I'm going to rant for a minute, flame suit on.
First off, it's guys like you who make it hard for the rest of us to import race cars. Those cars were allowed into this country for OFF ROAD USE ONLY. I know, I bought two of the Lotus cars (Elise Sport 190, and Exige S1). I signed all kinds of docs when I bought mine and it was made clear to me that if the Feds caught me driving or registering the car it would be impounded and exported or destroyed.
In terms of the bad advice you are getting, it does not matter what the STATE allows you to do. That car does not meet FEDERAL DOT or EPA laws. If the Feds find out you are driving it on the street, you are done.
You can look into the "show and display" rules. I did not pursue that for my cars because I didn't care but I know some guys who did that for other European cars.
Good luck.
Roy
ps. I'll post some pics of my Exige S1 on a Georgia mountain drive a little later
