PH Fleet Intro: Lotus Elise Sport 135
A Lotus joins the PH Fleet - but will it prove lots of trouble?
But, back to the present, and there are, apparently, more than a few of you out there interested in 15-year old British sports cars among Pistonheads' incredibly diverse demographic.
Specifically, I've narrowed down my target audience. They are the ex-hot-hatch-owners-running-a-RWD-sportscar-on-a-shoestring-that's-not-an-MX-5. If I can't engage with them I'm in serious jeopardy, and I'll just have to resort to mentioning Mazdas in every paragraph. Apparently this is recommended for 'search engine optimisation' purposes anyway.
Now I can't match Dale and his project RX-(sub)8 when it comes to a long-term goal for my Lotus, but I do have a few plans for the coming months. All of these are catalogued on my L-O-T-U-S list. That stands for Laughably Optimistic Trackday and Upgrade Schedule. Top of the list, and booked in for next week, is a big treat for all the tucked away bits that you can't see. I've dubbed it the suspension vajazzle.
First up, the rusty old wishbones are coming off. All the bushings and balljoints are going in the bin, and then a lovely set of freshly stripped and plated wishbones slotted in. Finally, new bushings, balljoints and Nitron's gorgeous NTR Fast Road shocks will be installed and the whole thing given a geo.
I've got to say I'm very excited about the whole thing. Fitting those new one-way adjustable dampers, in place of the 30,000-mile Bilsteins, would be considered a substantial upgrade on their own, but refreshing all these teenage components together should add up to something really significant. And with so much of the undercarriage cleaned up and looking spanky at the end of it, I'll no longer think of my Elise as a bit of an armadillo.
Last month saw the other major constituent of the handling equation finally sorted out. Having scoured the classifieds, I found a set of Yokohama Advan Neova LTS (that's the designation for a Lotus-specific tyre) in S1 Sizes for £240. Fitting added another £60, but selling the old tyres clawed me back £100, making the net cost just £200 for a full-set of virtually new and well-recommended tyres. Billy bargain. Of course, being a bloke, I've already mentally earmarked the £400 saving on trackdays.
Which neatly brings me to where I'll be driving it. As a weekend toy on a limited mileage policy, I'll have to be a little miserly with the epic road trips, nevertheless the first bon voyage I have planned is next month in northern France for a Lotus on Track day at Abbeville.
This is attractive for several reasons. Firstly at £99 it is cheap. Even factoring the cost of the crossing it's good value for money as the track is only an hour from Calais. It'll also make a change from the tedious journey to Bedford or Oulton Park. Then there is the French disdain for rules. Well, not at the behest of safety I hasten to add, but from the videos I've seen, they don't seem to take too much offence to a bit of skidding. Which is a bonus. And finally with so many Elises having made an exchange-rate inspired one-way trip to new homes on the Continent in recent years, it will be immensely satisfying to reverse that trend and bring mine back home again.
Fact sheet
Car: 1998 Lotus Elise Sport 135
Run by: Danny Milner
Bought: October 2010
Purchase price: £9,500
This month at a glance: Triple whammy of cambelt service, tax and a Lotus owner's number one possession (a valid AA card) dents bank balance, but cash clawed back by saving money on tyre upgrade. Although not quite sure how that works out.
am glad its not my money, but top marks for choosing somedthing diffrent and English. Hows the ride ive heard they can be back braking on our roads ?
They are cheap to run. Every car has its big bills when they are 13 years old - imagine the cost of tyres and cambelt on something like an E39 M5 (available for around £9,500).... (if M5s had belts). They key is that they are very light on consumables, even on track, and light on fuel as well.
They must be driven to be fully appreciated as well - nothing like a nice basic S1 Elise for feel and involvement.
am glad its not my money, but top marks for choosing somedthing diffrent and English. Hows the ride ive heard they can be back braking on our roads ?
They're bloody noisy, especially when going over bumps and potholes, but you'll struggle to find any other sportscar that rides anywhere near as well. You certainly won't find a sporty Audi that does.
As to whether it's good value or not, it doesn't have anything to do with the age of the car or what bills are coming up - it's totally dependent on what people are willing to pay. If the average price is £6k, then this car is overpriced. If it's £12k, then it's great value...
A nice complement for that 135 head is a set of Piper 633 cams (you'll need vernier pulleys) and a good 4-2-1 manifold (EBD or Piper) as the standard one is rubbish. It'll all make the car much happier to rev whilst not buggering up the low down torque.
Enjoy it. You've got a lovely car.
Would they not buy an NA VX220 for a few grand less?
Also cheaper to insure by a decent whack.
My first briefing from Abbeville four or five years ago!
I learnt more about my Elise and more about car control in one day there in the rain than anywhere else, ever.
Don't forget to upgrade the brakes - the standard items will fade horribly on track. Also a set of harnesses are a must, both from safety and keeping in the right place in the seat on track.
Don't forget that even Lotus admit it is near impossible to drift an Elise, there simply isn't enough steering angle, once it goes - it goes!
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