[Larry Andrews]

Not knowing a lot about what the Elise' capabilities will be makes it hard to say for sure...but,

Having watched Mark Huffman successfully run his old Elan against seriously high HP cars, I fully believe that it is possible to do well in cars that don't exactly fit the moldfor the class. Seems like it's probably a course dependent thing. Have noticed that Huffman hasn't been to San Diego in a while though.

One thing that's a little tough. There doesn't seem to be a lot out there for the GT-S motor. OTOH, you're starting out very light and can increase total grip by a LOT. Both very good things.

 

[John Stimson]

I really have no idea. It's not an obvious ringer. The Elan has a narrow track working in its favor...it doesn't have to turn as much in slaloms and boxes or lanechanges. The Elise is almost as wide as a "real car", but still lightweight and with some power to move it along. And standard SP mods give modest horsepower gains...10-20HP perhaps, which isn't much if your car is 3000 pounds and has 300HP, but could mean a lot for a 2000 pound car with 200HP.

However, the competition is fierce. If the Porsche GT2 weren't scary enough, the lighter GT3 with a lag-free (non-turbo) engine is available this year, for a little over half the price. The Z06 is still around. And Andy McKee bought an RX-7 TT earlier this year with plans to campaign it in ASP (at least until SM2 is ripe for squashing).

 

[ConeFusion]

I don't expect the Elise to be an overdog, and that's fine. If everything goes as planned, I will build it up slowly, and keep it for a long time. All I want is a chance to beat people in other cars if I drive better than them. The driving still needs a lot of work in my case, but I hate to bring a knife to a gun fight. Preparing a car is a lot of work (and money), and I wouldn't want to put the effort into a car that doesn't have a chance.

It's all speculation until we gain some experience with the Elise, but my best guess is that the priorities could be: Tires (with an additional set of wheels), alignment, stiffer springs and adjustable shocks (possibly delayed if car has LSS), LSD (if not availabe as option), suspension bushings, power (exhaust, intake, ECU tuned for race gas, etc.).

Not sure how far I'll go, but with all out SP setup, I hope that there's much more than 10-20hp to be gained. I have a great local tuner, I'll be talking to him if I want to get serious.

 

[smoseley]

I think it'll be more competitive in PHP, JSP, or CGI

 

[Imp]

The driving still needs a lot of work in my case, but I hate to bring a knife to a gun fight. Preparing a car is a lot of work (and money), and I wouldn't want to put the effort into a car that doesn't have a chance.

Yep. Driver 1st, car 2nd.

 

[elise77]

Most of the discussion has been about where the Elise might get classed in Stock, and how it will do there. What about SP? I never ran an auto-x event in Stock, and don't really see myself keeping the Elise within Stock rules for very long (mod bug...).

I guess it's pretty much given that the SP class will be ASP? Does anybody have a feeling how competitive the Elise will be there? Can it keep up with the Vettes with both cars in SP trim?

I know that there are a lot of unknowns, but it's winter, so bench racing is all we have to keep us entertained.

Well, I run in stock class however if you look at rex carr in his OLD Lotus as a guide....IN SP trim look out....The car should be great. You can put in a real diff...a quaife....custom coil overs....Throw away the 16 and 17 inch rims for some 14s or 15s with some width to them....apply hoosiers / kumhos......Headers / Intake....Engine management ( I believe thats legal)....Strip out any excess weight...OK, the rugs...and hang on...

If I wasn't so cheap I would take my future car right there......but I am so stock class for me...