Mega Lotus to mark old F1 glory

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Source: Auto Express

car_photo_217052_7.jpg


This is the special edition Elise Type 72D, and only 50 are being built. It marks the 35th anniversary of Brazilian Formula One star Emerson Fittipaldi's championship win in the Lotus 72D racer.

The Elise has unique badges, black paint, gold wheels, two-tone leather seats and gold pinstripes. Owners will also receive a special numbered certificate, signed by Clive Chapman, son of Lotus founder Colin, plus a racing helmet.
 
They should've dropped in the 72D engine.
 
Or something like that. I mean, there already are countless Elise versions. If you're going to celebrate an F1 Championship anniversary (35 Years? Couldn't they have picked a better anniversary-date?), do it properly with a little more power (or a lot more), a little less weight, even sportier handling, etc. But this is just the plain old Elise, with stripes and colours. Meh...
 
Well I'll admit that this is one very good looking Elise, but they should've added gobs of power, or different suspension tuning, or something more significant than just paint and some colorful leather.
 
Bubble Bunny
When i first saw that pic, the word "carbon fiber" came to mind.
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing. A carbon fiber-bodied Elise would be so cool

Gingiba
...
with a little more power (or a lot more), a little less weight, even sportier handling, etc. But this is just the plain old Elise, with stripes and colours. Meh...
Click to expand...

We are both talking about the elise here, right? Less weight and sportier handling would probably be very difficult to achieve, and not worth the effort. Besides, the leather would make the car havier, wouldn't it?

Is extra power really that necessary? I find nothing wrong with a funky-colored version of a car to celebrate a not-so-big anniversary. Its not an entirely different car, just a special edition. It would join the Farenheight GTI and several others that are just special-colored cars.

Now, a tuned and force-injected version pumping out 300 horsepower and still legal would be just awesome...
 
A little more power over the standard Elise would be nice. a supercharger, perhaps?
 
I'm not saying it should have lots more power. Just, you know... An extra 20HP or so, to differ from the regular Elises.

But then again, the reason it's not done was also mentioned here - it's just a small anniversary, with an odd number (35)... But I do think the title should be changed. This Elise has nothing to do with Mega, it's just another special-version.
 
Jim Prower
A little more power over the standard Elise would be nice. a supercharger, perhaps?
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The original supercharger setup the Lotus factory was running does not fit inside the Elise's engine compartment. The Exige's fastback design can house the larger intercooler upright, so we've only seen factory-supercahrged Exiges so far (6 of them, 240R, S, Cup, Cup 255, S British GT Special, GT3 plus 2 different level 2-11s).

Plus, it makes negative marketing sense to supercharge the Elise.
 

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