1998 Lotus Elise Sport 190

Purity is a fragile and vulnerable thing, and in August 1996, the revolutionary new Lotus Elise seemed to ooze purity from every crevice, with nothing superfluous subtracting from the essence of this truly minimalist, focused sports car. Although 'beautiful to behold' it certainly was, the time-honoured relationship between form and function was clearly evident in the way it went and handled with its lightweight chassis-tub failing to daunt the enthusiasm of the mid-mounted, 1.8-litre K-series engine.

Designer, Julian Thomson, and engineer, Richard Rackham, were keen to create a car with something of a motorcycle’s feel, and they undoubtedly succeeded. The Elise was a reaction to the corpulent world of leather, luxury and levers becoming increasingly evident in Lotus road cars, and was an attempt to recreate Colin Chapman’s early principles before he abandoned them in a move upmarket. It’s a testimony to the concept that, almost 27-years on from launch, the original S1 still delivers; as with other great drivers’ cars such as the E30 M3 and the original Elan, all things feel in-balance – power, grip, handling, and mass making for a uniquely satisfying experience.

The car presented here is perhaps the ultimate Elise Series 1 – known as the Sport 190, they were hand-built by Lotus Special Vehicle Operations, and were intended for competition use. This car bears the correct motorsport chassis number, denoting/verifying its special status. There were just 48 Sport 190 examples produced worldwide, with most destined for the US and Japan. A very small number of the UK-market cars were converted for road-use by a select-few UK-dealers, including HR Owen and, as with this car, Bell & Colvill. There were only seven examples ever registered in the UK (the paperwork accompanying this car features a list of the other six cars), and of these, it is known that one example was converted to wear an Exige body, one was exported, one had a supercharger fitted, making this (essentially standard) car an extremely rare thing indeed. With a dry weight of around 670kg and 190bhp on tap from its hand-built 1.8-litre K-Series VHPD (Very High-Performance Derivative) inline-four, this is a very fast and exhilarating car.

As well as this special engine, all Sport 190s were fitted with an upgraded close-ratio gearbox, numerous chassis improvements, AP Racing front callipers with cross-drilled ventilated discs, spring and damper upgrades, a fire extinguisher and battery cut-off switch, a removable steering wheel, racing bucket seats, a roll-cage, a lightweight polycarbonate rear screen, and a lightweight filler cap – all helping to reduce the dry weight of the car from 755kg to 670kg.

This car has been in the same Lotus-enthusiast ownership since 1998, and during this near 25-year ownership period it was initially raced (as was only proper for its abilities). However, after a few seasons of racing, it was retired to road duties, and at this point its engine was refreshed with a very high standard Minister rebuild, upping the already ample power to 215bhp. Later, an Emerald ECU was added to improve driveability. The car also benefited from having its suspension refreshed a few years ago too. Other changes include Nitron 46 Race Pro dampers and a B&C exhaust backbox, whilst all original items have been retained (a set of barely-used KONI Sport dampers in their box, the original backbox and the MEMS ECU). It is accompanied by a huge history file with old invoices, MOTs and has its Certificate of Newness and original SVA paperwork.

The Sport 190, as with all motorsport-edition cars, was highly customisable - this car has all of the safety systems (electrical cut-offs/fire suppression), motorsport seats/harness set, T45 hoop with petty bar, and magnesium wheels (all fully road legal).

In short, everything is 'on tap’ here for the Lotus enthusiast. This is an extremely rare car with interesting provenance and is remarkably versatile, being comfortable on both road and track with some serious performance available. We don’t know when an opportunity to buy a Lotus like this will come around again – interestingly, this car turns 25-years old in November, so US-buyers take note – be the envy of any track-day.