Esthi <2.4

Silly name, mad amount of power. We take a look at the twin turbo'd Elise

	There are numerous conversions and upgrades available for the Elise, all claiming to boost power from the venerable K series. Most do a good job of squeezing more horse from the little 1.8 litre four pot, but for some that's never going to be enough. Honda VTEC conversions are growing in popularity but for extreme power you need an extreme solution. That was the thinking of Brandes & Dschüdow in Germany. They looked around for suitable donors and settled upon an Audi engine. Not a smelly oil burning diesel of course, nor a plain four pot from an A4, but a twin turbo, 2.7 litre V6 good for just over 400bhp! The weight of the is obviously increased thanks to the larger motor, but it remains under 1000kg. They've worked on the weight distribution too, to try and keep to 35:65. To ensure that rear weight doesn't dominate the car's handling, and to ensure that the immense power can be transmitted to the road, Brandes & Dschüdow have also developed a complete aerodynamic kit in the wind tunnel. Downforce and cooling to the engine were the priorities here, resulting in the subtle additions to the body. The body has also been modified to allow the rear clamshell to hinge at the rear. In order to slow the car, an uprated brake system has been fitted with four caliper units from the Esprit used with 320mm discs at the front. A brake booster and ABS have also been fitted. Keeping the whole car in harmony, the suspension has also been uprated with a new spring/damper combination, developed by the experts at Wilbers. All in all, it's a breathtaking project and the idea of over 400bhp in an Elise is one we rather like And why the name "<2.4"? It's because the car has a weight to power ration of 2.4kg/bhp. Perhaps it sounds better in German... Links: www.brandes-dschuedow.de / www.lotus-parts-shop.com