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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.

I attended the Elise/Exige tech session led by Nick Adams at LOG27 in Apsen/Snowmass this past weekend. He didn’t have any material prepared for the event, it was just a huge Q&A session. I couldn’t think of a better way of running that session – the questions were intelligent, insightful, and plentiful (we ended up getting kicked out, the session was going too long). Some memorable ones:

- Nick explained the design details and philosophy of the 2007 bumpers…it’s classic Lotus, they closely reviewed the rules and interpreted them in a creative manner. New part numbers for various items, new descriptions…the clamshells are now ‘bumper skins’ and allowed to be damaged in an impact! Lol. Likewise, the rear panel where the foam bumperettes are located is a license plate holder, and rear impacts will damage that part as well as the bumper skin (clamshell). The rear panel received some additional bracing to help carry the load to the subframe; the front bumper skin (clamshell) received some fiberglass reinforcement to again help carry the load and ensure the crash structure was not damaged at all in a minor impact.

- The biggest reason for the sponginess in the 2005 brake pedal is the pedal linkage, and is something Nick admits was a mistake. Since they wanted to use the aluminum pedals, but needed to revise the linkage, they inserted a steel part in the linkage system (to save cost over using aluminum). Due to mismatched thermal expansion of that and the aluminum bits, they used rubber bushings in the linkage, which give us some sponginess. The 2006+ pedal box is superior (does not have this design), but is in no way retrofittable to the ’05. When asked if the ’05 linkage could be redesigned using aluminum parts with solid bushings, he avoided answering directly for obvious liability reasons (no company in their right mind would ever consider selling such a modification to a critical safety system). It seems like it’s something that could be easily engineered and produced for personal use.

- He suggested using a crow’s foot extension when checking the torque of the suspension bolts (many/most cannot be accessed using a simple torque wrench and socket).

- He expects that Lotus will sell a supercharged Elise eventually, it’s an obvious progression yet has no idea when that would happen.

- The button you press to open the doors (from the outside) originates from a trunk release used on another vehicle, this is why there’s no mechanical connection between that lock and the central locking system, there just aren’t provisions for it in that lock.

- The 211 uses a fourth iteration of the Elise chassis (first was S1, second was S2, third was federal Elise, fourth is the Fed Elise with higher side sills). Front upper a-arm is unique to this vehicle, as are the steering tie rods, to restore the suspension geometry (since the car is much lower than an Elise).

- He considers the 2007+ headlight unit to be much better than the ’05-’06…better optics, it wasn’t just a simple fix to get it to pass the fed requirements. Not retrofittable to earlier cars (though I imagine with some soldering and maybe trimming of the clamshell behind it, it could be done?).

- The roof scoop of the Exige is quite inefficient as the inlet is far back from the windshield header. The GT3′s roof scoop is much better; I think he said the roof will be available in the US at some point? There’s always the Sector111 roof option too, similar front scoop extension that will improve efficiency.

- He didn’t seem to be a big fan of a lower cam change, thought it wouldn’t be best for performance.

- That’s all I can remember right now; I wish I had videotaped the session as it was very informative! A couple questions that did NOT get asked were regarding the clutch disc failures we’ve seen, and hesitation when cornering on a track.

Someone on EliseTalk is selling some Lotus-themed onesies for $25, available in blue, yellow, or pink. This is a one-time deal, so order now if you’re interested. Check out this thread for more info.

The latest issue of ProActive, the free newsletter published by Lotus Engineering, is now available for download here.

Sector111 is now taking orders for their supercharger kit designed to fit the Elise or Exige. The $5500 kit gets you a 53rwhp and 24 ft-lb gain, and uses a reflashed ECU for ease of installation (also ensures that the ECU’s learning ability remains intact). The only downside is it’s named after the Elise owner who helped a lot with the R&D early on, a guy that goes by the screen name ‘Ronin’ and was banned from EliseTalk for his “f-you” attitude. Other than that, it looks like a great kit. It’ll have some competition later this year though, as December 1st Blackwatch Racing will start selling their own supercharger kit, which sounds very similar to the Sector111 one except for the custom intake manifold and lower price ($4950). The Blackwatch Racing kit will be CARB-legal; no word from Sector111 on the legality of their kit.

Winding Road magazine, a free online-only periodical, reviews the Lotus 2-Eleven in their September issue. You can view it here. Unfortunately, they appear to have abandoned their PDF format for a funky browser-based one, though at least they still allow downloading for offline viewing (and they support the Mac platform, too!).

For a while now I’ve been selling an aluminum mounting bracket designed to fit the Elise/Exige perfectly, without any permanent alterations (no holes or adhesives needed). I was out of stock for a while, but just got some more in. The price has been lowered, too, to $65 including shipping. You can see more pictures, and get more details, at the product page here.

Aftermarket Elise and Exige parts supplier Sector111 has started publishing an electronic, online-only newsletter/magazine called OneElevenLife. It’s free, and you can download the premier edition here.

The May/June 2007 issue of the free Lotus proActive newsletter is available for download here. This issue covers various news from Lotus and the automotive industry in general, the advantages of reducing vehicle structure weight (and how to go about it), the robot-piloted Elise used in an upcoming DARPA competition, CO2 emissions reduction.

An unfortunate Elise owner in Ireland has decided to take matters into his own hands. After his car suffered numerous minor attacks by other cars (and one cyclist), he and his brother are going to fix it up themselves. Seems like a smart plan, as they stand to save a lot of money in the process…and, given his luck to date, this will be a good skill to learn to deal with future incidents! Let’s hope this sad story has a happy ending and the car gets back on the road quickly! You can read all about it over at beautifulaccident.com.