Elemental RP1: Driven
Elemental RP1 wants to make its mark on the track day market, we take an early drive to see if it stands a chance
Fierce competition - can it compete?
With that £70K burning a hole in your pocket what would make you walk past established players like the Atom 3.5R, the Caterham 620R, the Radical SR3 SL, the BAC Mono and into the eager arms of Elemental? Impressive though they are the bare stats of a sub-600kg weight, 300hp-plus Ecoboost turbo engine, carbon construction and sequential gearbox aren't enough. In this company you need a USP to at least equal Ariel's trademark skeletal construction, Radical's bona fide 'race car for the road' breeding or the Seven's formidable heritage.
Looks like a Zenos, reality much more serious
Putting that question to founder John Begley and finance man Alex Graham the word that keeps coming back is downforce. Begley's experience at McLaren and his collaboration with another ex-Woking man (composites expert Peter Kent) mean a race team's focus on the seemingly opposing goals of increasing downforce while minimising drag. So to the RP1's trademark feature - the 'feet up' driving position that has enabled substantial underbody tunnels to suck the front of the car to the track, a flat underside and corresponding channels at the rear to generate positive downforce from just 60-70mph with no external wings. Begley is cagey with numbers at this stage but reckons equalling the car's bodyweight in downforce at higher speeds is well within the capability of the aero package, especially if you take advantage of the adjustability and drop the ride height down from its stock road friendly 110mm to a more track biased 50mm. Camber, anti-roll and more is all easily adjustable too, the RP1 designed from the off as user friendly for one-man-and-his-trailer track dayers, hillclimbers and racers.
Indeed, a painstakingly detailed customer profile was raised when we first saw the car a few weeks back; in short though, Begley welcomes the fettlers and the fiddlers who want to tune the car's feel to their own particular tastes.
Real aero is the Elemental's USP
At this stage you're probably looking at the Elemental and thinking 'very nice, but it basically looks like a Zenos but more than twice the price.' A suspicion likely to be fuelled by the shared Ecoboost powertrain and basic ideology. In truth - and driving - the Elemental reveals itself to be a far more serious proposition though.
Clear objectives
Which is something of a relief actually. Zenos founders Ansar Ali and Mark Edwards had a clear vision of the car they wanted to build and a very focused business plan dictating the engineering choices and positioning as a fast, fun and most of all affordable track toy. And they've hit the nail on the head.
550hp per tonne will do the trick!
Mounting the engine like this means using a race sequential - in this case a Hewland - and puts it alongside more exotic fare like the BAC Mono and Radical SR3 SL. Paired with that distinctive feet-up driving position, pushrod operated suspension and features like a sacrificial plywood skid plate beneath and you have a road-legal track car that has more than a bit of LMP2 car about its general demeanour.
It's a physical car to drive too. The seating position means you have to stand and drop yourself in, as you would a single seater. Once settled it feels entirely natural though, the wheel surprisingly close to your chest and hefty to turn. The brakes need a firm prod and with the pneumatically operated sequential there's a degree of adaptation required if you're more accustomed to regular manuals or even the mechanical sequentials fitted to fancier Caterhams and the like.
Plenty on here to make note of!
You feather the clutch to move away and when you come to a halt but apart from that it's tug the weeny carbon paddles and let the engine and gearbox talk to each other to deliver whip-crack flat shifts with perfectly matched revs. You sense the gear going in through the bulkhead and there's a pleasingly mechanical clonk each time you tug a paddle but there's absolutely no let-up in acceleration.
Given its road car roots the Ecoboost is no high-rev screamer but Elemental's bespoke Life Racing ECU has been tweaked to avoid destabilising low-rev boost spikes and over-zealous torque delivery and the power delivery is relentlessly strong. This thing is fast. Properly fast. Properly, properly fast. With the aero to match the Radicals and the like round the corners but the power to leave even heavily boosted road cars on the straights this thing is going to be absolutely devastating on a track day. There's perhaps less whizz-bang charisma than the comparable installation in the Zenos, the Elemental's racer focus meaning it's a much more functional sound. You'll be going so fast you won't mind though.
And it's incredibly tractable too. Though it felt short geared for the Chobham test track's open turns Begley assures us it'll run out to 170mph; what's striking is how hard it pulls even from 60mph or so in fifth or even sixth. That'll be the 550hp per tonne power to weight ratio then. Without access to a handling circuit it's hard to assess how effective the aero and mechanical grip work but as the speeds build the Elemental's stability is obvious enough and the fundamental balance of the car is there to make slower, twistier circuits fun with the aero opening up the possibilities on faster tracks like Silverstone. Suffice to say, this combination of traditional lightweight agility, proper downforce and genuinely jaw-dropping thrust is going to give the Elemental a very broad operating window on the track and the road.
