S1 Exige With Built K20a2 Rotrex Blower Etc.

[ggelise]

Hello Everybody-

Have a little project in midstream and thought some of you might be interested.

Had one of the first Elises off the boat and loved it. However, was obsessed with the S1 Exiges converted to Honda power. While owning the Elise, all I could think about was a powerful built Honda lump driving a lightened S1 Exige.

So, found an S1 Exige that will look familiar to some of you. The car was setup for the track with all the yaw Lotus had to build into these cars completely dialed out. Driving the car for the first time was literally shocking-my S2 w/lss was a Buick in comparison.

Stage two, on to removing the Rover motor. Long story short, going with a Rotrex C-94 driven to max speed on a built k20a2 with charge cooler. All the other stuff is being upgraded to handle 400WHP, big brakes, high down force wing and front splitter, accusump, Nitrons, fuel swirl pot etc., etc.

The pics "if I am able to get them posted" are of the early engine fitting. I am in FL and the car is in CA at MD automotive-Mark Dibella's place (this is the shop that Jackson Racing started from.) With the help of Tom at Sun Speed, these two have amazing resources and capabilities and are great people to deal with.

So, this is just getting started ....stay tuned.

Cheers

[ggelise]

Don't have many shots at the moment but here are a few more:

[BrianK]

Looking forward to updates. The gold on the motor looks really nice.

Where are you located?

[Hello Kitty]

Originally Posted by ggelise

...Driving the car for the first time was literally shocking-my S2 w/lss was a Buick in comparison.

The s1 is better than the s2? what do you mean?

[xtn]

Originally Posted by Hello Kitty

The s1 is better than the s2? what do you mean?

I don't know what HE means specifically, but the S1 cars were about five hundred pounds lighter than the Federalized S2 cars. I can imagine how that might improve things.

xtn

[Chris Mackey]

Originally Posted by xtn

I don't know what HE means specifically, but the S1 cars were about five hundred pounds lighter than the Federalized S2 cars.
xtn

Cheaper isn't necessarily better.

Oh, wait....really? 500 lbs?

[david hasselhoff]

why is the motor gold??? its something david hasselhoff would do to match his bling.

I have driven a S1 exige (190hp) sports racer and a fed S2 elise...

yes the weight difference is nice however the rear suspension camber curve geometry on rebound travel is much better is on the S2 hence it being much more forgiving at the limit.

still i would rather have the 350lb weight savings. great looking project, thanks for sharing

cheers

dh

[ggelise]

Hey Brian- from Central FL but miss your area of the world and hope to get out that way soon.

Yes, XTN is on the money. This is Mark Starr's track car and when I received it he had done a great deal to the car. 20% reduction in weight make a huge difference. Look at the performance of the FrankenLotus-it is almost brutal-very inspirational what he is doing-wish I had his knowledge/skills.


The gold engine color was selected by the engine builder clearly he was influenced by the JPS

[david hasselhoff]

xtn

less 500lb? only if you believe lotus's 1995 genvea press release spec of the pre-production elise quoted at 720kg or 1584lbs

from what ive gathered, real road going curb weight of typical S1's are closer to 760kg/1675lb...subtract that from a S2 Fed car of about 1950lb you get a figure thats pretty far from 500lbs. never the less a weigth reduction of 300 or so pounds is huge in a car so light. with the elise, its always easier to add power than to lose the weight.

a buddy weighed his lightened S2 Fed on longacres scales and was proud to see 1852lb.

[xtn]

Sorry for my unthinking exaggeration, but we can all agree the S1 cars a reasonably lighter.

xtn

[300hpMR2]

Are we allowed to swing by and see the car? I love those S1 Exige's.

I don't know much about them other than what they look like so hopefully this isn't a stupid question. Where is the back end in your photo? Is that part of the car detachable?

[ggelise]

It does not take too much to get the weight down to 1,600. In the extreme there is a guy on SELOC with what I want to say is a 1,450 example? This is not realistic for this project as he started from a raw chassis. All this comes at an expense. The experience becomes very raw, rough and loud. We are targeting mid 1,500's but who knows. It has magnesium rims, a racing battery, lighter uprights, lighter exhaust mostly stripped interior but also has plumbed in fire and electric shut off system and a Petty bar (I think that is what you call that diagonal brace) all of which add weight as will the new engine, supercharger & charge cooler. I could be pulling a U-Haul and it make a difference as my driving is the weak link but If I knew it was substantially lighter perhaps this could create some type of mental advantage

[SUTOL111x]

Awesome car and build! Thanks for sharing this. I am relatively new to this stuff and I had no idea of the track benefits of the S1.

[ggelise]

Hey Albert-

You are more than welcome to see the car. It is at MD automotive in Westminster. When it is finished, you are welcome to give her a go. Mark (the owner) does awesome work. The first generation Jackson racing supercharger kits were done at his shop. I strongly recommend this place. He, along with Sun Speed are pondering doing conversions for s2's in the near future. As the price drops for the 05's it makes this option very viable. I am not affiliated with either company in any way. So if any of you find a cheep s2 and want to do something similar he is your man. If you want an inconel exhaust, you name it they can do it.

[perryeyges]

Outstanding!
I know all too well how lightening up the car makes it into a completley different experience as far as the drive goes. Think "Sport Bike"
Latest 340 style mod:

[ggelise]

XPRMTL your car is AWESOME. People must freak when they see that thing. Hope to see it some day. I was thinking of going center seat, have you considered this?

Mark is mocking up components and sent a few pics:

[perryeyges]

Yes, people are constantly taking videos, giving the thumbs up going crazy over the car. I had a cop pull me over and say "I just wanted to see what car you wear a helmet in"..
Your car is SUPER sweet. I bought mine from Mark Starr.. Do you know where he landed after HRM folded??
I do like the fact that mine is somewhat street legal. The S1 Exige is THE car of all time though.. Simple yet way radical compared to a stock Elise. The current Exige should be more radical IMHO...

[ggelise]

I saw the U-tube clip taken by the bikers. It was very cool to see your car on the road. This is the genesis of this entire concept-a four wheel motorcycle. I can't believe you had the guts to do it.
I don't know where Mark has landed. HRM was one of THE leading Lotus dealerships....strange.

Well, as far as the street legal part is concerned, I have actually purchased car parts. Don't be surprised if you see a similar looking kit-car trying to keep up with you in the canyons. No.....just kidding it would be crushed instantly.

[lotus4fun]

Originally Posted by perryeyges

Yes, people are constantly taking videos, giving the thumbs up going crazy over the car. I had a cop pull me over and say "I just wanted to see what car you wear a helmet in"..
Your car is SUPER sweet. I bought mine from Mark Starr.. Do you know where he landed after HRM folded??
I do like the fact that mine is somewhat street legal. The S1 Exige is THE car of all time though.. Simple yet way radical compared to a stock Elise. The current Exige should be more radical IMHO...

Perry,
My friend said he saw you being chased by the cops in Berkeley and say you are a fast guy and he rides a bike.

Did you get in trouble?

PS,
I wanted to do this project and this will be a wicked track car.

Eric

[perryeyges]

All I can say about that is that if someone didn't know that a cop was after them and they just kept going then the cop would probably never even get close to them. I don't recall ever being chased by a cop......