Breaking news? One of the "traveling Elise's" wrecked?

3097 Views 34 Replies 16 Participants Last post by LarryB, Oct 29, 2003

ace3

Discussion Starter · Oct 24, 2003

So, i'm flying to Austin next week to drive the Elise that Autostrada has.

Andrew calls me up about 5 minutes ago, and said that the other "traveling Elise" was wrecked, and that Lotus needed the other one right away.

I'll be really interested to hear what exactly happened...

There might be a chance it'll still be there - i get in town on Thursday evening, and he said if it's still there, he'd work something out.

If anyone is looking for a dealer to put their down payment with, i'd definitely suggest contacting Andrew at Autostrada in Austin, TX. www.autostradausa.com

1 - 20 of 35 Posts

DanH

· #2 · Oct 24, 2003

doh.

Thats the thing with the Elise. Lots of people think they can drive until they get into a mid engined RWD car.

Hope the passengers are ok. Elises do suprisingly well in crashes from what I've seen so far though.

YvoTuk

· #3 · Oct 24, 2003

Bad story

Indeed that's the standard story with Elises...

The story dealers will never tell.. most Elise crashes are in les then 5000km from leaving the showroom!

The only thing I can recommend you guys is not to think you're immortal.. The Elise can be a tricky car if you don't know how to handle it. Build up speed slowly, try some drifting and stuff on large parking lots in the wet.. (no no... not the ones with the big light masts every 200 meters

)

DanH

· #4 · Oct 24, 2003

The Elise doesn't drift so much as pivot rapidly around its centre axis

You can catch it if you are very quick, but it takes some masterful control to do a big angle tail out slide.

Randy Chase

· #5 · Oct 24, 2003

We have been preaching that for years.

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=691

Learn what midengined is all about. I have read way too many reports of accidents. We just lost someone on the MR2 forums. A very well known MR2 guy's 16 year old son died in a crash in an MR-2.

My daughter spun out my MR2 and put it into a front yard.

And oh... was "breaking news" intentional?

DanH

· #6 · Oct 24, 2003

Apparently Mk2 MR2s are even more snappy than Elises. Apparently they had to narrow the track at the last minute to save on cost and it compromised the handling

snapple

· #7 · Oct 24, 2003

heh, i've driven an mkII MR2 for 6 years so i should be fine in an elise right?

my very first car was a 91na so i basically learned the hardway. no major crashes tho, just some curbs and spin outs. then 2.5 years ago i got a 91 turbo and lots of tire burning but no crashes yet. i really hope to get an elise soon, i'll be out of school in a year heh.

Randy Chase

· #8 · Oct 24, 2003

When Toyota first came out with the MKI MR-2 in 1985, they had a rear swaybar. They took it off to calm down oversteer.

They came out with the MKII in 1990 and for two years sold it. But during that time, learned it was even more tail happy. Dan Gurney even had some words about it. They came out with a tamed down version in 1993.

The MKIII Spyder was revised in 2003 to have extra rear bracing and larger rear tires.

Randy Chase

· #9 · Oct 24, 2003

snapple said:
heh, i've driven an mkII MR2 for 6 years so i should be fine in an elise right?

my very first car was a 91na so i basically learned the hardway. no major crashes tho, just some curbs and spin outs. then 2.5 years ago i got a 91 turbo and lots of tire burning but no crashes yet. i really hope to get an elise soon, i'll be out of school in a year heh.

Anyone who has midengined car experience will be ahead of people that do not. But the most important thing is to respect what can happen in a midengined car and to understand the physics so you don't slam on the brakes in the middle of a turn (for one example).

My MR2's license plate was SPINS

Fitting name though snapple

Welcome to the forum.

ace3

Discussion Starter · #10 · Oct 24, 2003

Randy Chase said:
And oh... was "breaking news" intentional?

part of my extremely-lame humor.

BrianK

· #11 · Oct 25, 2003

Randy Chase said:
When Toyota first came out with the MKI MR-2 in 1985, they had a rear swaybar. They took it off to calm down oversteer.

I was wondering why there was no rear bar on mine when I bought it. An old junk yard and $45 later and the little squeaker finally gets around the bends the way it should (with minimal body roll to boot) - I highly recommend them (rear sway bars, that is).

But I digress, a good, long "get to know you" time is essential if you've never driven a mid-engined car. Also don't forget that new tires are a bit slick until you scrub 'em in a bit.

Hope the occupants of the car are ok (assuming it did actually get in a wreck).

smura

· #12 · Oct 25, 2003

Ahhhh, the beauty of insurance. I'm just lucky that USAA provides GAP insurance free of charge!

jml1952

· #13 · Oct 25, 2003

So, based on a post at Roadfly, it appears that the Elise demo ran into trouble here in sunny southern California (Orange County).

JonOrangeElise

· #14 · Oct 25, 2003

Right. And it also appears that the accident was not the result of an oversteer spin, but that the guy just plowed into someone -- couldn't get the right feet on the right pedals. At least that's what the roadfly thread suggests.

Randy Chase

· #15 · Oct 25, 2003

Operator Error

OOPS

mikester

· #16 · Oct 25, 2003

It's a real shame, there weren't enough demo cars to go around as it was !

Evidently noone was hurt seriously - at least that's what I'm guessing from the lack of any news to the contrary. Hope this is true.

scot

· #17 · Oct 25, 2003

Remember the mid-engined mantra.

"Don't lift, don't lift, don't lift..."

DanH

· #18 · Oct 25, 2003

The problem with that mantra is that lots of people don't know when it doesn't apply, so end up ploughing into barriers 30 mph faster than they needed to. Remember people, if you've lost it flooring it will not save you, so just brake and try to minimise any impact speed.

The guy who teaches lots of us Brits to drive the Elise properly mentioned the number of people who just keep their foot planted having heard than mantra as if it will help things.

Lotus Fury

· #19 · Oct 26, 2003

scot said:
Remember the mid-engined mantra.

"Don't lift, don't lift, don't lift..."

uhm, yeah not just mid engine... Any powerful enough RWD car... Ask my insurance agent...

scot

· #20 · Oct 26, 2003

While I agree the mantra is useful to more than just midengined cars, I have driven plenty of both, and there are times where lifting is good in a frontengined car, but I can't think of a time I have EVER thought lifting (while maintaining the turn) was right in my boxster. If I have enough trackout space and can go straight vs continuing the turn, then yes, I stay on power, straighten out the car, THEN hit the brakes. Never lift and brake while turning or you will not be happy.

The problem with the midengined layout is that when you start spinning, its VERY difficult to save it, where as lifting for a sec to move the backend might be the right way to go in a frontengined RWD car. It just takes a long time for the spin to start, on midengined vehicles its VERY fast and VERY violent.

As far as when to lift in a midengined car, I will just say thig, NEVER in a turn. That mantra is only indicating that when you are worried about the car making it through the turn, the last thing in the world you want to do is let go of the power. Maybe you want more power to drift the rear (power oversteer) to get the car to turn faster, maybe just maintain and realize there is more grip than you first estimated. Whatever the reason, if you are in a tight turn and lift up on the throttle, I guarantee that as you are doing graceful 360s you will think "I shouldn't have liftedl."

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