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As shown in Paris 2010, the future of Lotus may be gradually moving away from its basic, stripped out roots – one needs more luxury to tempt customers away from Porsche and Ferrari – but the marque’s new guardians promise to maintain the brand’s USP, which is performance through lightweight. That mantra’s perfect example is this Geneva debutant, the Lotus Elise Club Racer.
We all know that the sub 900 kg Elise is one of the most basic sportscars around, but Lotus has managed to further trim more than 24 kg off its scales. This is from a lighter battery (saves 5.4 kg), the removal of the soft top roof (5.9 kg) and to the extent of replacing the standard badges with stickers (60 grams). Among the other things removed are the Elise’s radio/speakers, noise insulation and carpets, central locking, passenger footrest, mud flaps and the airbags.
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The base Elise’s 1.6-litre 1ZR-FAE engine remains unchanged, although there’s an optional Club Racer Power Pack for the track which ups power from 134 hp to 139 hp. Also new is the Sport setting for the DPM (Dynamic Performance Management) that “allows even the less experienced sports car drivers to feel at the top of their game”. It can be fully switched off, of course.
“The traditional Lotus approach of reduction and purity has lead to one of the most zeitgeist and contemporary sports cars around. For over 15 years the Lotus Elise has become an icon in the sports car market, carving out a niche market with a dedicated following of lightweight fans. The new Club Racer will definitely give these people something extra to get their teeth stuck into. This car epitomises everything that’s cool about the Elise – it’s fast, raw, responsive and a huge amount of fun to drive,” said Wolf Zimmermann, Chief Technical Officer Lotus Cars.
At £27,500, this is not only the purest, but cheapest Lotus one can buy today.
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Interesting!
Is it approved for our otr use?
yes, as long as it doesn’t equipped with slicks..
Lotus Elise on a strict diet,I wish I lose 24 kg too :)
It’s got no roof. Looks like purely a track car.
it looks a lot like a california from the front don’t you think?
This is indeed the true Lotus as what stated in Colin Chapman’s philosophy – “Performance Through Lightweight Body”.
“Horsepower makes you fast in a straight line, lightness makes you fast everywhere” – Colin Chapman
Thats a picture of the New Car?
I though the AD07’s were already discontinued last year or so.. Can’t really tell if those are Hankook RS2s ..but they look like Yokos.
the front looks too much like a fish , doesnt look racy enough…with thy have it in black!
I’ve said it earlier and I going to say it again.
This is the proper replacement for the legendary Lotus 7. Strip to basic and let it loose on the track. Group Lotus need not to do anything about this Elise for about another 50 years. It will keep on going and people will just buy it for the sheer pleasure of driving it.
This, will make Colin Chapman smile.
Other car companies lose weight by REPLACING with lighter materials, while Lotus do it by TAKING AWAY items like the roof, speakers and even airbags???
They are using Proton’s idea (eg bare basis Saga) on Lotus???
They did both replacing and taking away….just how Porsche and other performance car manufacturer did to their cup car…..pls read carefully
if you dont know what a “club racer” is, please move along..
“and to the extent of replacing the standard badges with stickers (60 grams).” .. i lolled
If 60 gms count, than the driver should:
(1) remove all jewelery & accessories prior to driving this vehicle
(2) never wear any clothes, not even underwears..
And no chic in the car…haha
or take a dump and pee before getting into the car.
Lotus Elise B-Line???
Why Lotus still don’t place a Campro engine into their car?
Proton Why?
aka Lotus Elise BLM… for pure track use…
Hope to see it wear proton badge and campro cps or cfe engine with exora pricetag…ill trade my neo cps for this