First of all, Kuanglong, the various shades of green you are turning is amusing. Get a life, please.
Also, let me first say this: I am not, nor will I probably ever be, a Lotus owner. I tend to be harsh on vehicles, and I'd brobably break one rather quickly. That being said, they are neat, fast, fun cars.
I first saw the photos and story on another web forum (as others who have posted in this thread probably have as well) and my initial reaction was this: "That sucks. But why's he bummed about having to drive the Porsche?"
I'm a hard-working individual. I drive, constantly, all over the East Coast of the US. My normal workday is about 15-17 hours. Business is just starting to take off... success is going to be a few years off. I've struggled with my life for the past 6 years- Divorce, homelessness, dragging myself up from the pits, etc. It hasn't been easy. So at first, I had very little, if any, sympathy for qball. Especially when he made a comment that, to me, seemed a little snobbish. Being raised old fashioned and blue color, this rubbed me the wrong way. However...
I'm in a situation of dealing with the loss of a beloved vehicle, myself. My 1991 Chevy G20 Conversion van, which had earned the affectionate nickname of "Althea", blew her engine this past Saturday due to an oil change gone bad. This van was one of my first steps into improving my life, starting my business, and making something of myself. I have slept in it during shows that I work, I've loaded her down well beyond her weight capacity, and she kept plugging along happily. In the past month, I've put over 3200 miles on her. She's taken me all over the place, we've seen many happy and sad times together in the past 2 years. Thinking about this, and how devestated I was to see my hard work, love, and livelihood loaded onto the back of a flatbed and dropped onto my front yard, dead as a doornail, I can understand COMPLETELY how q feels. And he's right. People do not know his situation. I, for example, have no idea what kind of hard work and struggle he may or may not have gone through to EARN the Lotus and the Porsche. So after my initial reaction, I realized... who am I to judge?
So perhaps it's apples and oranges here- I'm a blue-collar, Chevy guy with a love for long distance travel and music, Talking to a group of probably mostly white-collar speed freaks in fragile little sports cars. It seems weird for me to even be here. But everyone can relate, on some level, through memories of vehicles past, that ONE car that they absolutely loved to pieces, and were broken-hearted to see it damaged or die. We all have that as one of many common bonds. Mine happens to be a 3/4 ton heavy-duty van. My sympathies to your car, there may be a silver lining to this yet. If we ever met on the road, I wouldn't bother to race you, as it's a no-brainer as to who would win... but... let's see ya load the weight!
Also, some thoughts for your situation- get as MUCH documentation about the Elise together as humanly possible. Precision engineered cars are touchy, and whereas a fall like that probably would have just put a few nice dents in my van, they destroy sports cars, and any documentaion about how precise and touchy they are can help your case immensely. Although I think the case is a no-brainer. 100% shop negligence. Give 'em hell.
Peace, Good vibes,
TF