The grand finale...

So I haven't updated the blog in a while, guess I was waiting for a BIG update... The Elise is officially no more. Earlier this year while driving through rural Indiana we came around a tricky corner that sent the car into a spin & into a guardrail. We weren't going excessively fast, nowhere near my or the car's limits, it really was just an odd turn. You come into it after leaving a right hand corner and going uphill, just as the hill crests you are pushing into the left hand section. As we crested the car got really light really quick, enough so to push the rear end out far enough that I couldn't recover.

The photos tell the rest...





























A picture perfect definition of irony...



If you look closely you can see my right turn signal stuck in in the guardrail.



This is the opposite side of the road, you can see just how lucky we are that we didn't go through the rail. The arrow is pointing to a piece of the car which must have been thrown across the road as we spun. You can also see some remains of a Chrysler Crossfire that wrecked here as well as several other random car parts from previous accidents. This is proof that it really is just "one of those bad turns".

So, with all of that said & shown I can officially say that the Lotus Elise is a very safe car. My wife & I both walked away with no injuries whatsoever aside from some expected soreness. Lotus did well when designing the crash structure and other safety bits of the car. The Elise still ran just fine and could have been driveable with the exception of a sheared rear toe link which was caused by the impact. Insurance declared it a total loss after several experts came in to evaluate it. When I stopped in to grab some personal items I noticed they had never removed the rear clam, the front damage & visible rear damage was enough to total it. I guess the high bodywork & labor prices were to blame.


My Lotus Elise with the front clam removed.



Did I get another Lotus Elise? Regrettably, no. I ALMOST ended up with another Elise but after searching for a few weeks I decided that I wanted a bit of a change anyway. Whenever I drove the Elise during the week, in not absolutely awesome weather, I would fee bad about doing so. The Lotus didn't mind but I just had some sort of complex about driving "A Lotus" in anything but the absolute best of conditions. I still drove it, probably way too much, but I still had those thoughts in the back of my mind. But no, no more Lotus Elise for me. I was checking out "options" online, consisting of E30 M3s (an old love of mine), when I came across an E46 BMW M3 in Laguna Seca Blue with black BBS LM's & blacked out trim. Ahh yes, I had forgotten about those...













To make a long story short I chased down a few different Laguna Seca Blue M3s only to find they had been sold or had some accident history. Finally I found a nice example of a 2001 M3 in Birmingham and after a few phone calls and some photos I was on my way down to pick it up. I've now been living with my 2001 BMW M3 for about 4 months now and I can say it's a completely different beast than the Elise. It is quite a few notches down on the "fun factor" but surprisingly it seems to turn as many heads as the Elise did. The M3 makes a nice daily driver and I imagine will be a load of fun during the winter, but I still miss my Elise....

I really really really miss my Lotus Elise.

Lotus Elise update

Alright, I know this one is overdue by just a few days (months) or so but it's finally here! I still have the Elise, it is still in great shape and I've had a ton of fun with it.

The first part of the update is actually last year's British Bash.  Every year the British Sports Car Club of Louisville throws the "British Bash" at St Joesephs Childrens Home on Frankfort Ave.  The 2007 British Bash was a great turnout, despite some rainy weather, with several Lotus cars making the trip down from Indianapolis.  If you're near Louisville and love british cars then come on out the first weekend of June.

White Lotus Elan






Red M100 Lotus Elan






British Racing Green Lotus 7






Yellow Lotus Esprit





Yellow Lotus Esprit, Green Lotus Exige, Aubergrine Elise






Yellow Lotus Esprit and British Racing Green Lotus Exige






Yellow Lotus Europa






British Racing Green Lotus Exige






Aubergine Purple Lotus Elise






Close up of Aubergine Purple




After the show I cruised down to River Rd with the Indiana Lotus folks...


Yellow Lotus Esprit and British Racing Green Lotus Exige






Lotus Exige engine


The next little update is on some new additions to the Elise. The Lotus received a new set of Yokohama AD07s at about 20,000 miles. Again, I waited until they were almost completely smooth before replacing them. The front Yokohamas are still very usable with about 40-50% tread left. I think the next time I need to replace them I'm going to go ahead and use a different tire.

The next addition to the Lotus was a ForcedFed carbon fiber front splitter. I used Bill's installation guide for my install and it went very well. The only issue I ran into was not being able to install a bolt on the drivers side because of the oil cooler. I've run it at some high speeds since the installation with no cracks or movement so I think it's probably ok!



