2000 Lotus 190 Sport Elise

• One of only a handful ‘Motorsport’ Elise/Exige development cars
• Road registered. An early press car featuring in a number of period press releases
• Fitted with a 190bhp Janspeed K-Series engine
• Class winner in the AMOC Yokohama Mid-Engined Sportscar Series and the Lotus Road Sports series
• Owned by our vendor since 2014. Recently in professional storage
• Race Performance, based in Lincoln, have recommissioned the car for road use including a fresh MOT, new battery etc.
• The vendor has applied for a replacement V5c, DVLA have advised this will take 6-8 weeks

This Elise is a very interesting car. It’s a genuine “motorsport” car, one of only a handful of Prototype ‘Motorsport’ crossover cars thought to have been built whilst Lotus were developing the Exige, essentially an Exige without the roof! Although this particular car has been prepared with circuit racing in mind, it is road registered to ensure all-round versatility for its owner, it was featured in a number of period press releases and, later in its life, saw service as a press car.

The current owner, who has strong historical links to Lotus, raced it at the start of its life in the AMOC Yokohama Mid-engined Sportscar Series winning its class in both 2002/2003 and also raced in the Lotus Road Sports series. He later sold it, regretted it, bought it back in 2014 and has owned it ever since.

Some of this car’s unique spec is listed below for clarity:

• One of the very first cars fitted with the 190bhp Janspeed K-Series engine
• Motorsport wheels with new tyres. Roll-cage, extinguisher, race seats
• Factory fitted fire system and electrical cut off switches.
• Carbon airbox, limited-slip diff, short-shift gearbox, adjustable suspension
• Quick-release, Lotus Cup ‘control’ brakes and tyres.

This important piece of Lotus history has been in storage for a number of years as part of our vendors eclectic collection. In preparation for the sale, ‘Race Performance’, based in Lincoln, have recommissioned the car for road use including a fresh MOT, new battery etc. If the buyer wanted to race it then obviously some further pre-race preparation would be appropriate.

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.