Lotus Elise Sports Racer

Loaded Lotus raids the options list - and gets all stripey

Like the parka and meat pies, it seems that skunk-like, full-length body stripes are fashionable again. Whatever car they're stuck to they're 'LOOK AT ME!' loud, but somehow they seem more appropriate affixed to a low-slung sports car like the Elise than a hot hatch. Be-striped Elises are nothing new - we've already had the Type 25 (green with yellow stripes) and the Type 23 (white with green stripes) - but the limited edition model pictured here, the Sports Racer, is of particular interest because it is being launched simultaneously with the revised 2006 Elise 111R on which it is based. This means it features new seats and LED rear lights, revised instrument markings and pedal box, and Yokohama rather than Bridgestone rubber. Also, for the first time, the regular 111R is being offered with the option of LTC - Lotus Traction Control - which the Sports Racer model has as standard.

This goes some small way towards justifying the Sports Racer's list price of ΂£31,995, some ΂£4000 more than the 111R. LTC costs ΂£395 on the standard 111R, while the Sports Racer also comes with both the 'Sport' and 'Touring' packs (΂£1495 and ΂£1995 options respectively), hardtop (΂£1295) and lightweight forged alloys (΂£1380, and a saving of 1.2kg per corner). That's ΂£6560-worth of options, not including the stripes... How much of this you actually need to enjoy the Elise is questionable, but the Sports Racer (also available in blue with two fat stripes) gives us our first chance to try the revised car on its new tyres and with traction control.

It seems curious that Lotus has chosen to develop a simple traction control, even though the Toyota-powered Elise has anti-lock brakes and therefore most of the sensors required to facilitate a full stability control system. LTC modulates the engine's output to rein-in wheelspin, which is partly why the new pedal box has been specified - the throttle is now an electronic drive-by-wire design. The new pedal arms are steel rather than aluminium (saving weight, against expectations), and their positioning and action has been modified for reduced travel, improved feel and to make heel-and-toe downshifts easier.

The pads that your feet find are still aluminium, so as you slip into the driver's seat, little appears to have changed. Even the new 'ProBax' seats seem much like the old but are, in fact, designed to support the seated spine in a natural way, promoting long-distance comfort and alertness through better blood-flow. The Elise is the first car to use this new design and, after much testing, Lotus is so convinced of its value that it has specified the ProBax seat for all its models. A positive side effect is that the seat itself is lighter because the pump and bladder that adjusted the lumbar support on the previous seat are no longer necessary. Having the car for just 24 hours, during which we had to bag all our photographs, precluded an extended drive, but the Elise certainly felt comfortable.

Look more closely at your surroundings and you'll notice that, race-car-style, the new tacho markings compress the first 3000rpm of the needle's sweep into the same-sized segment as each 1000rpm that follows, emphasising the upper reaches where the high-revving 1.8-litre Toyota engine does its best work.

The Sport Pack that comes as part of the Sports Racer package brings uprated Bilstein dampers and stiffer Eibach springs, and their effect is certainly noticeable. The regular 111R is a notch firmer than the Rover K-series-powered version and the Sports Pack suspension adds a further degree of firmness.

The Sports Racer feels taut right from the off, jiggling over the imperfections of typical A- and B-road asphalt and falling all-of-a-piece for cambers and dips. This feeling that all four wheels are firmly attached to a stiff platform never quite leaves you, but there is an athletic suppleness that's apparent once the pace is up, almost as if there's a pre-loading that's overcome by commitment.

Any changes in characteristics and performance brought about by the new, snappily titled Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 LTS tyres are subtle. There's perhaps a little more steering weight and feel at low speeds, but the same deft lightness at pace; an almost 911-like flavour with the nose light and tail heavier.