ForcedFed Carbon Fiber front spoiler on the Elise


Another fun addition to the Elise was my new personal license plate... FRISKE.



Personal plate on the Lotus


The definition of Frisky is "playful and full of energy". I figured that was appropriate!

The rest of this Lotus update is just a bunch of Elise photos from around the Louisville area. The rolling photos of the Lotus are courtesy of Doug Friedman. He was nice enough to do a quick photo shoot with the Elise while he was in town just before Christmas. The graffiti photos were taken at the Mellwood Arts center.



Lotus Elise photo at Mellwood Arts Center



Krypton Green Lotus Elise



Lotus Elise & Graffiti photo



Rear view of the Lotus Elise



Lotus Elise photo



Top view of the Elise while moving



Side view of the Lotus Elise while moving



The Lotus next to a Hummer



The Lotus Elise, dwarfed by a Hummer



My Lotus Elise in motion, shot by Doug Friedman



Lotus Elise in motion, shot by Doug Friedman



Rolling Lotus Elise photo, shot by Doug Friedman



Rolling Lotus photo, shot by Doug Friedman


And now for the Lotus Elise wallpaper for this post...

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Thats pretty much all for now. Lotus announced a supercharged version of the Elise for the 2008 model year. I'm going to try to make my own supercharged Lotus Elise this year as well ;)

More on that later!

Lotus Elise roadtrip

This is another "long overdue" post. My wife and I went to Gulf Shores Alabama back in April for about a week and we decided to take the Elise along for some roadster fun at the beach. Packing for the trip was no different than the other roadtrips we've taken with the Lotus, we just had to leave the soft top on until we arrived in Orange Beach where we could unpack and clear up room to store the top. The Lotus Elise is made (specifically) for curvy roads that test any car's handling ability but it is also a fun car for a 2 day roadtrip down a very straight highway. The downside is trunk space / boot space but as I've said before it's not hard to pack for travelling with it, you just have to be smart about it.


2005 Lotus Elise @ Johnson Beach in Florida, just over the Alabama/Florida border.

We were in Gulf Shores during Spring Break and you could tell. Every restaurant was packed, the main roads were always busy, lots of tuner cars, etc. The Elise was definitely the show stopper wherever it went though. Camera phones were taking pictures, kids were yelling & waving, girls were (ahem) flashing, etc... If you ever want to feel like "somebody", rent an Elise for a day. I can't even begin to count how many times I was asked "How much did that cost?!?" only to be followed by a look of disappointment when I tell them "about $45,000". People were guessing in the $120,000 range for the most part although the high & low guesses were $250,000 and $25,000, respectively.


2005 Lotus Elise at Johnson Beach in Florida.

During the stay I only saw a few other exotics out and about, a red Ferrari 355 Spyder and a silver newer Aston Martin along with a slew of modified 996 & 997 Porsches, unfortunately I wasn't able to photograph any of them. This trip was for relaxation so I didn't worry too much about getting Elise photos, hence why there aren't many in this post. Check back soon though for some photos from a local British car show (British Bash 2007) and some photos I've taken around town.


Krypton Green Lotus Elise on a Florida Beach.


2005 Lotus Elise at Florida Beach.


2005 Lotus Elise at Johnson Beach in Florida.


Krypton Green Lotus Elise


2005 Lotus Elise at Perdido Dunes in Gulf Shores Alabama.


Lotus Elise in Gulf Shores Alabama.


Top view of a Lotus Elise.


Lotus Elise behind a C6 Corvette at a Florida beach.


Lotus Elise, C6 Corvette and black Subaru WRX.


Rear view of 2005 Lotus Elise.


2005 Lotus Elise behind a C6 Corvette. This photo kinda shows the size of the Elise, it looks like a toy next to the Corvette.

Something I want to start doing is adding a wallpaper to each post, available in the 5 most popular resolution sizes that visit this site. To kick it off...

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Lotus Elise 15,000 mile service

This post is waaay behind. I had the scheduled 15,000 mile service performed at Midwestern Auto Group about 3 months ago. Since then I have gone on vacation, found a new day job, had a harddrive failure, more pet troubles, etc... I really am embarrassed that I'm just now getting around to posting this.

Anyway, the 15,000 mile service went off without any troubles. We brought the car into MAG on a Thursday afternoon, saw the sights in Columbus for 2 days and then headed home with our freshly serviced Elise on Saturday. The service cost about $380 and included the following:
-15,000 mile Service (I brought my own Amsoil 5W-40) (PDF Explaining the 2005 Lotus Elise service items, courtesy of Elisetalk Uberpost & the GGLC)

-Check and replace (still waiting on parts though) passenger side headlight. The headlight had a lot of dust & grit from the scratching issue that Lotus issued a "fix" over just before I bought the car.

