2001 Lotus Elise

Hailing from mid-2001, this Elise is an early Series 2 example. The Elise was supplied to its first keeper by Lotus dealers Bell and Colvill of Horsley in Surrey. At that stage the diminutive Lotus would have been in standard K-Series form with a five speed gearbox. The Elise would retain this worthy but relatively tame specification for around five years before undergoing a significant metamorphosis in 2006.

At that point, one of the Elise’s first three owners commissioned Maidstone Sports Cars to go to town on the Elise. Maidstone Sports Cars have a long reputation for Elise engine swaps based on the high revving Honda K20A2 i-VTEC engine. In this case the then keeper ticked just about every box Maidstone Sports Cars could offer and specified the supercharged version of the i-VTEC engine together with a host of accompanying upgrades and improvements which amounted to a spend of over £30,000 in 2006. This impressive conversion, together with the fitment of the six speed Honda gearbox is transformational in terms of power and performance but only adds around 15kg to the Elise’s weight. Colin Chapman would be proud.

Current owner, Martin, acquired this remarkable Elise in October 2010 to become its fifth registered keeper. At that stage the Lotus had covered around 32,000 miles. Today the total stands at just over 41,500 miles highlighting the car’s light use, not only in Martin’s hands, but throughout its life. The yearly average stands at under 2,000 miles per annum.
 

This S2 Elise has plenty of “show” to accompany all that aforementioned “go,” too. Finished in bright metallic Cobalt Blue complete with a pair of thick, bright white stripes which run from the leading edge of the front clamshell right to the extremities of the rear bodywork, pausing only for the black roof panel. There is an impressively high flake content to the paintwork which only adds to the lustre and shine on display here.

Of course, it’s useful to remember that this is now a 24-year old car with fibreglass bodywork that sits close to the road. As a result the low nose exhibits quite a number of minor stone chips and a few deeper scars on the low front spoiler. It is also noted that there is somewhat of a colour mismatch between the front clamshell and its surrounding panels.

The Elise’s fibreglass body is a study in minimal design with nothing superfluous or lacking function present. It’s a little more flamboyant in this Series 2 form but only moderately so. The narrow, dished, and elliptical rear panel contains the four, individual rear lights and the big “Lotus” black finished name badge. A functional rear diffuser houses the large calibre, twin exhausts.

The purposeful and focussed look of this Lotus is further enhanced by the fitment of a staggered set of black finished OZ Racing alloy wheels. These are in reasonable order and consist of 16-inch items at the from and 17-inch items at the rear. These are shod with Toyo Proxes in a 195/50 configuration at the bow and 225/45 at the stern. The observant will spot the Lotus embossing to the front callipers. 
 

Chapman’s influence seems even more obvious in the cockpit of the Elise. “Minimal” was clearly the designers’ watch word. In this example uprated Exige seats were fitted during the car’s 2006 transformation. Additionally a set of Willans four point race harnesses are fitted. 

Like all the best race inspired cars, much of the architecture of this featherweight car is visible in the cabin. The deep and high sill panels make Elise ingress and egress an art best first practiced in private. Alloy, ribbed crossmembers dissect the footwells with black carpet mats dressing the area between these and the exposed aluminium footwell bulkheads.

The dashboard is finished in a mix of black substrates and polished alloy accents. The instrument binnacle is binocular shaped and contains a pair of flat bottomed, white on black gauges. A small digital read-out and a panel of warning lights are also present. These sit behind a chunky, three-spoke alloy, leather and Alcantara steering wheel. Heating and air conditioning controls are located in the centre section and are finished in attractive machined alloy. A clue to this car’s extravagantly enhanced mechanical specification can be found in the Honda derived, alloy gear knob with a six speed change pattern picked out in red. 
 

As we have already discovered, this Elise benefitted from a professional heart transplant in 2006. Now, under the rear panel, dwells a supercharged 2-litre Honda K20A2 i-VTEC unit. A close ratio, six speed manual Honda gearbox is also fitted. According to Maidstone Sports Cars’ original figures this conversion delivers a 0-60mph time beginning with a 3 and a 0-100mph time of around 8 seconds.

The theoretical top speed at 8,000rpm in sixth is 162mph. Amazingly, the economy is reportedly actually improved over the original, less efficient K-Series set up. In order to better contain all this extra urge aluminium belled brake discs are fitted all round as are uprated Padget pads. The suspension has also been uprated courtesy of a £1,000 set of Nitron shock absorbers accompanied by a Nylatron bush kit. Numerous other mechanical improvements are also present including a lightened flywheel and balanced, competition clutch, an uprated cooling system and more.

Lifting the rear engine cover reveals a neat and tidy application of this revered Honda unit. A signature, red crackle finished engine cover is prominent together with Honda branding. Some of this finish is now flaking off but otherwise this is a very well presented engine bay. What can be seen of the underside looks impressive for a 24-year old car and further improvement could be made here by a diligent clean.
 

The current V5 registration document is present, here, as is the current MoT in hard copy. The latter is valid until November 2025 and is free from advisories. A number of earlier MoTs in hard copy are also on hand.

The original book pack is present to include the service book. This includes four service stamps as well as the Bell and Colvill pre-delivery inspection information. The stamps cover the period up to 13,725 miles in 2005. A number of interesting and high value invoices from various points in the Elise’s history are also present. Preeminent amongst these is the detailed Maidstone Sports Cars item from 2006. This gives forensic detail of the work undertaken at that stage to warrant an investment of over £30,000 by the then owner.
 

Right from its launch back in 1995, the Elise has been known as the ultimate expression of a pure and focussed driver’s car. It is incredibly focussed on what it does so well, which is imparting a thrilling and engaging driving experience that very few cars can match, let alone exceed. And that’s just the original, rather low-tech K-Series endowed models. What the Elise clearly needed was significantly more power to be able fully exploit that inspired high-tech platform.

In original Rover K-Series trim, this Elise would have cost around £23,000 in 2001. Whilst the 120bhp, or so, on tap was modest even then it more than enough to punt around this 750kg sports icon around with great and grin inducing verve. That wasn’t enough for an earlier keeper who, in 2006, invested a further £30,000 in fitting a supercharged Honda VTEC engine and six speed gearbox. That has resulted in a 160mph plus track day or road weapon with few equals outside a small cabal of £100,000 plus supercars. What an incredible and great value example and surely the ultimate track-day choice.

We are happy to offer this car for auction with an estimate in the range of £20,000 - £25,000.

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