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Lotus Elise & Exige Gold Portfolio 1996-2005 | £16.95 | |||
Lotus would have to be one of the most charismatic car manufacturers in the world, let alone in Britain. Maybe it had something to do with the personality of its founder, the late and great Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman, who championed lightweight construction. The Elise and its siblings are a range of sports cars that I am sure Chapman would be highly delighted with as they encompass all that he worked for in the way in which advanced technology has been embraced and applied. With the Elise Lotus opened a completely new market for themselves, or perhaps that was a new version of the same market they had been addressing with earlier models. By combining a lightweight aluminium tub with an advanced suspension design, giving it ample power from the K-series four-cylinder DOHC engines and clothing it in a strikingly individualistic fibreglass body courtesy of Julian Thompson, Russell Carr and Steve Crijns, Lotus virtually guaranteed a queue of people wanting to buy. For those who have never driven an Elise it is hard to understand just what it is that stirs the emotions so much. After all, you do need to be very supple of body and limb to get in and the ride is pretty firm and you don't get all the creature comforts you might expect and the roof is a pig to erect in a hurry. But, turn the key and start the engine, push in the clutch and engage first gear and give it some Wellie and all is forgiven! These cars are all about the driving experience, not how well the air conditioning system works or how loud the audio system can be turned; no an Elise in any of its guises is all about driving and the more winding the road the better. You can literally think these cars around a bend at what seem like suicidal speeds in any other car but a Lotus. For those hard-core enthusiasts, there's the Exige that is basically an Elise 111R readied for the track. Toyota 189 bhp VVTi-L engine, tweaked chassis with higher rate springs and dampers plus specially developed Yokahama tyres not to mention the impact of the styling. You can even drive it to the track as a bonus! Since their release in 1996 the Elise and its derivatives (and these could arguably include the VX220 Vauxhall) have set the benchmark for small and nimble sports cars of the world. Reported on are the 111, R, S, Sport 135 & R, TT 190 & Sport, Exige S1, S2 & 240R, TT 260 Supersport, 340R & GT1. 160 pages with 48 pages in colour, over 200 illus. SB. SKU: LT96GP ISBN: 9781855207103 |
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