EliseInfo.com

This kit has been in development for quite some time; I thought it had been for sale already but this is the first time I’ve seen the website advertising it. I really need something like this; a few months ago I moved from near sea-level in California to 8500 feet elevation in Colorado, and the power loss has been noticeable. Not to mention all the hills around here where I could use a little boost. Cost is $4500 for 2005 model years, $4750 for 2006 models (the drive by wire in those models necessitates the difference). This gets you a 50hp boost of power. For another $1k you can get the ECU reflashed with a lower cam changeover (5750rpm) and disabling of the learning feature.

As you probably know, the website for Lotus in the US, lotuscars.com, has been undergoing a bunch of changes lately. While most of it is still under construction, I noticed they’ve put up quite a few videos, follow this link to see them.

Just a heads up for all you Elise and Exige owners, a new potential problem is surfacing that everyone should watch out for. There have been several failures of the rear suspension due to loosening bolts; some are the hub carrier bolts, some failures are the inside upper control arm bolts loosening. Until this is figured out for sure, it’d be wise to check the torque of all these fasteners on your car before driving it anywhere. You can read more about it in this thread over at EliseTalk.

What’s kinda scary are rumors that Lotus made a change at some point (’07, I think the rumor goes), to replace the control arm bolts with one of a higher grade. Supposedly, it’s something that’ll be retrofitted to older models ‘as needed’, which is kinda scary as they begin to get out of warranty later this year (the early ones, at least), at which point issues like this are not likely to be covered.

Motor Trend has a nice review of the new Lotus track toy, the 2-Eleven. Those lucky Brits are actually able to make their 2-Eleven street-legal, by adding some headlights (no such luck for US buyers though). The car’s based on the Elise, though ads a supercharger to boost engine output to a nice 252hp – and a curb weight of only 1477lbs! Read more here.
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Most expectant parents struggle coming up with that perfect name for their newborn boy or girl. Well, struggle no longer; for all you car freaks I present this list of car names for babies, all of which rank as fairly common names and hence not all THAT unusual (note, Elise ranks #218 for girl names). That same website also has a list of car names for babies that were popular in the past.

Just a reminder, this weekend is the CLAM ’07 (California Lotus Autocross and Meet) in San Diego, California. Cost varies based on which activities you’d like to partake in. You can read more about this event over at EliseTalk.
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Well, it’s about time! Lotus’ previous US website was horribly outdated; only recently they featured the 2006 Elise, no mention of the 2007 Elise nor of the Exige or Exige S. It’s been revamped and has a much nicer cleaner look to it. Well done, LCU! You can view it here.

A beautiful, modified Elise, owned by EliseTalk member “NRG x Elise” (a.k.a. Daniel Song), appears in the most recent copy of the magazine “Modified Luxury & Exotics“. Great pictures, great article. You can read scans of the magazine article here. Amazingly, Daniel is actually selling this beautiful machine (you can find out more here, as well as see more pictures).

There’s a new player in town in the Elise aftermarket scene, a company in Poland that makes leather shift boots and hand brake boots. Prices are reasonable ($60 for the set, or $40 each) and they offer a larger array of leather and stitching colors. The company, RedlineGoods.com, can be found at that link; installation instructions for the boots can be viewed here (I’m impressed that they actually have model-specific installation instructions!).

Finally, after the car’s been here for almost three years, companies are finally offering performance ECU modifications in the form of a ‘reflash’, where new code is flashed into a chip that must be soldered in place of an existing one on the ECU (hence this is not a DIY project). So far, the primary modification is to shift the cam changeover point from 6200 rpm to around 5700 rpm, which owners report is greatly improving drivability and enjoyability of the car. Lotus is even jumping in the game with their own offering.

The options are:

PES

$795
Dyno graph can be found here, showing slight gains in power (~6hp). Users are reporting very noticeable gains (one user did a 3rd gear acceleration run from 3500rpm to redline and reported a one second gain). Of note is that, due to the shifted cam change, they claim a 21hp gain at 6250rpm.
They say they also offer special maps for cars with a cold air intake.
More info here.

Blackwatch / HRM

This is, as far as I can tell, the same product being offered by PES. More info here.

Sector111

$550
~5700rpm cam changeover
No claims of any amount of power gains.
They’ll have future ECU reflash options to help maximize performance gains from intakes, exhaust, etc.
More info here.
This is the tune that EliseTalk user CharlieX has been working on; Sector111 has a 12 month exclusive license to it.

Lotus

Lotus Sport T4 and T4e ECU – Track Optimised
Description
A Lotus ECU with the cam switch point optimised for track usage (switch point revised to 5750 from 6200 rpm). This allows the driver to maintain the use of the high-lift cams during track driving, whilst avoiding unwanted switches to low-lift cams. All other functionality of the original ECU program is retained, preserving the full European emissions compliance of the powertrain.

Applicable vehicles
Elise 111R Non Federal
Exige Non Federal
Features
Transition to high-lift cams at 5700 rpm (standard set at 6200 rpm)
Simplistic installation
Full retention of European emissions compliance
Part(s) supplied
Lotus T4 Manual ECU AL53M0215F
Lotus T4e Electronic Throttle ECU AL53M0244F
Prices:
$795 for 2005 model year cars
$995 for 2006/2007

So, which is better? Good question. The Sector111 reflash has the price advantage, but if the PES reflash really does help optimize the car for a cold air intake, it’d be the obvious solution for owners with that. Personally, I’m going to hold off on doing this until reflashes are available that help take advantage of intake and exhaust modifications.