EliseInfo.com

My, how times change. Before the Elise was even confirmed for US shores, enthusiasts gathered on the message forum EliseTalk to speculate and dream about someday owning one of these wonderful machines. The Elises arrived, followed by the Exige…so EliseTalk.com was renamed to LotusTalk.com. Then the owner of that site decided to sell it to AutoForums, which promptly plastered ads all over the site. The users put up with that for around eighteen months, until some heavy-handed administration moves alienated many. They’ve split off from LotusTalk, and have set up a new Lotus forum, BritishSpeed.com. Someday it’ll probably expand to include McLaren and others, but for now it’s pretty much all Lotus. It’s a great group of people and is a fast growing community…I hope to see you there!

I first heard rumors of a supercharger kit from Lotus back in the fall of 2004. The idea was, dealers would offer it as a dealer-installed accessory. Well, it’s taken a long time, but it’s finally available! Lotus is now offering a CARB approved supercharger kit for the 2005-2008 Lotus Elise (with the Toyota 2ZZGE powertrain, the only one available in the US). Cost is $5000 for the kit, plus another $1000-1500 for installation. The kit carries CARB exemption order number D-616-1. Comments from the CARB website:

Supercharger kit consists of a roots-type Eaton supercharger/intake manifold assembly rated at a maximum boost of 6.09 PSI using a 67.7mm pulley and the stock 130mm crankshaft pulley. Kit also includes higher flow rate injectors, a new ECU, and a new dip stick tube assembly and oil breather tube.

Buying cars as investments is always risky (stupid, some would say), but I came across a really tempting example of a great potential investment. Early production versions of cars, and ones with any history, always command a premium. Now, a rare pre-production US spec Elise is available for sale for only $17k! It’s not street legal, and has some minor differences from the street legal Elises, but in my uneducated opinion has the potential to someday be a rare collector’s item, assuming the Elise is ever considered a collector car (which, considering the trend towards complexity and computers in cars, is likely). Find it over at LotusTalk.

The DVD version of the Victory By Design episode on Lotus is *finally* available can can be found at the Victory By Design online store.

Secant Vehicles has begun offering an engine conversion for the Elise/Exige, swapping in a 280hp (241 ft-lb torque) supercharged version of the GM Ecotec four cylinder (a motor that has been pushed way beyond these power levels so appears to have a lot of potential). Cost is $20k, which compares favorably with less-extensive modifications like a turbo ($10-15k). Read more at EliseTalk or Secant’s website.

Not to be outdone by the Exige 240 now being mass produced, Lotus Sport upped the ante with the Sport Cup 260. The car features 257hp, a new aerodynamic kit, AP Racing brakes, adjustable dampers, etc etc etc…everything you’d expect a track car to have (including such optional extras as a straight cut dog gearbox!). Read more at Pistonheads.

As reported by Randy Chase at EliseTalk:

New SC Elise. 220 crank hp. Uses the new smaller blower mated to an integral intake manifold. Very light, only adds a bit over 8 kilos.

Exige will change over to this same blower, and drop the intercooler. Except the 240hp version.

Lotus will release a supercharger upgrade kit at some point.

2008 federal cars have tire pressure sensors. You can see a larger valve stem.

Eagle is one the way. Parts are now in production and things are going very well. Expect a product rollout towards the end of 2008 in certain countries and then release to the US market in late spring of 2009.

Esprit is following on the heals, perhaps 2 years later. It will use the same platform as the Eagle, but it may be slightly wider.

Eagle uses a new platform and forged aluminum suspension bits. The Eagle will be a 2+2 and then a 2+0 sedan. There will variants and upgrades released each year over a 6 year period at which time, there will be a new model to replace it. It will use a V6 from a well known manufacturer.

The pictures of the Eagle being shown around the internet are not accurate. Same with the Esprit mostly.

The 2-Eleven will not be coming over as a street legal version though Lotus wanted to. They just can’t based on federal regulations.

The pretty much confirms what was already suspected based on the Elise SC announcement a few weeks ago (which made no mention of US availability).

Here’s a neat video about the modern-day Lotus car company:

Don’t believe what you’re reading in those ‘new car issues’ from major car magazines…the 2008 Elise and Exige are NOT carryovers from the ‘07 models. To start with, there’s a new version of the Elise, the Elise SC. The SC stands for – you guessed it – supercharged! It puts out about 220hp, a gain of 30hp over the regular Elise. Not to be outdone, the Exige gets a power bump up to 240hp. All Lotus now come with airbags, and there’s a new instrument pack with ‘new graphic design’ (an LCD display to send annoying messages to the driver like ’service due’) and a new alarm/immobiliser plus single integrated function key. The Elise SC also gets a new wheel design (still using the Yokohama AD07 tires on the base model suspension). The Exige has a new optional ‘performance pack’, with larger brakes, bigger roof scoop (to feed the intercooler), better clutch, variable slip traction control, and launch control. Read the rest of this post for the whole press release.

(via EliseTalk)

Press Release in PDF format
Read the rest of this entry »

Lotus is selling a limited edition (25 cars) Exige S called the Club Racer, featuring sky blue paint with black stripes, and plenty of track goodies – sports pack, sports exhaust, touring pack, and super touring pack (which, oddly, includes a cupholder, not something I’d expect to see on a track-oriented car). Read more at Pistonheads.