I had admired Lotus for developing a car that is purely focused as a sports car similar to that of the ITR. I was thrilled to hear that it had finally made it to North America while the rest of the world was enjoying the car. Immediately after I heard that I inquired about the car. 2 years of waiting I backed out...

Well yesterday I found out how it feels to to tangle with these cars. In a capable drivers hands they were just absolutely unstoppable. I am an okay driver and the group there were a handful of good driver driving their Elises --well there was no way of catching them. On corner entry or exit they were much quicker-- only if the driver wasn't capable did they not have the advantage.

I compiled a short clips of some of the day's footage in the video. Enjoy!

Track was Dunnville Autodrome in Dunnville, Ontario, Canada. A flat short challenging track. It was a wet day with some showers off and on.

http://rapidshare.de/files/266....html

-Edwin


PS you can hear the furious Mugen Intake powa from my car down the straights. haha


Here are some pictures my friend took...










Modified by Edwin at 3:50 PM 7/23/2006

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Edwin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
http://rapidshare.de/files/266....html

</TD></TR></TABLE>

And this whole time I thought rapidshare was just for pr0n lol.
Downloading right now

 

haha...Good stuff! Too bad the vid is so short. I was just getting warmed up!

 

oh man.. only if it was little longer.

I always loved those cars.

so are they available in cananda now or what?
how much are they?

they're soooo nice

 

More footage, less talk !!! hehe !!! Good video, you need to scroll your cam a little more to the right .. good stuff nonetheless !! As much as I love my ITR, I wouldn't mind having an Elise in my garage. Too bad they are so damned expensive !! Price for the Elise here in Puerto Rico is almost $70k !!!!

 

I stop by my Acura dealer since they open a Lotus section. It is quite expensive. Base price at $43K, add Touring package (Luxury stuff) at $2,500 and Sport package ( track suspension and even Yoko ADVAN with Treadwear of 60!) for $1,500, paint style from $500 to $1K and you end up at $52K without additional hard roof! Now 1st year, they are exempt from NHTSA's 2.5 mile bumpers but who knows what they look like next year when it will be modify

 

Price in Canada is about $65K after taxes.

Reasonable consider it's a giant killer and a pretty nice car.

 

Pretty cool video man. I hope to own an Elise one day.

 

I dont agree a friend of mine and i got to play around with the new Exseige. The driver was a damn good one on good rubber, i was in my R alos on R comps and my buddy was in an R powered EK and were were not only able to keep up but passed him several times that day. No dout he was fast but his exit speeds just were not there. It was a huge amout of fun to actually have some one close in power/weight we are planning to see him next week at TWS for round two if i can get a car back together in time.

 

I have to disagree. The Exige especially should walk most ITRs on the track unless your car is prepped similar to what Austrian Type R's is packing. haha

He must suck as a driver if you're keeping up or passing him. Switch into his Exige and you'll realize the power.

Don't get me wrong I'm a strong believer in the ITR and it's excellent value and potential. I own one and drive it 4 seasons. Our cars are just outclassed by the Elise platform.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Edwin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have to disagree. The Exige especially should walk most ITRs on the track unless your car is prepped similar to what Austrian Type R's is packing. haha

He must suck as a driver if you're keeping up or passing him. Switch into his Exige and you'll realize the power.

Don't get me wrong I'm a strong believer in the ITR and it's excellent value and potential. I own one and drive it 4 seasons. I realize our cars are just outclassed by an Elise platform.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have to agree w/ rene. While I very much admire the Lotus' it just dosent match the R when driven by similar drivers.

My experience with them comes from running in the instructor and and advanced groups and they just dont seem to have the top end the R has. And now with the ATS FD they just cant keep up at all in corner exit speed. They handle nice but just dont seem to have the power to keep up. Granted they couldnt keep up w/ the stock 4.4 either

 

i think you guys are kidding yourselves if you think drivers equal, the ITR &gt; exige &gt; elise.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by uNF$@#! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i think you guys are kidding yourselves if you think drivers equal, the ITR &gt; exige &gt; elise.

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I was just speaking from personal experience. I apoligize if yours has been different

 

How about stock for stock car if you have driver for driver equal.

Honda-Tech brainwash. ITR &gt; Exige &gt; Elise
You must be joking.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Edwin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How about stock for stock car if you have driver for driver equal.

