RE: Sublime Lotus Motorsport Elise for sale

[thelostboy]

9000rpm said:

I was lucky enough to be a young engineer working as part of a small group people at Lotus to turn the Motorsport Elise into the Exige. What an amazing time that was, incredible memories. If I could go back in time to any part of my working career, it would be this period. The small dedicated team called Special Projects was full of passion to make something truly special.

That's awesome! You may know of John Danby then who runs our car?

I also have a Sport 190 built by Special Projects if I understand correctly.

[thelostboy]

86wasagoodyear said:

Fabulous.
Anyone got a photo of one showing a central seat interior ?

Here's a couple of mine.

[Demonix]

That looks awesome, hopefully the next owner will use as intended rather than just add to a collection of cars in hermetically sealed pods that never see the light of day or tarmac until they have appreciated sufficiently in value and take a trip to auction on the back of a truck!

[sheepdip]

I owned a laser blue version on a V plate. Converted to right hand drive from a race shell I believe. It was missing some significant bits including the original spec engine. But thought it would make a good hill climb/sprint car. First time I entered an event found my helmet clashed with the cage as it was made for central seating position! So back up for sale and sold to a guy in the states. I bought the car from Southampton then took it back there for the shipping to the states! From North Yorkshire! It spent most of its time with me on a trailer! Oh bought and sold for approx £15k about 18 years ago.

[British Beef]

I suspect central driving position on these, would be an absolute pig to get in and out of, which for a target audience of people of a certain age (40+) would render it useless, not to mention unable to share experience with anyone else.

Great looking thing, and very nice colour combo, plus a bit of history!

[Vulcanproject]

Gran Turismo truly has a cultural consciousness of its own. I couldn't think of anything else upon seeing this car. I'm happy to see it appears to be the same for many others.

[86wasagoodyear]

thelostboy said:

86wasagoodyear said:

Fabulous.
Anyone got a photo of one showing a central seat interior ?

Here's a couple of mine.

That is fantastic. So minimal & focussed. Must be great fun to drive. Thanks

[Davyf]

That's a proper panel gap just in front of the door,

[CKY]

thelostboy said:

That's awesome! You may know of John Danby then who runs our car?

I also have a Sport 190 built by Special Projects if I understand correctly.

I saw some JDR trucks/mechanics were running a few BTCC cars at Donington in March - would be interested to know what happened to the poor sod in the Honda DC5 Integra; appeared to suffer total brake failure at the Melbourne Loop, not what i'd want happening to a professionally-run BTCC car.

[v9]

Davyf said:

That's a proper panel gap just in front of the door,

That’s not a panel gap dude, it’s a bunch of vents to pull air through the front clam. Even if it had horrible gaps, it’s totally missing the point of these cars. You often hear/read about people saying F40s are rubbish too because they have badly fitting panels and smell of glue! Point missed by a country mile!

[Moospeed]

Lotobear said:

TGCOTF-dewey said:

Wasn't the builder Minster rather than Minister? Same chaps who did the R500 units?

Minister

I got some work done there a very long time ago. An odd moment when I went to pick the crank and flywheel up, gave my name and the chap went off. Came back with another confused looking guy who said "was I supposed to have an engine for you?". The confusion was because the guy had the exact same name as me, not even a common name...

Years later I had a good poke around a motorsport Elise at a BTTC meet.

My main memory of that day though was that whilst I was poking around the Elise, in the car park there was a scrote having a poke around my E30 M3 that he'd just broken into. I hope he suffered or died in a painful way but that doesn't seem to happen.

[KeMe]

Small incorrect detail by Pistonheads...only 1 of the 3 prototypes was built with a central driving position but sadly that was distroyed whilst testing at Hethel.

[Bencolem]

Lovely (although I’d prefer the 5 spokes).

Don’t think this one ever had the central driving position - but given how much I struggled getting in and out of my Sport 135 I could understand an owner converting a central driving position to a side-by-side if it did!

[srob]

9000rpm said:

I was lucky enough to be a young engineer working as part of a small group people at Lotus to turn the Motorsport Elise into the Exige. What an amazing time that was, incredible memories. If I could go back in time to any part of my working career, it would be this period. The small dedicated team called Special Projects was full of passion to make something truly special.

I probably worked with you then. I was an apprentice at Lotus back then and volunteered to work on the Autobytel series, although only did the Snetterton night race in the end as so many people volunteered!

I worked in the inspection lab during the days and worked on the early Exiges and motorsport Elise bits. Fun times

[Kerching]

I recall seeing Martin Donnelly I think it was in the late 90's spanking one around Brands Hatch in a test. I have some incredibly lo-res digital images from the session.

it was great to watch

Edited by Kerching on Tuesday 14th May 20:48

[Aaron-1986]

Add it to a collection and DON'T drive it or at least only trailered to shows or drive to local shows! Unlike some idiots in these comments 🙄 the "It was made to be driven" remarks.

Stick it in a garage and enjoy it at the weekend maybe 😏

[Tickle]

Kerching said:

I recall seeing Martin Donnelly I think it was in the late 90's spanking one around Brands Hatch in a test. I have some incredibly lo-res digital images from the session.

it was great to watch

Edited by Kerching on Tuesday 14th May 20:48

Great photos and back story

[Aces_High]

Flanners said:

Yes indeed!

Lovely to see this here - Nutley is just up the road from me. I wandered across to the showroom when filling up at the petrol station recently to have a good look at this and in the flesh (or through the glass anyway) it’s just sensational. Love it.

Btw if anyone here is one of the Lotus clan who blast around Crowborough and meet outside Munich Legends….you make me greener than this car with envy. All those Lotuses in convoy on a Sunday morning is a glorious thing to see (and hear), I’ve often thought of taking the plunge myself just to tag along!!

Edited by Aces_High on Tuesday 14th May 22:19

[sege]

Kerching said:

I recall seeing Martin Donnelly I think it was in the late 90's spanking one around Brands Hatch in a test. I have some incredibly lo-res digital images from the session.

it was great to watch

Edited by Kerching on Tuesday 14th May 20:48

Great pics! Met Martin last year at a track day, what an absolute legend.

[SpudLink]

sege said:

Great pics! Met Martin last year at a track day, what an absolute legend.

I had him as a driver coach at Hethel for a day. He's a real character when he's on form. Then I met him by coincidence when he was away from the 'professional driver' environment, and was surprised how quiet he was.