RE: Lotus Elise Cup 250: Driven
Discussion
andy_s said:
kambites said:
What's it attached to? There's no way the clam there is strong enough to take any significant aero-load.
No idea - it says it generates 60 odd kilos (about twice the normal?) at 100mph, sure we'll hear if any disappear into the boot 
andy_s said:
kambites said:
Assuming that 60kg is the car overall, I'd imagine 59.9kg of that is coming from the extended splitter and diffuser.
Well, it's only glued on tat so easy to peel off and just run with the splitter & diffuser I would imagine...!
kambites said:
I'd hope they've put structural members through the boot space and that wing is mounted to the engine subframe. They have a history of not bothering though; the early S2 Exige was especially amusing in that the wing was mounted to the boot lid which flapped around if you breathed on it.
It was a novel way of keeping the boot shut... I think they revised the fixings a few models ago (it gets confusing) before the V6 I think...Adam Ansel said:
For the money I would take the Caterham every single time. It is a far purer experience and doesn't look like it was dragged through Halfords backwards.
Why do people always put Caterham and Lotus in the same bracket? The Elise is loads more practical and can be a sole car to do it all. It is also at least 95% as exciting as the Seven.Maybe but a Seven is a right pain in the arse when used for anything other than a blat or trackday.
Edited by SidewaysSi on Friday 29th April 06:59
Reading the article, one gets a greater sense for the fastidious attention to detail on things like mass. Okay, the admonishment to "add lightness" is of course a thing of historical record. But this car is a useful reminder of the consultancy that Lotus do for other OEMs.
I imagine that it would be a fun challenge to be shown a prototype or early design from a large-volume OEM -- and to be told, "Here's what we face in terms of restrictions on budget and on production process. Now, have a go."
SidewaysSi said:
Adam Ansel said:
For the money I would take the Caterham every single time. It is a far purer experience and doesn't look like it was dragged through Halfords backwards.
Why do people always put Caterham and Lotus in the same bracket? The Elise is loads more practical and can be a sole car to do it all. It is also at least 95% as exciting as the Seven.Congratualtions to DPS Fleet for being first in with the totally appropriate quote from ACBC 'add lightness"
Magnificent news too that Gales is returning to true Lotus core principles - add lightness plus more power from the same unit = greater performance, in contradiction to adding a turbo or two on downsized lumps to pass 'tax and emissions' requirements.......Stuttgart ??? PS. I do own both a Classic Elan Sprint and a 993 Carrera, I have a moderate understanding through ownership. Interestingly the Elans power to weight ratio for a 1558cc 126bhp 4 cylinder is greater than the 911 with 3600cc 6 cylinders and 284bhp.
It was Colin Chapman's overriding obsession, making his racing cars as light as possible. then lightening them more !
He didn't always get it right mind you, the hollow drive shafts on early single seater race cars were twisted by the engines torque output, certainly showed the principle taken too far but such was his obsession. Even to not including washers on certain nuts and bolts - leading to mechanical failures.
The late 1950's Coventry Climax engined Elite with the monocoque glass fibre body, was first released to privateer racers, for them to do pre production testing. Notably Chris Barber the jazz player and bandleader was one of the first such people with a pre production Elite on the track. It was said at Lotus that when Chapman put out his own Team Lotus Elites in competition, he had upon recall, filled the privateers race car doors with sand to add weight - so they would not be as quick as his factory cars ! All's fair in love and racing.....
The Le Mans Elites won their engine size class there in the index of thermal efficiency - covering most miles for least fuel used through the race, due to their lightness, aerodynamics and hi power low capacity 1200cc engine. Jim Clark was asked how the tiny Elite had compared to his Le Mans Aston, especially on the Mulsanne straight, he replied it was quite favourable being able to achieve a maximum 143mph with the Aston unable to top 150mph !
Keep 'adding lightness'
Magnificent news too that Gales is returning to true Lotus core principles - add lightness plus more power from the same unit = greater performance, in contradiction to adding a turbo or two on downsized lumps to pass 'tax and emissions' requirements.......Stuttgart ??? PS. I do own both a Classic Elan Sprint and a 993 Carrera, I have a moderate understanding through ownership. Interestingly the Elans power to weight ratio for a 1558cc 126bhp 4 cylinder is greater than the 911 with 3600cc 6 cylinders and 284bhp.
It was Colin Chapman's overriding obsession, making his racing cars as light as possible. then lightening them more !
He didn't always get it right mind you, the hollow drive shafts on early single seater race cars were twisted by the engines torque output, certainly showed the principle taken too far but such was his obsession. Even to not including washers on certain nuts and bolts - leading to mechanical failures.
The late 1950's Coventry Climax engined Elite with the monocoque glass fibre body, was first released to privateer racers, for them to do pre production testing. Notably Chris Barber the jazz player and bandleader was one of the first such people with a pre production Elite on the track. It was said at Lotus that when Chapman put out his own Team Lotus Elites in competition, he had upon recall, filled the privateers race car doors with sand to add weight - so they would not be as quick as his factory cars ! All's fair in love and racing.....
The Le Mans Elites won their engine size class there in the index of thermal efficiency - covering most miles for least fuel used through the race, due to their lightness, aerodynamics and hi power low capacity 1200cc engine. Jim Clark was asked how the tiny Elite had compared to his Le Mans Aston, especially on the Mulsanne straight, he replied it was quite favourable being able to achieve a maximum 143mph with the Aston unable to top 150mph !
Keep 'adding lightness'
Edited by Oakman on Thursday 28th April 22:54
Gandahar said:
Lefty said:
jl34 said:
the last they need is a dual clutch gearbox , it would weigh a ton and i doubt it would appeal to lotus drivers anyway
Absolutely. It's a car for really driving, a car for mechanical interaction between human and machine. I kind of wish they'd go back to the old days of no brake servo too. To you.
The base price is very attractive, Lotus sales team did the pricing quite cleverly. Not many people will buy without aircon or a radio outside the UK. So I'm sure most will be OTR for circa 50k. If its bought for track days then the options including the awful spoilers will put it closer to 55k.
Have to agree about the design department though, the last ten years hasn't presented anything which appeals to me visually.
Thorburn said:
kambites said:
Given that the cup doesn't actually come with a roof as standard, it could be argued that it's fairer in this case than most.
It does? Soft-top as standard, optional hard-top.Article said:
With a radio and the roof optioned in, it could make perfectly habitable transport
to mean it didn't come with a roof, especially given that with some previous track focussed Elises part of the "weight saving" has come from not supplying a roof. Edited by kambites on Friday 29th April 07:57
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff