Lotus 2-Eleven
Discussion
Hi all,
Sold the Wife's car from under her nose when I saw this little beauty come up for sale in the classifieds a couple of weeks ago. In common I imagine with a lot of us kids of the 70's, a JPS Lotus was always something I wanted to own. I owned a Gold Leaf Elan previously and was on the look out for a JPS Europa.
The car is supercharged, 260 hp, weighs c. 750kg. It is utterly, utterly mental to drive. 30 mph feels like 100, 80 feels like 150. No windscreen and goggles gives you the full fat experience. There is almost no inertia and I still have no idea how late I can brake in it, it's just stops so, so quickly. 1st gear acceleration is hilarious and the rev limit at 8,000 rpm is just addictive.
It's by far the best car I've ever driven, it's just a wonderful drive and I'm talking about on the road. It floats over bumps, doesn't bump steer, doesn't really follow camber, just accelerates bat s
t crazy fast. Frankly, I'm a bit scared of it at the moment! LOL
I've wanted one of these ever since they came out, mainly due to harbouring a latent desire to own a proper CanAm car and pretending to be Denny Hulme. I wasn't expecting it to drive like it does. Genuinely addicted to the little beast.
Looking through the tiny mirrors and seeing the large intakes and hearing the supercharger scream to 8,000 rpm is something else. I've driven Caterhams and Atoms, and sure they are fast but sitting in this car just makes you feel like you're driving a sports prototype racer. At least it does for me!
The car was put together by Scott at B&C in the day as a one off special and with a huge attention to detail. Car was signed off by Clive Chapman and personally signed by him and Hazel. The car is modelled after the 72/5 F1 of Emerson Fittipaldi, hence the outwardly odd different colour wheels.
Not sure how I'm going to get excited about driving anything else from here on out, it's such a brilliant thing.
LL
A few crappy camera phone pics.
Sold the Wife's car from under her nose when I saw this little beauty come up for sale in the classifieds a couple of weeks ago. In common I imagine with a lot of us kids of the 70's, a JPS Lotus was always something I wanted to own. I owned a Gold Leaf Elan previously and was on the look out for a JPS Europa.
The car is supercharged, 260 hp, weighs c. 750kg. It is utterly, utterly mental to drive. 30 mph feels like 100, 80 feels like 150. No windscreen and goggles gives you the full fat experience. There is almost no inertia and I still have no idea how late I can brake in it, it's just stops so, so quickly. 1st gear acceleration is hilarious and the rev limit at 8,000 rpm is just addictive.
It's by far the best car I've ever driven, it's just a wonderful drive and I'm talking about on the road. It floats over bumps, doesn't bump steer, doesn't really follow camber, just accelerates bat s
t crazy fast. Frankly, I'm a bit scared of it at the moment! LOL I've wanted one of these ever since they came out, mainly due to harbouring a latent desire to own a proper CanAm car and pretending to be Denny Hulme. I wasn't expecting it to drive like it does. Genuinely addicted to the little beast.
Looking through the tiny mirrors and seeing the large intakes and hearing the supercharger scream to 8,000 rpm is something else. I've driven Caterhams and Atoms, and sure they are fast but sitting in this car just makes you feel like you're driving a sports prototype racer. At least it does for me!
The car was put together by Scott at B&C in the day as a one off special and with a huge attention to detail. Car was signed off by Clive Chapman and personally signed by him and Hazel. The car is modelled after the 72/5 F1 of Emerson Fittipaldi, hence the outwardly odd different colour wheels.
Not sure how I'm going to get excited about driving anything else from here on out, it's such a brilliant thing.
LL
A few crappy camera phone pics.
AyBee said:
Looks awesome 
Do you really just climb over the top?
Yes. Its pretty odd in so far as it helps to be tall to get over the side, but it helps to be short to contort down into the seat. I'm tall so getting in is easy, plopping down in the seat isn't exactly elegant. Steering wheel has to come off too otherwise I can't get out. It's got a quick release system fitted. Do you really just climb over the top?Believe it or not, it's much easier for me to get into the car than an Elise with the roof on. I simply can't get out without help on the standard car!
Will be investing in some wet weather clothing...... lol
It's all part of the fun, if you don't have a strong sense of humour I wouldn't entertain owning one!
Lagerlout said:
AyBee said:
Looks awesome Do you really just climb over the top?
Yes. Its pretty odd in so far as it helps to be tall to get over the side, but it helps to be short to contort down into the seat. I'm tall so getting in is easy, plopping down in the seat isn't exactly elegant. Steering wheel has to come off too otherwise I can't get out. It's got a quick release system fitted. Do you really just climb over the top?Believe it or not, it's much easier for me to get into the car than an Elise with the roof on. I simply can't get out without help on the standard car!
Will be investing in some wet weather clothing...... lol
It's all part of the fun, if you don't have a strong sense of humour I wouldn't entertain owning one!
superb! Much easier to get into my Elise with the roof off than on, that's for sure, but I thought the sills in the Elise were quite big to get over 
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff