著車到了。要知道，這是在日本，而早到10分鐘就是晚到5分鐘。多么壯觀的景象??！

Lining the three cars up alongside each other, it was nice to see the different evolutions in design, starting from the two earlier S3 Turbos?and ending with the?later S4 model. We’ve skipped the oddly-numbered X180, and?not only could we not find an S1, we couldn’t get our hands on a V8 either.

當(dāng)這三款車并排排列，你很容易就能看到設(shè)計(jì)上的演變：從較早的兩款S3 turbo開始，到后來的S4車型。（我們跳過了那款有著奇怪編號(hào)的X180，此外，我們不僅找不到S1，也找不到V8款式。）

The two silver Esprits are mostly stock, but that doesn’t stop their young drivers from enjoying them as a gentleman might appreciate a fine single-malt whiskey.

這兩款銀色的esprit是三臺(tái)中最接近原廠狀態(tài)的（也是車齡最大的），但這并不妨礙它們的年輕司機(jī)享受它們，就像一位紳士也懂得欣賞一瓶上等的單一麥芽威士忌一樣。

Masahiro-san’s Turbo Esprit is sporting some classic Panasport?G7 C5C-L wheels, a brand which suits the Lotus to a tee. I think James would have found them rather dashing, don’t you?

Masahiro先生的渦輪Esprit則恰恰相反：經(jīng)典而富有運(yùn)動(dòng)特性的Panasport G7 C5C-L車輪，以及最最適合路特斯的T形尾翼。我想邦德會(huì)覺得它們很時(shí)髦，你說呢?

The Esprit may not be as revered by Bond fans as the Aston Martin, but I think it has more than earned a place amongst the best.

Esprit可能不像阿斯頓·馬丁那樣受到邦德迷的尊敬，但我認(rèn)為它絕對(duì)無愧于系列中最好的車型。