S1 Elise kit-car
Discussion
dom9 said:
ugg10 said:
The ultimate version on that basis is the hennessey venom, exige chassis (ish) with 1200hp twin turbo ls7.
A marriage of an elise front end with a sdr storm scooby rear frame bolted on the back with an elise gt1 body kit would be interesting. Elise motorsport body kits availabke on eBay as a starter to chop/extend/modify.
I would buy this!A marriage of an elise front end with a sdr storm scooby rear frame bolted on the back with an elise gt1 body kit would be interesting. Elise motorsport body kits availabke on eBay as a starter to chop/extend/modify.
I followed that V10 build from the start and I think it looks fantastic.
Longitudinal engine/'box and extended rear bodywork... Can't cost that much, can it?
Ok, maybe a V10 or Porsche engine would but the Scooby idea is interesting!
A guy in Practical Performance Car recently bought a crash damaged (not badly) car for £3,800.
Would be nice to see a GT1 still kit that used Elise underpinnings.
chuntington101 said:
Lots of options for engines, inc the Lotus V8 twin turbo.
Would be nice to see a GT1 still kit that used Elise underpinnings.
I'm surprised someone like Eliseparts hasn't done it, really. Or even Scuffers, on here.Would be nice to see a GT1 still kit that used Elise underpinnings.
Lot's of 1-offs and Honda/ Duratec conversions, which I guess are more cost effective.
Clearly a longitudinal installation is more complex in terms of fabrication but.... The Scooby engine and box may offset a fair bit.
Any engine is an option (even the GT1 had a Viper V10 in it after the Lotus V8) but I think you need a 'low entry price' to get the punters thinking.
Could a conversion kit be done for £10k (w/out engine and 'box)?
There are plenty of upgrade options on the Elise but I can't really see these making a viable kit car. A lot of the really cheap Elises have been crashed and badly repaired. Damage to the aluminium chassis is easily hidden under the bodywork and far too many have made it back onto the road, when they really shouldn't be. These upgrades tend to be quite expensive compared to comparable kit cars.
As someone that went from a Lotus Elise S1 to a Fisher Fury R1, I can tell you these cars are very different! My Fury R1 is much lighter (450kg v 780kg) has better balance and handling and is just so much quicker on the straights and through the corners. The Elise is more practical though and much more usable every day (it even has doors!). Hard to compare them really ;-)
If I was looking to build a beautiful high performance sports car with great handling from scratch (and I am), I wouldn't start with a Lotus Elise. It's a great car in its own right but it is far too compromised for being a mass-manufactured road car. You can get away with a lot more by going through the IVA process. The Elise had to pass a whole heap of European legistation, crash tests, etc.
I regret selling my Elise a lot but I had to choose and I certainly don't regret building the Fury R1 :-)
As someone that went from a Lotus Elise S1 to a Fisher Fury R1, I can tell you these cars are very different! My Fury R1 is much lighter (450kg v 780kg) has better balance and handling and is just so much quicker on the straights and through the corners. The Elise is more practical though and much more usable every day (it even has doors!). Hard to compare them really ;-)
If I was looking to build a beautiful high performance sports car with great handling from scratch (and I am), I wouldn't start with a Lotus Elise. It's a great car in its own right but it is far too compromised for being a mass-manufactured road car. You can get away with a lot more by going through the IVA process. The Elise had to pass a whole heap of European legistation, crash tests, etc.
I regret selling my Elise a lot but I had to choose and I certainly don't regret building the Fury R1 :-)
dom9 said:
Could a conversion kit be done for £10k (w/out engine and 'box)?
Possibly. The rear subframe is just a steel space-frame which is easy enough to fabricate and as long as you maintain the pick-up point geometry you could use the suspension, brakes, etc. from the donor Elise. If you were redesigning the subframe from scratch, you could use probably the OEM engine mounts from wherever you were getting the engine.
These guys do something similar as a factory conversion, not sure on price: http://www.caral.co.uk/Lotus_111_Series.html
kambites said:
Possibly.
The rear subframe is just a steel space-frame which is easy enough to fabricate and as long as you maintain the pick-up point geometry you could use the suspension, brakes, etc. from the donor Elise. If you were redesigning the subframe from scratch, you could use probably the OEM engine mounts from wherever you were getting the engine.
These guys do something similar as a factory conversion, not sure on price: http://www.caral.co.uk/Lotus_111_Series.html
Yeah, the kit would need to include the subframe and associated parts but a lot of the standard suspension, brakes etc ought to be able to be re-used with a bit of geometry tweaking on the subframe (would need confirming, though replacement wishbones wouldn't be expensive to fabricate). Ok, it would probably need widening as well, so a front and rear clam would be needed but perhaps you could 'supply your own' for modification.The rear subframe is just a steel space-frame which is easy enough to fabricate and as long as you maintain the pick-up point geometry you could use the suspension, brakes, etc. from the donor Elise. If you were redesigning the subframe from scratch, you could use probably the OEM engine mounts from wherever you were getting the engine.
These guys do something similar as a factory conversion, not sure on price: http://www.caral.co.uk/Lotus_111_Series.html
I think there is a market here (yes, there is always Caral, though their cars never seemed to be as well proportioned as the GT1/ Venom/ BMW V10) for kit car builders but it would be a relatively high entry cost due to donor cost.
Yes, it would never be as light as say an Ultima or even more stripped back kit car but you could maintain the Lotus badging and Lotus looks and that will mean a lot to some, especially if the car looks a lot like a $1M venom.
Also, will this avoid IVA and registration issue? You wouldn't be changing the central tub/ chassis after all - just supplying a new subframe and extending the arches, effectively.
Motorsport/ wider front clams exist, so the rear bodywork is arguably the hardest part. A turbo STi Boxer engine and 'box ought to be relatively cheap and provided 300bhp+ all day long.
The bodywork on the black (and white) Lotus Motorsport car (which I believe to be a one-off) shown on that Caral site would be awesome. I wonder where that car is. I only saw it once (in a back room at Lotus Motorsport, where I used to work 15-odd years ago) and it was stunning.
If this could be done, all-in, for £20k (donor, engine & 'box and conversion kit) - I think it would do well. I would guess you'd be getting closer to £30k though when you consider upgrades, refurbishing the donor, paint etc.
The Crack Fox said:
I was looking at that car with the owner this afternoon. Quite a lot of work needed, but he has the skill, it'll be a standard car when/if he gets round to finishing it.
To be fair, a lot of the issues seem to be with the clam and sourcing parts cheaply/ 2nd hand. There were no mechanical 'difficulties' in sorting that car - however, I agree he is putting a lot of effort into getting it done as cheaply as possible.We did a full chassis change (2 people) in a week on one of the Motorsport cars - They are very, very easy to work on. Yes, parts can be expensive but lots of upgrades are available now. I think that's why most Cat C/D don't seem that different in price (so his was a bargain) to a ropey non-Cat car as, unless the main tub is damaged, everything else is pretty easy to sort.
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