During our limited time with the Sports Racer the roads were helpfully greasy and, later, plain icy. On surfaces slick with the sort of emulsion that coats winter roads after a few days without rain, the traction control is quite busy, and subtly effective, but you can't help thinking that the Elise coped pretty well without it. The high-revving 189bhp Toyota engine doesn't develop a troubling amount of low-down torque (although we felt that the engine was a fraction more energetic low-down than we recalled, even if Lotus claims no improvement) and any excess would simply bleed away as mild, easily managed wheelspin on the 111R. On a straight but cambered icy road, LTC prevents the back end slithering sideways by more than a few degrees - just enough to let you feel the conditions. And the conditions tell you that with little weight pinning the front tyres to the road, you don't really want to be able to gain too much speed.

The Elise chassis is remarkably well balanced and it's an absorbing car to drive even moderately briskly. It's a compliment to say that pushing the rather cheap-looking LTC button to disable traction control doesn't feel like taking your fate in your own hands - you're already on the ball, sensitive to what's happening at each corner. Maybe at high speeds it offers a degree of protection in extreme situations, but we didn't have the time or facilities to investigate this. It's interesting to note that the optional torque-sensing limited slip differential (΂£995) cannot be specified without LTC.

As mentioned, the 2006 111R gets the new ProBax seats, pedal box, instrument markings, LED tail-lights and Yokohama tyres. The limited edition Sports Racer, of which there will be just 199 (100 for the UK) is simply a higher-spec, more sportingly firm Elise with very neatly applied stripes and, for those who were considering some of the option packs, a not unattractive price. An Exige, with most of the 2006 upgrades, is ΂£2K less, though. Fashion has its price.

RATING Full equipment list Fulsome price

SPECIFICATIONS Engine: In-line four, 1796cc, 16v Max power: 189bhp @ 7800rpm Max torque: 134lb ft @ 6800rpm 0 - 60mph: 5.2sec (claimed) Top Speed: 150mph (claimed) Price: £31,995 On sale: Now

Lotus Elise

Tokyo show 2007: Quicker Elise announced

Supercharged Elise shown at Tokyo, and news of the 2+2 Eagle

Different rear spoiler and new wheel design help distinguish the Elise SC from lesser versions

Lotus unveiled a supercharged Elise at the Tokyo show, sporting a 217bhp version of the engine from the Exige S.

The Elise SC, as the new model has been named, lacks the intercooler found in the supercharged Exige, but thanks to a number of other changes, including a smaller rotor pack for the supercharger, power is down just 1bhp on the Exige S’s figure. Losing the intercooler and its accompanying pipework results in an 8kg weight saving in the engine installation while also ensuring there is actually a view through the rear window!

Lotus claims the SC will take just 4.4sec to hit 60mph (0.3sec slower than the Exige S) before going on to a top speed of 150mph. The new model will be priced at £32,550 – exactly two grand cheaper than the Exige S.

What was not trumpeted at Tokyo is what we can expect to see next from Lotus. In the inner sanctum of the company’s stand, CEO Mike Kimberley updated us on Lotus’s next milestone: the unveiling of the Lotus Eagle at the London motor show next July.

‘It’s a two-plus-two tourer with a transverse, mid-ship V6 from Toyota, with whom we’ve had a 28-year relationship,’ revealed Kimberley, referring to Lotus’s first link with the Japanese giant, when the troubled Eclat became, with some Toyota componentry, the excellent Excel. ‘There will be seven variants, including a convertible and a paddle-shift transmission, and the price will be competitive, between £45,000 and £48,000.’

Lotus Elise S

Return of the entry-level Lotus Elise, now with Toyota power. For road use this could be the best Elise to date...

Elise S uses the same suspension settings as more powerful R

Imagine the consternation at Lotus when the long-term implications of the Chinese takeaway of Rover dawned - no more K-series. And no more K-series would mean no more entry-level Elise.

Since the arrival of the Elise S2, the base model was never a big seller, but as a way of attracting punters into the showroom, the prospect of being able to buy an Elise 'from around £24K' was much more appealing than 'with prices starting from around £28K' as they have been recently with the Toyota-engined Elise R (née 111R).

