In 1990 Lotus needed a race program to promote the Esprit in the US market. To do this they upgraded an Esprit SE to race in the SCCA series. The new car, strictly race prepared, was called the Type 105

Externally, the car featured plexiglass windows with newly designed rear wings and front spoilers. Mechanically, the car had new AP Racing disc brakes, new suspension geometry and new engine management. The car produced 285 horsepower from the Lotus 910S power plant. Such horsepower was realized thanks to the use of Lotus/Omega fuel injection.

The type 105 SCCA car encouraged Lotus to make a new road-going Supercar. Thus the X180R was born. It was based on the the Type 105 having 285 hp. Twenty of these replicas were produced and sold as race-ready, road-going cars. They had air conditioning, dual sports seats and chassis galvanising (which was missing on the racecars).

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In 1991, Lotus made three racecars to enter the SCCA World Challenge. These cars benefited heavily from the 1990 race season. These cars adopted the road-going name X180R despite changing to the Type 106 designation.

The 1991 X190R featured more horsepower, larger wheels and a revised roll-cage. The cage helped the car achieve a twenty percent increase in torsional rigidity. It did this by absorbing some of the front and rear loads.

The high state of tune allowed the engine to produce over 300 horsepower. Such power was realized by utilizing larger fuel injectors, enhanced charge-cooling and a non-catalyst exhaust system.

With all the modifications combined, the X190Rhad 36 more horsepower and was 300 lbs lighter than the Esprit SE.

The racing season for the X190R lasted three years. From 1991 to 1993 the car was raced with Doc Bundy taking a class championship win in 1992.