Honda-Tech brainwash. ITR &gt; Exige &gt; Elise
You must be joking. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I dont understand what the problem is. All I said was that in my experience i have never noticed the lotus's being any faster then the R's. My motor is stock, I just have my suspension tuned and can easily get around them. They are quick but IMHO not any faster then our cars. Let me see if I can pull any old videos ie last season... Ive forgot my camera at the last 2 events (ever since i installed my fd so i have no recent vids) and it was snowing at VIR so that dosent count

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jaa1311 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was just speaking from personal experience.</TD></TR></TABLE>
If you're talking about Philicia, I am pretty sure she was under-driving the car when she had it out. She seemed a bit faster in her Miata, and she's certainly a good driver.

 

Looks like you had a wikked day in Dunnville, Edwin .... even though you were getting walked on .. lol.
Hope you can make it out to the GTA meet up at Hockley valley on the 5th-6th weekend.

Anyways, when it comes to the whole ITR - Elise arguement, my stance is as follows:

Stock for stock ...... Elise &gt; ITR
Elise's are ******* fast in the corners from the factory. (0-60 in 4.7s to boot)

Race prepped for a specific class .... Elise = ITR
Both cars have giant killing potential on a closed circut. But if we're talking modified vehicles, I don't think I could say that one would walk on another in a low to mid speed track. Both cars are very much equals in both design and spirit.

Just my $0.02

 

There were a few lotus out in group 3 at summit last event. There is also an exsiege in group 4. All are very fast cars, they just dont seem to have the humpf needed to keep up through a lot of the sections. they are very fast and capable cars i just think the R is a little quicker.

I do believe however that i may have been wrong on my previous comment about stock for stock... I think the 4.9 FD and making the switch to R comps gave me a little more of an advantage then I led myself to believe.

I was reviewing some previous video's I had saved on this comp when I found a fairly long one of me and smitdog w/ a elise (George, you even snuck in there too ). The lotus is clearly quicker out of the corners then us but we were able to catch it through the twisties and straights making up time in the braking zones. Its a good video, pretty old as steves car dosent have the cage in it and im still on azeni's but good none the less.

Ill see if I can get it hosted and posted in a little while

 

I have always had great respect and admiration for the ITR....but an elise, come on guys. With equal drivers the elise (or exige for that matter) is simply a faster car. Look at the power to weight ratio for both cars, plus rwd.
Honestly, i think the R is an absolutely phenomenal out-of-the-box racer, but i think you guys have gone a little too far this time...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chris1866 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have always had great respect and admiration for the ITR....but an elise, come on guys. With equal drivers the elise (or exige for that matter) is simply a faster car. Look at the power to weight ratio for both cars, plus rwd.
Honestly, i think the R is an absolutely phenomenal out-of-the-box racer, but i think you guys have gone a little too far this time...</TD></TR></TABLE>

come on, we all know ITR &gt; *everything*

 

 

A guy had some fun with some super cars in his Elise/Exige.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...elise

Pretty nice video. Watched it awhile ago and lost the link but thank god it wasn't too hard to find.

Everybody knows that Elise is a great handling car. But I guess it's not fair to compare ITR & Elise coz they're in a different class. S2000/Elise maaaaaaaaybe. Coz price range is at least a bit closer & both are in RWD. Elise is quick but I don't think it is a nice & practical daily driven car. Elise is definitely a nice weekend car for ppl who can afford a 2nd car.

ITR is nice coz yes it's also fast in a stock form, and u can drive it to/from work everyday(hate to say this but if no one is gonna steal it).

I love Elise a lot myself but the parts & labor cost turn me away, totally.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jaa1311 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I dont understand what the problem is. All I said was that in my experience i have never noticed the lotus's being any faster then the R's. My motor is stock, I just have my suspension tuned and can easily get around them. They are quick but IMHO not any faster then our cars. Let me see if I can pull any old videos ie last season... Ive forgot my camera at the last 2 events (ever since i installed my fd so i have no recent vids) and it was snowing at VIR so that dosent count </TD></TR></TABLE>

In my personal experience I dominated a ITR with R comps at barber with my stock m3and new Azenis. So for me, Stock E36m3 &gt;itr&gt;exige&gt;elise&gt;Yugo

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spoonek4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I love Elise a lot myself but the parts & labor cost turn me away, totally. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Because maintaining that Toyota engine can be such a PITA. Omg most unreliable ump evAr. And there are some many thigs to break on a elise, like power lock, rain sensing wipers, auto climate control, power windows, power seats, that yea, it seems like a reliablity nightmare.

 

I'm more concern about mechanical parts yes. Like I heard ball joints get worn out QUICKLY. I won't even try to drive through pot holes & speed bumps with these cars at all!