S2 TT Supercharger alternatives?
Discussion
It will work, so they wont do it.
I think lotus management commission special think tanks to come up with the best way to waste as much money as possible. The latest idea is how to fit 4 cupholders, 8 airbags and extra wide electric seats for our large american friends, who won't buy it anyway as it doesn't have a v8, let alone a v6. Ah well, roll on the next wave of lotus owners and managers. Dozey feckwits.
I think lotus management commission special think tanks to come up with the best way to waste as much money as possible. The latest idea is how to fit 4 cupholders, 8 airbags and extra wide electric seats for our large american friends, who won't buy it anyway as it doesn't have a v8, let alone a v6. Ah well, roll on the next wave of lotus owners and managers. Dozey feckwits.
I had a thought yesterday that if I were to name a daughter of mine Elise I hoped to god she wouldn't turn out like the car.
She would start thin and extremely attractive but time would take it's toll and she would start gaining weight. Slowly at first and she would have difficulty keeping up with competitors in life. She would then have a turn for the worse, be compelled to have plastic surgery, eat lots of pie and put on weight.
She would then move to the states where she would become a fat minger and die horribly.
The pills are wearing off now, who are these people in white coats??? ....
She would start thin and extremely attractive but time would take it's toll and she would start gaining weight. Slowly at first and she would have difficulty keeping up with competitors in life. She would then have a turn for the worse, be compelled to have plastic surgery, eat lots of pie and put on weight.
She would then move to the states where she would become a fat minger and die horribly.
The pills are wearing off now, who are these people in white coats??? ....
Rev, As far as I know the GT1 with the Lotus V8 didn't need a completely new design (although it was longer I believe but could be wrong). The V8 lotus engine is quite small and would certainly fit in the back of the exige, hey it has a bigger boot than my mini 
The other advantage of making it into a production car would be that they could race as a GT2 class and start winning races again. Or am I just dreaming again.
The other advantage of making it into a production car would be that they could race as a GT2 class and start winning races again. Or am I just dreaming again.
They need to rationalise their product range. Ditch the ancient old fashioned esprit, forget all about an m250 dream and make two versions of their core product; a cheap 4 pot elise and an expensive v6 mega fast version. Take a look at porsche a few years ago - one core model with various sucesful variations. They need to make some serious money by being focussed and not trying to do everything at once, badly.
absolutely agree. I just wish Lotus would listen to their customers.
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Exactly. A 4 pot for 22k, v6 for 28k, maybe a nutter supercharged v6 or v8 for +45k. Piece of piss. "Loads of money". Now where's that application form for the top job at lotus...
Absolutely spot on! There has to be a clear distinction between the top of the range car and the bog standard Elises.
I mean a price difference of £7k for a car that has only 36bhp more and weighs 100kg more is utterly rediculous. For gods sake Lotus it needs more power! Do they ever pay any attention to what people tell them?
Making upgrades that make the engine peak at a slightly higher power level does nothing to make these cars more fun to drive. Yes, you can go faster but you have to work that much harder to get at the power it just doesn't suit a comfortable or easy style of driving on the roads. Which to be honest was the whole appeal of the original S1 Elise, the light weight combined with the accessible power band of the untuned K-Series made driving quickly fantastic and relaxing fun.
I mean is Lotus really that hard up they can't afford to look at new engines? There are just so many options available to them it seems stupid to stay with the old Rover powerplant.
How about a small V6 in the Elise? The new Ford/Jaguar 2.1 V6 springs to mind. It wouldn't weigh significantly more than the Duratec 2.2 I4 in the VX220 and considering the new 111S has put on 100kgs in sound deadening and cup holders, it would be easy to strip out a car to compensate.
Plus fitting a V8 would be a stroke of genius, a proper supercar would certainly keep the Elise name alive and if they were to start racing properly as has been suggested, we can see some proper sporting heritage for the car. One make series really don't do anything for it's image and don't really show how good the car will compete against more 'serious' competition. How about a series of British sports cars battling it out? MG TFs, Lotus Elises and Caterhams? OK so not directly comparable cars but it would certainly be fun!
Just my thought for the day....
There are a few little places experimenting with different engine options. Holeshot racing are messing with a 450bhp turbo bike engine, there's an audi v6 lump, alfa v6 lump and various others. The trouble is unless it's supplied like that from the factory your going to loose a packet in depreciation. If I were to keep it I'd fancy an exige with a 520bhp porsche turbo flat six. Mmmmmmmm........that might do it.
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There are a few little places experimenting with different engine options. Holeshot racing are messing with a 450bhp turbo bike engine, there's an audi v6 lump, alfa v6 lump and various others.
But why is it left up to the small tuning companies to satisfy the demands of the owners? The fact is that most Elises on the road have at least had a few tweaks here and there, whether it's something as simple as an air filter up to a complete suspension revamp. But the vast majority of owners have had these things done by small companies simply because Lotus either can't do it or they can't price themselves competively against them.
But then you have to ask the question of why? How can a small company charge less for parts then the company that buys and puts the cars together in the first place? Surely Lotus must have some economies of scale to work with?
Just like the Johnny Cochran defence in South Park, "This does not make any sense, but we are Lotus so it must work!".
>> Edited by adeewuff on Saturday 6th July 14:50
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Lotus have already wasted their budget on pandering to the yanks before worrying about us. The management stinks.
Their priorities are so messed up, their whole future rests on the Elise succeeding in the US. But if the car over there has ANY of the problems we in the UK have had with our cars then it's going to fall flat on it's face. The main ones being build quality, pricing and servicing.
Do you really expect Lotus to have sorted these problems out by the time they launch the new car? No? Neither did I.
It's perfectly possible to fit a more powerful slightly heavier engine in the mid location without upsetting the handling. Afterall the engine is in the MIDDLE, where it's mass is evenly distributed. It might change things if the engine was way out front or hung out the back a la 911 - where it's moment of inertia would come into play. Ferrari make some of the finest handling cars in the world with a stonking great v8 bang in the middle. Lotus could easily engineer a suitable suspension setup for such an engine. Especially as they claim to be the leaders in this engineering field.
If lotus had decent management they might realise it's possible to dominate the sportscar market end to end with their platform.
If lotus had decent management they might realise it's possible to dominate the sportscar market end to end with their platform.
The alfa v6 was underpowered for it's weight at only 220bhp - no more than the tuned k's. If the extra weight is going to be beneficial 300bhp upward is the way forward. Whilst lotus waste time picking fluff out of their navel, BMW are presently engineering an ultra light carbon sports car to accept the mighty M3 V6. This will blow any hethel attempts into the weeds forever. Lotus; wake up or die.
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Putting a heavier engine in the Elise would completly change the handling caracteristics.
I'll think you found that the Alfa engine conversion was not exactly done properly. The engine being longer was mounted further back making it tail happy. Lotus would obviously have to redistribute the weight were they to it themselves, which as Roadrunner says shouldn't be that difficult for them.
Besides we are not neccessarily talking a huge capacity increase, just a real boost of power and torque.
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I agree that the Elise could do with more power, but the great thing about the Elise and similar cars(caterham, westfield) is there light weight handling.
I'm not sure it's even possible to call the Elise a lightweight car anymore to be honest, and that's with a K-Series still in it. The new 111S is 850kgs!!
Can you imagine what the US Elise is going to weigh? What with it's new side impact beams and heavier engine?
Roadsunner has hit the nail on the head there. Lotus simply arn't listening to their customer base. A larger much more powerful engine can be added into the Elise and Lotus could cerainly make it handle (GT1 example drove round the outside of the vipers at the old hairpin at Donnington). The biggest critism that Lotus Elise gets is that it is underpowered and in fairness they are.
They did exactly the same with the S2 I mean 118bhp come on Lotus. Westfield and Caterham both have larger bhp than that in a LIGHTER CAR!! (btw both westfield and Caterham both have kits to support V8's I believe)
They did exactly the same with the S2 I mean 118bhp come on Lotus. Westfield and Caterham both have larger bhp than that in a LIGHTER CAR!! (btw both westfield and Caterham both have kits to support V8's I believe)
I was thinking last night about a great project car idea. How about picking up a tidy S1 elise for 12k as a base car. Next stage is to commission a respected racing specialist to modify the chassis to accept a larger engine and transmission. All in, the whole thing should come under 40 odd k. Think of the engine options - skyline 2.5V6 with any power you fancy. The R32's cast iron V6 is tunable from it's standard 350 to 1000bhp. With a decent set up to lay down the power this could be the nippiest thing on 4 wheels - for the price of a new M3. Mmmmmmm.......
On second thoughts a used ultima only commands 32k now. This ones 'only' 400bhp, but up to 1000bhp versions are out there. They tested the McLaren F1 BMW engine in these if you didn't know. 75k fully built, but good value used...
www.beaulieugarage.co.uk/ultima/ultima.htm
www.beaulieugarage.co.uk/ultima/ultima.htm
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