Lotus Elise

Lotus Elise is a popular tow seat open sports car that was introduced in September 1995. The car is famous for its design and lightweight construction. The Lotus Elise cars are divided into tow main groups, the Series 1 cars and the Series 2 cars.

Series 1 Lotus Elise

The engineer behind the first Lotus Elise car was London-based Max David. With the Lotus Elise, he managed to take Colin Chapman's (the founder of Lotus) ideals of high performance and light weight to a new level. The lightweight makes it possible for the Lotus cars to have a very high performance even with a more modest power output. Stress is always placed on dynamics and driving purity.

The car created by Max David weighed less than 1500 lb (680 kg). This can for instance be compared to the weight of another famous lightweight and high performance sports car, the Porsche Boxster. Even though it is considered a lightweight car, the Porsche Boxster weighs 2756 lb (1250 kg), almost twice as much as the Lotus Elise. The engine output of the 1997 Porsche Boxster is 201 bhp (149 kW), while the Lotus Elise uses no more than 120 bhp (89 kW). This amazingly low weight makes accelerating, cornering and braking and in a Lotus Elise a remarkable experience. In 1996, Lotus managed to create an even lighter version of the Lotus Elise, a sports car weighing no more than 1488 lb (675 kg).

In 1999, the original Lotus Elise was followed by the Lotus Elise 111S, a faster version of the first Lotus Elise. The Lotus Elise 111S is equipped with a Variable Valve Control (VVC) engine. It is a Rover K series where the head has been changed and Variable valve timing (VVT) is used. The Lotus Elise 111S is also fitted with more padded seats to ensure a more comfortable ride.

In 2000, a limited edition model of the Lotus Elise was released. This Lotus Elise is roofless and has a 177 bhp (131 kW) engine. The roofless model is named Lotus Elise 340R, and no more than 340 cars were built. The name 340 originates form the 340 bhp/ton power to weight ratio of the first prototype. The prototype had 170 bhp, but weighed no more than 500 kg. That same year, Lotus also introduced the Exige car. The Exige is a hardtop variant of the Lotus Elise. Exige has the same 177 bhp (131 kW) engine as the Lotus Elise 340R.

Series 2 Lotus Elise

The year 2000 was a busy year for the Lotus company. Not only did they release the Lotus Elise 340R and the Exige from the Series 1 Lotus Elise, they also announced their new Series 2 Lotus Elise on October 9th 2000. The Series 2 Lotus Elise was a new and redesigned variant of the first Lotus Elise cars. The Series 2 car was the first Lotus ever to be designed on computer. It used a lot of details from an earlier Lotus project, the M250 project that never resulted in a released Lotus car. The same chassis was used as in the Series 2 Lotus Elise as in the Series 1, but only after having gone through several changes. The Rover K series engine was also kept, but connected to a specially developed Engine Control Unit (ECU).

In 2004, a Series 2 Exige was released from Lotus. This Lotus car did not have the same Rover K engine as the earlier one; it was instead equipped with an engine from Toyota.

The Lotus Elise 111R is marketed as Federal Elise in the United States. It utilizes a Toyota 2ZZ-GE engine designed by Yamaha. The engine is all-aluminum, and the 190 hp (141kW) make the Lotus Elise 111R capable of doing 0-60 mph in just 4.4 seconds. The next Lotus Elise is planned to be launched in 2007.

Lotus elise
Picture by Rodrigo Lopez