Replacing the K-series is no easy job - it's compact, light and offers good performance for its capacity - but fortunately much of the groundwork had already been done. With all the mounting and transmission issues already sorted for the 1.8-litre Toyota VVTL-i unit used in the R, it made sense to return to Toyota to power the new Elise S.

Not that the engine in the S is a detuned version of the motor from the R. In fact, it's not even the same engine, despite being nearly identical in capacity. As well as having variable valve timing and lift (hence the VVTL-i moniker), the '2ZZ' 1.8 in the Elise R also has MMC (metal matrix composite) bore liners and is built by Yamaha. The engine that goes into the Elise S is the 1ZZ, built by Toyota, and has cast iron cylinder liners, a different crankshaft, pistons and rods, and a cylinder head that provides variable valve timing, but not lift (VVT-i). It's probably best not to mention that it's essentially the same engine that powers the Corolla...

As installed in the Elise S, the 1ZZ gives 134bhp and 127lb ft; not massive outputs, yet sufficient in a car with a kerb weight of 860kg. In four of the five forward gears the Elise S has to hand (the R has six) the rev-limiter cuts in at 6800rpm, but in second gear the limit is raised slightly, reducing the all-important 0-100kph time by removing the need for another time-sapping gearchange. The 0-60mph figure is a creditable 5.8sec, and is how Lotus hopes to persuade potential buyers that the S is a serious sports car compared with possible rivals such as the MX-5 or Audi TT convertible.

Different engines they may be, but compare the power graphs of the S and the R and they trace very similar lines until 6000rpm, when the R's variable valve lift unleashes a sudden torrent of extra horsepower. So up to that point you might expect the driving experiences to be similar, especially as the torque curves also keep fairly close company. Strangely, though, that isn't the case.

Subjectively, the S seems to offer more robust performance, helped along by a slightly fruitier exhaust note. Although its torque peaks at 4200rpm, it pulls convincingly from as low as 2000rpm and gives the impression that you don't have to rev it mercilessly to obtain satisfying performance. If you've spent time in an R you'll be disappointed to reach 6000rpm and not have the engine go manic, but on the other hand, if you've experienced a regular K-series-powered Elise you'll revel in the fact that the engine still feels and sounds exuberant and well-mannered at this engine speed and that there's another 800rpm to go.



Not having to chase the extra kick provided by the R's motor is actually pretty liberating - finding a long enough stretch of tarmac to delve beyond 6000rpm to hit that hyper zone can be frustrating. Freed from this angst in the S, you can concentrate on enjoying the sublime chassis; it's like being back in an original Elise, where the pleasure in going fast in it had nothing to do with power.

Trackday fans are likely to crave the extra punch that the R gives, but for road use I'd hazard that the S is the best Elise to date.

RATING Power isn’t everything Except maybe on the track

SPECIFICATIONS Engine: In-line 4-cyl, 1794cc, 16v Max power: 134bhp @ 6200rpm Max torque: 127lb ft @ 4200rpm 0 - 60mph: 5.8sec (claimed) Top Speed: 127mph (claimed) Price: £23,995 On sale: Now

599-based GTO is go!

Dutch design house will build five 599 GTOs, each costing up to £1m

After almost universal approval for its artist’s impression of what a modern-day Ferrari 250 GTO might look like, Dutch design house Vandenbrink Design has decided to produce five examples of the Ferrari 599-based supercar for real.

Two versions will be offered: the 599 GTO, with the regular 6-litre, 611bhp Ferrari V12, and the 630 GTO, with an enlarged, 6.3-litre, 750bhp engine. Not only can the GTO be more powerful, it will also be considerably lighter, as Vandenbrink Design is aiming to reduce the kerb weight of the car to 1500kg – some 180kg lighter than a standard Ferrari 599.

The ultimate 630 GTO version will be priced at 993,000 euros, with full options fitted. However, this does not include the cost of the base car or taxes… For more details visit Vandenbrink’s website at