“Simplify, then add lightness”, the mantra of Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus, resulted in several Formula One World Championships and the development of Lotus road cars followed the same philosophy.
The Lotus Elise was the first new model for Lotus since the early 1980’s and was launched in 1996. It was designed by Julian Thompson and named after the granddaughter of Romano Artioli, Elisa Artioli, chairman of Lotus and Bugatti at the time. It was a lightweight, mid-engine, 2-seater sportscar powered by the naturally aspirated 1.8l Rover K series engine. It featured a lightweight fiberglass body mounted to a rigid bonded extruded aluminum chassis and weighed only 725kg.
New crash safety regulations prompted the development of the Lotus Elise Series 2, introduced in 2000. These cars featured facelifted styling and a new ECU. General Motors shared the cost of development required by these regulations in return for Lotus producing Opel and Vauxhall badged and GM powered versions.
This Lotus Elise is a series 2 example first registered in 2002 and has only covered 24 603 km. It recently had an engine swap replacing the original Rover K series engine with a 1.8tl turbo 20v BAM produced by VW/Audi.
A summary of the specs are as follows:
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