-Check and replace the driver's side plastic seatbelt mount cover. (still waiting on replacement part)

Kinda pricey but I can live with it if it ensures my Lotus warranty will stay golden. Another reason why I can live with it is that these service trips give me an opportunity to check out some extremely nice automobiles, often without having to step foot in a showroom. Here are the photos for this post, a sample of the cars that were in for service or for sales inspection...


Blue 2007 Aston Martin Vantage V8


Blue 2007 Aston Martin Vantage V8


Ferrari 360 Modena


Ferrari 360 Spyder


A really nice lineup of cars. From front to rear, black Ferrari F430 Spyder, red S4 Lotus Esprit, red Ferrari 599 GTB and a red Ferrari F430 Spyder.


S4 Lotus Esprit behind a Ferrari F430 Spyder


Ferrari F430 Spyder, Ferrari 360 Modena, Ferrari 599 GTB, Lotus Esprit and another Ferrari F430 Spyder.


Ferrari F430 Spyder behind a brand new Ferrari 599 GTB.


Ferrari 599 GTB


Kinda strange, but I love these cars. Saab 9-3 Viggen.


My Krypton Green Lotus Elise in front of a red Ferrari 360 Spyder.


Ferrari 360 Spyder behind my Krypton Green Lotus Elise


Ferrari 360 Spyder behind my Krypton Green Lotus Elise

Thats all for now but I've already got a bunch of photos lined up for another post, check back within the week for some really cool Lotus Elise photos.

One year later...

I have now officially spent one year with my 2005 Lotus Elise. We bought it one year ago today (yesterday actually, posting this late late at night) from Dave Hampson at Dimmitt Exotics in Clearwater Florida. The sales process consisted of me finding the car online through Autotrader.com, contacting Dave and then flying down with a check a few weeks later. I was extremely worried that there would be some complications but it really was, and has continued to be, a painless process. We flew into Tampa late one night, Dave picked us up the next morning and an hour or so later we drove off with our new Lotus.

The car had right around 110 miles on the clock when we bought it, one year later it is at 14,040 miles. Aside from a few adjustments and a pair of rear tires the Elise has been trouble free. At the first service (Lotus of Atlanta), after much trouble and BS, we were able to have the headlights adjusted under warranty as well as the windows although they didn't really complete the window part. The second service was completely standard with the exception of replacing a lost center cap from one of the rear wheels. The car has been very reliable and has performed flawlessly throughout "mild daily driving" and a few road trips.

Our Lotus Elise has seen a couple of different beaches, some very quick & tight roads, a few tourist traps and even some concrete corn. My wife and I prefer driving it over our other two cars (VW Bug & Jetta). We've both found the Elise to be very comfortable and more than accommodating when you pack wisely. It's road manners are very well sorted and it feels very solid at speed on the expressway. The car draws attention from everyone every time it hits the road, I can't begin to imagine how many camera phone shots there are of this green Elise floating around. Most reviews paint a mixed picture of the Lotus Elise, always praising it's handling & performance but harshly criticizing it's boot space & ingress. This little Lotus isn't for everyone, but it's definitely for us!


We've come a long way since this visit to the beach, about 15 minutes after taking delivery of the Lotus.

Sooo, one year later and these are my thoughts:
What do I love about the Elise?
Simple, the pure connection that it offers between the road & the driver. The car communicates everything with you in a way that had previously been forgotten by everything else on the road.

What would I change about the Elise?
I'd like a bit more power out of the car. It's "just right" now, but another 20 - 30 horsepower would add to the fun without compromising the easy drivability it offers. A supercharger is in this car's future. I can't say when, but this car will definitely have some air stuffed into it's intake manifold before it leaves my hands. Other little upgrades will eventually include aftermarket wheels, a few carbon fiber bits, some drivetrain pieces, etc... My next project is installing XM radio. My wife gave me an XM radio subscription for Valentines day and since the Elise is my roadtrip car of choice it only makes sense to install a cradle for the receiver in it as well.

What is the most common question from onlookers?
"How much does that thing cost?". I get all sorts of questions, the majority of which are inquiries about what it is and who makes Lotus but the one common question thrown into almost every set is the price question. I don't really mind, it just amazes me though how easily people can ask something like that.

