1996 Lotus Elise

The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996. This '96 Lotus Elise has been built to "Lotus Elise Trophy" specification. During the build, a range of race spec suspension parts were fitted including new wishbone bushes, wheel bearings and ball joints all round, Hofmann's ARB Nitron 1-way damper 650/750 springs with helpers, Hofmann's ARB with Nylatron mounts, Eliseparts lightweight steering arms, rose-jointed track rod ends, OEM steering uprights and Eliseparts rose-jointed rear toe links.

Retardation relies on AP 295mm front discs with Eliseparts aluminium belled rear discs (floating), and rota slipstream alloys were fitted along with an alloy Eliseparts radiator, quick fill fuel pipe and quick release fuel cap.

For the engine and drive train, the bottom end is based on 19k mile TF160 engine, MS2 head with VVC hydraulic followers, PTP stainless valves (VHPD size), PTP valve springs, Newman PH3 cams, Piper vernier pulleys, 52mm throttle body, Janspeed 4-2-1 manifold, 5" silenced cat pipe, Eliseparts lightweight silencer and flywheel. Race TF clutch plate and cover, B4BP gearbox (4 races since rebuild) with type B Torsen LSD have been fitted along with Eliseparts motorsports gear linkage.

In terms of safety equipment, a custom cages T45 6-point cage has been fitted and a lifeline Zero 2000 4kg electronic fire extinguisher with four nozzles and an electric solid-state cut off switch is included. Our vendor tells us the seats and belts are in date.

The body is a standard S1 in Norfolk Yellow with a Kelsport kevlar single skin hardtop and a carbon side scoops although our vendor reports that one is broken.

The car, in general, is reported to weigh around 718kg with 10 litres of fuel. In July 2015, in the hands of a novice, the car was first in class and 3rd overall in CSCC New Millenium at Rockingham Motor Speedway. It has been regularly maintained by DMD Motorsports and CAD Motorsport Engine Developments provided our vendor with a printout of the Dyno results which show 181 bhp with 140lbft of torque. Our vendor tells us that the parts alone to build this car would be in excess of 21K, so what a great opportunity to acquire a fast entry level racer at a competitive guide price.