That goes back to what you were saying about the elf'n'safety morons. Unfortunately there cars are still in production - now they're 'world cars' (my god, I really hate that phrase) they're having to fit airbags, ABS and all that jazz. I don't suppose the change from a K-Series to a Toyota lump can have helped much either.

Nonetheless, you should get yourself a drive in an '08 Exige with the Performance Pack.

Alistair explained that the problems with the brakes were caused by starting with a non-servoed, non-ABS system - to which they added a servo and ABS. The new system they have is an all-new AP 'pedal-calipers' set-up. You simply will not believe how much better the brakes are as a result.

That horrible dead spot at the top of the travel has now completely disappeared, as has that weird 'are these discs made of sponge' feeling when you're really getting stuck in.

The re-map has also made a big difference - it's got a much beefier mid-range and smoother delivery now.

Hmmm, time for me to drive antoher one then, as the above points (especially the dead zone at the top of the pedal travel and the 'squishy' feel) were exactly the ones I took note of when driving the then-new 111R (having driven a Mk1 111S and a bone stock K-series Mk2 before)...

I'm not sure which cars you can get the new brakes on...

I drove the Elise SC and they weren't offered on that in January, which I though was odd. They might have changed their mind though.

Ah yes, that pale yellow thing - according to Performance Car it was a good deal more powerful (680?), a fair bit lighter and pretty well sorted dynamically, if still a tad large.

i've always been a big fan of this car - apparently 3 prototypes were made, I wonder if they still exist?

No, because I just couldn't deal with how it looks.
For me, it's a true retina-wrecker.

The guys at McLaren brought one in during the early stages of the F1 project (along with an NSX and F40).
They were genuinely incredulous at how much of it turned out to be wasted space.

Well, have to say, spent most of the afternoon reading this thread, facinating reading. Great to hear from someone such as Flemke who is willing to share experiences of one of the, if not the worlds greatest road cars.

I could pour of an F1 for days examining the detail etc, superb machine, but I love the purity of the experience, similar (albeit on a massively reduced scale) to my Lotus Elise.

I once had the pleasure of seeing 3 F1's barrelling down the M20 towards the tunnel, must of been a couple of years back now, but 1 or two were definately LM's, and I'm sure one was Flemke's colour!

Brilliant reading Flemke, look forward to hearing more on the progress.

Couldn't agree more, sadly with crash regualtions, airbags and safety systems the weights will continue to rise to the point where we're all driving around in vehicles that are complete automatic, and have 40 airbags.

Crikey, didn't realise it was that long ago! I remember just getting time to wind the windows down and then try to explain in some detail the rarity of seeing 3 together. Her response was 'yes dear, they're pretty'.....

Fantastic sight and one I shall not forget (or probably see again). I can only dream of owning such a car, but I have a poster of an F1 in my study as a 'motivational' picture to work harder!

Nevertheless, I'm not jealous of people such as yourself that appreciate what they have, just envious! Thanks for the insight.

Hahaha! Was actually linked to another 'supercar spotting' thread on here from a Lotus forum, and then saw and became enthralled. I should of been cleaning the cars today, but got into reading this instead.

Very much looking forward to seeing the choice in colour. I too favour the blues, from a 'smurf blue' Renault Clio, to a deeper blue Megane R26 to my ice blue S2 Elise (very similar colour to the F1 just posted).