Do I still love Krypton Green after living with it for a full year?
Yes. This color never ceases to excite. I think there are some other nice colors (Orange, White, Laser Blue) that fit the car well but this color just looks so amazing in person.

What do I look forward to doing with the Elise in the year to come?
If we end up moving to Orange Beach Alabama then I fully expect to become active in that region's SCCA events. I don't really care for our region (too competitive, too much judging) so a fresh start elsewhere would be great for me. I'd like to head down to Deals Gap / Tail of the Dragon again, maybe run through the Blue Ridge parkway as well. Another Alabama plus is that Barber Motorsports Park is not far from Gulf Shores, if we move then I may be able to attend a couple of events there and finally get some much needed track time.

Any regrets about getting the Elise instead of a turbocharged G35 or Porsche 911 Turbo?
Nope. The only thing close to a regret is that I wouldn't feel "as bad" driving one of those as much as I do the Elise. Since the Elise is a specialty car in a world of special cars it instills a sense of guilt when you get caught in a rain storm or you realize that you're driving it as much as a "regular" car. It's still very much worth it to me though.

Lotus Elise in the snow

Well, Louisville finally got its first real snow the past two days. My area got right around 3" of accumulation last night, turning the driveway into a clean white canvas. Not enough to go sledding but enough to get some cool shots of the Elise in the snow.





















Not much news otherwise, been pretty quiet in Louisville. My birthday was last Saturday, I turned 27 on January 27th in 2007, weird huh. I thought I'd get struck by lightning or something but instead I ended up getting a book on the history of the Elise. Has a ton of cool facts and trivia tidbits in it detailing the S1 and development of the S2 Elise.

One bit of news is our new car. We sold the Subaru Legacy (insurance & gas was killing our finances) and bought a longtime dream car of mine, a 2001 Volkswagen New Beetle in Isotope Green.






So why is Isotope Green so important for me? Easy, it's a kick ass limited edition color. There were only about 2000 New Beetles made in this color back in 2001, spanning all of the engines and trim levels available. My 2001 New Beetle is a GLS trim level with a 1.8T motor. The color, in person, looks like glow in the dark green when it's not glowing... A perfect match for the Elise! This is the exact car (even the automatic transmission) that I've wanted since I was delivering pizzas and reading "Performance VW" 6 years ago. The previous owner was the wife of a well known VW enthusiast & VW performance parts supplier so needless to say this thing has had a good life so far. The car is stock aside from an iPod adapter, aftermarket rear wing (in addition to the speed sensitive upper spoiler), european (blue & white) badges and a painted engine cover.

I hate to say it but I haven't driven the Elise since I picked up the Bug, partially because of the obvious weather we've had. It really is THAT fun, a feeling that is much harder to explain than the feeling the Elise brings out. This is going to be a GREAT daily driver!

Elise rear towhook installation

Alright folks, heres another highly difficult Lotus Elise modification!

If you recall one of my recent posts you'll see that I recieved a rear towhook from Sector111 for Christmas but had to exchange it for a different style that would work with my car. The new one arrived yesterday and today after washing my car in the freezing cold I had a chance to toss it on the car. The entire installation took about 10 minutes at the most and might have actually been easier than the Zoom Carbon Fiber rearview mirror install. Read on below for the walkthrough.


This is the "Boomerang" rear towhook from Sector111. It's design allows it to clear exhausts that exit through the rear diffuser, such as the stock exhaust.


Some folks on EliseTalk.com have used pieces of Velcro to prevent the towhook from rattling against the rear diffuser. I picked up these circular felt pads from Target, I think they will work just as well.


This is the area that you might consider placing felt or something else to prevent rattling.


You will be removing two 13mm bolts like these from the rear diffuser.


Click this photo for a detailed shot showing the two bolts you will remove. This is where the towhook mounts to. Simply remove the bolts & washers, run the each bolt through the towhook, place the washer on the other side and tighten them back down in their stock position. Thats it. You don't even have to jack the car up.


The finished product. Hopefully I'll never have to use this but I think it looks kinda neat and if I am in a sticky situation it should help out.


View from behind the Lotus. You have to step back about 3-4 feet before you can even tell the hook is there. It sits about flush with the stock exhaust.


View from the ground, several feet behind the Elise.


The final shot. The Lotus Elise rear end is already pretty racy but this just adds to it.

Thats it for this update! I'm itching to go out and have a little photoshoot with the Elise so hopefully there will be some cool Lotus Elise photos in the next post.