Grid Crasher attends secret unveiling of British roadster…

Lotus’ first all-new car since 1995, the tentatively-titled ‘Project Eagle’, will be officially shown to the world at an 11.30 press conference at the British Motor Show next Tuesday.

To whet the appetites of dealers and a few Lotus-hungry celebs, however, a secret unveiling was held at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden last night. Security was extremely tight, but a Grid Crasher spy managed to sneak in and take a look.

Read our spy’s first-hand report below:

Organisers at last night event’s were tearing their hair out trying to get Lotus’ new car into Covent Garden without it being snapped by the press, and it was equally secretive inside. I had to wait twenty minutes to get in while they performed security checks that included searching every single bus and train in the museum display!

Once inside, it was clear I was never going to be able to fire off a few cheeky camera phone pictures. The car itself, which I was allowed to walk around and get inside, was beautiful. It looks nothing like the prototypes being bandied around over the past few months. It feels a lot bigger than an Elise, particularly around the front of the chassis - it had more of a feel of an Audi R8 or a Ferrari than the short aggressive snout of the older model.  From the outside, the two rear seats are completely hidden by the sleek lines, and the 3.5litre V6  (which is said to do 0-60mph in under five seconds) all but eliminates rear-view visibility. But hey, who buys a Lotus for rear-view visibility?

We were told that the interior uses more leather than any other car (which I find hard to believe, considering the latest efforts from Rolls Royce) and they were boasting that two adults could comfortably fit in the back. I’m not sure how big these adults were supposed to be, as there was approximately 5mm leg room and anyone over five feet tall would hit their head!

As you’d expect, there is a state-of-the-art Alpine sound system inside, and seven-inch touchscreen display that features a reversing camera, sat nav, iPod connectivity and tons of other mod cons. It also has a removable drive which can be used as a portable Mmp3 player or a roaming sat nav.

The most interesting feature of the cockpit was the dash display, which had a retro feel and two red displays reminiscent of those seen in the KITT Trans Am from Knight Rider.

The event last night was mainly a showcase for dealers, but Destiny’s Child Kelly Rowland also put in an appearance (she turned up in her Elise). Patrick Dempsey has also ordered one and the Lotus people were saying they were inundated with calls from a very excited Jay Leno yesterday.

Interesting stuff indeed from our covert operative. But would Jay Leno manage to fit his massive chin inside the roadster? Doubtful.