There will be space for a Le Mans trip. Really
Final judgement will have to wait until we drive the final production car on a track with, you know, corners and stuff. But the passion of the team is infectious, the car looks great and goes like absolute stink. Is there space for another track toy then? If it's as good as this you'd have to hope so.
ELEMENTAL RP1
Engine: 1,999cc 4-cyl turbocharged
Transmission: 6-speed sequential, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 320@N/A rpm
Torque (lb ft): 332@N/A rpm
0-60mph: 3.1sec (claimed)
Top speed: 160-170mph (claimed)
Weight: c.580-600kg (ready to drive)
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
Price: £75,750
Elemental RP1 - the cars it has to beat...
Engine/gearbox: 240hp Ecoboost 2.0-litre turbo, longitudinal, sequential
Price: c. £70,000
Good: 'Race car for the road' cliche taken literally
Not so good: It's no looker
Engine/gearbox: 310hp Duratec 2.0 supercharged, mechanical sequential
Price: c. £50,000
Good: Classic mentalism, carried off with experience and class
Not so good: Old-school dynamics no match for the aero cars; cramped
Engine/gearbox: 285hp Ecoboost 2.0 turbo, transverse, manual
Price: c. £60,000
Good: Looks smart, goes well
Not so good: Pricey, given mechanical layout
Engine/gearbox: 250hp Ecoboost turbo 2.0-litre, transverse, manual
Price: c. £30,000
Good: Good looking, fun to drive, bargain
Not so good: Cleverly done but it is built to a price
Engine/gearbox: 310hp (R 350hp) 2.0-litre Honda VTEC supercharged, transverse, manual (sequential option)
Price: £54K+VAT upwards...
Good: Nothing looks or goes like it
Not so good: Hyperactive and totally unhinged, whether you want it to be or not
Engine/gearbox: 285hp 2.3-litre Duratec, longitudinal, sequential
Price: c. £75K
Good: Stunning looks, stunning performance
Not so good: Pricey, only for the single-minded/unsociable
Engine/gearbox: 3.5-litre V6 supercharged, transverse, manual with sequential option
Price: £82K upwards
Good: Fastest of its type by a mile and celebrated brand heritage
Not so good: Expensive given transverse engine and lack of carbon
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I can't afford one, but the Zenos is less than half the price, so that's what I've gone for. If i had the spare cash for the RP1, I'd be looking at BAC or the 3-11 instead. Unfortunately the on the road prices of these two would actually put them somewhere above the elemental.
I've had lots of elises including a 211 for two years.
TBH, I don't think any of them are going to win best looking car of the year.
The Zenos is great bang for buck. Is it compromised, absolutely, but for I'm guessing 90% of track day heroes it fits the bill perfectly.
With the ecoboost unit they have plenty of spare capacity to up the power.
the real star I think is the removable windscreen and "get you home hood". As much as an open top car is great, sometimes its alot of pain. Having the option for a removable windscreen and shower hood does really add to the practical use of the car.
the bac mono is great but the most fun I've had on track has always been with a passenger so for me, thats out straight away.
The caterham I've never got on with - just a bit too tail happy for me.
the RP1 is shaping up to be exceptional with proper low weight, excellent downforce (without wings!), conventional race transmission layout and sequential box.
the lotus should be the winner here but I can't help but feel it's too heavy (it's heavier than a pre toyota mk2 elise) and out of step with the others.
Sure it'll be the fastest with 450+ on tap but we've seen the video of the bac mono hassling a (badly driven) P1 so power isn't everything.
For me - weekend toy, i'd be more than happy with the zenos but dedicated track toy I'd be leaning to the rp1.
For me i would be spending half the money on a Caterham 360 or 420 or a Zenos as a weekend toy. But then again if i had the extra cash to spend 70-80k on this sorta car it would probs be a 4th or 5th car in the garage.....
I would like to see a Race series with UK low volume cars in, Lotus, Caterham, Zenos, Westfield, BAC etc
Its still a prototype but they are looking at production very soon!
http://elementalcars.co.uk/
Car looks great but a little derivative,and one make series ideas above sounds sensible.
Hope they will target UAE etc and not just mortgage ridden / disposable-income-constrained-Europe.
Hacking along a B road, turn into a corner loading the tyres up. Hit a bump on the inside, lose all downforce and suddenly find tyres a lot less loaded and outside their ability to grip...
Very wary of anything that creates downforce from the tarmac, when the tarmac isn't pan flat.
Am I being a tart?
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