RE: Chris Harris video: Lotus Exige S

RE: Chris Harris video: Lotus Exige S

Thursday 26th April 2012

Chris Harris video: Lotus Exige S

You've read the story (hopefully) - now watch Chris Harris and the Lotus Exige S on video!



The car oversteered in a manner I hadn't ever experienced before. If I had managed to throw every last degree of opposite lock at the slide at the right moment, it might just have been catchable, but I didn't get anywhere close. I was in a Lotus Elise, my two-month-old Lotus Elise - and it was about to undergo some choice bodywork modifications courtesy of my fledgling's lack of skill, a large grass bank and a maroon Volvo 440.


I use this tale, and the arrival of this superb Exige S to illustrate why this new car is so impressive. It isn't just an even progression from the 1996 Elise to the present day. To drive, it's a completely different machine. Tyre technology, chassis electronics and human knowledge have all had a drastic effect on what was, dare I say it, a pretty wild handling car from day one.

What the Elise had, from the start, was suppleness and clear, unhindered responses. Up to about 8/10ths, it was a masterclass in why all other sports cars weighed too much and carried way too much spring rate. Beyond that point, the original Elise was lethal. As mentioned above, I experienced this first hand. Big roll angles meant big lift-off oversteer, and the old P-Zero was shambolic in the wet. Don't buy into all this stuff about the early Elise being a honey - beyond 8/10ths it could be more spiteful than a 1977 911 Turbo.

Why so? Partly because the pure Lotus chassis thinking made it that way, but also because the team of test drivers, the Kershaws, Beckers, McQueens, were so handy that they could sort a wayward Elise at 100mph in the wet - the trouble being few other people could.


I ran a series one Exige in 2001 for eight months and 12,000 miles. It was a hoot, but its trick Yokohamas could also be a flipping nightmare in the wet. It was a car you didn't deliberately provoke because you weren't quite sure of the consequences.

The big change came with the series two Elise and its totally revised chassis and Bridgestone tyres. It was a much, much easier car to drive at the limit, and it set the tone for all subsequent improvements. Thereon in, the car became faster, meaner and aided by more complicated electronic systems, but it was still a saddled with too little power to be able to drive you out of a slidey-problem, and it lacked rear chassis stiffness, causing it to sap confidence when you turned into higher-speed turns. You turned the wheel and there was always this initial, disconcerting movement from the back of the car.

With the Exige S, that movement is gone. The car gives you way more confidence than the Sport 260, its systems are bewildering in their capabilities and the car now has proper propulsion. Switch the systems off, which you can do, and it'll hold slides. Silly, but fun.

This car doesn't drive like a continuation exercise. For me, it nails any Evora or outgoing Elise because it feels quite different to any other Elise-based product I've driven.

Enjoy the vid.

   
   

 

Author
Discussion

PascalBuyens

Original Poster:

2,868 posts

281 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
I absolutely loved the way the Elise S1 drove, Chris...

Exige S1 was already a bit too "sterile" for me...

And the S2... Hmm.. never could live with the initial understeer.

Edited to add: seen the video, and it just doesn't sound right... a Lotus "helping you to steer"... Hmm... I'll pass thanks.

Edited by PascalBuyens on Wednesday 25th April 20:35

wackojacko

8,581 posts

189 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Fugly looking thing....

p4cks

6,885 posts

198 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
That's the ugliest rear end I've seen for a while!

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
a lotus that deserves the lotus badge bounce

i prefer the more masculine looking older exiges

and 50k .....

jon-

16,496 posts

215 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
The black and gold race Evora(??) at 11 seconds is just perfect.

I always loved the old Exige due to how aggressive it looked. This one just looks a bit... soft.

Fish

3,975 posts

281 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
God I love this car....

Woza

1,253 posts

235 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
high praise indeed - i'll stick with my evora for a little while longer though...

ArsE92

21,007 posts

186 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
What's the deal with the thread title?

Renn Sport

2,761 posts

208 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
How are the slides so progressive with an open diff???

Usually one wheel spinning up I find destabilises the car.

r1ch

2,867 posts

195 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Sounds like good fun to me. Looks great in green.

Mr Noble

6,535 posts

232 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Want to drive this car NOW!!! Looks fabulous!

If only I was rich enough to enter one straight into the Lotus Cup UK race series smile


Renn Sport

2,761 posts

208 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Love the enthusiasm in this video.

Thanks...

TheEnd

15,370 posts

187 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Title bombed!

Raja

8,290 posts

234 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Has it lost the roof scoop?

Think I like the idea of the roadster better if that's the case. Especially as that version doesn't have that rear spoiler.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Looks awesome. Mark 1 Exige is the one on my wish list however...

wackojacko

8,581 posts

189 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Renn Sport said:
How are the slides so progressive with an open diff???

Usually one wheel spinning up I find destabilises the car.
Mid engined car is stlightly less effected by what you describe due to the extra weight towards the rear axle...


However If the rear has lost grip by it being unsettled by a poke of power or flick the inside rear shouldn't spin up in the wet when sliding as it feels like you almost have identical grip levels on each wheel.

GTiFrank

625 posts

183 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
50k and easy to drive, they are on to a winner here, for all who find the high end Catherhams, GT3's, Radicals and the like too scary.

Lawrence5

1,253 posts

234 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
Want...

jakesmith

9,461 posts

170 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
the guy from lotus was charismatic wasn't he!

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Wednesday 25th April 2012
quotequote all
ok it might not be like the original Elise. But I reckon it looks like a damn awesome car! biggrin