fitment on 5.5's
Posting a little late regarding the tire fitment. The 048 on the 5.5 rim will mount up, but is far from optimal. As Chris Rock says,"you can drive yo car with yo feet, but that don't make it right".
There are many reasons why Lotus does not recommend it. The sidewalls are pulled in too much and you end up with a rounded contact patch. During track or auto x driving, the center of the tires will run much hotter than the edges creating uneven and accelerated tire wear in the center, it will not allow the tire to heat up to temperature evenly across the entire contact patch, and grip will be compromised. Put a proper tire temp probe, (not an infrared, not as effective) and you'll see what I mean. A friend put 048's on his car with 5.5 rims on front, tracked a weekend, and you could see the rubber peeling in all the wrong places, as well as measuring over 20 degrees difference between the sides and center of tire just coming off the track. Middles were always too hot. (He bought SSR's that monday) On large (normal, heavy cars) we try for 15 degrees hotter from inside, 20max, decreasing from inside to outside of tires, assuming proper camber. The lotus should see 15 or so max difference being so light.
For normal steet driving, however, those factors are not as important nor noticeable.
Other good points were made on other posts regarding shock and spring setups. Springs and damper rates are calibrated to tires by Lotus engineers to create a balanced chassis and calculated roll under cornering loads. Putting far grippier tires on softer calibrated suspension increases body roll during aggressive driving, sometimes lessening the "tightness" during cornering, and can sometimes be dangerous, although I believe much less so in the Lotus. Don't confuse the stiffer sidewalls and the way they transmit more "feel" to the way the chassis settles during turn in and weight transfer dynamics.
Evo vs a Pagani Zonda? What kind of a comparison is that? Sheer numbers don't begin to describe the Zonda. Evo's are great cars, but price no object, it's not even close...