My ageing Esprit sold at auction late November, at Historics @ Brooklands, actually at MBW at Brooklands for that auction. Had that 12 and a bit years, it was a fine machine, but for several reasons, it had to go. Supercar ownership isn't everything as one gets older and more decrepit....
Here it is on the middle floor of Mercedes Benz World, all shiny and stuff, being poked and prodded by many dreamers, just before the very scary but ultimately fruitful auction -
The funds landed just after I had decided I did indeed want another Lotus and had sat in/been in a few more by then, namely a later shape Elise for some back to basics B road fun. Funded the difference with a bit of savings and a month long epic parts sell off, mostly Lotus bits I had collected over the years, and 4 Renault trans-axles that were for the Esprit, that had gone up quite a bit in value over the years, thankfully! Kerching!
Found exactly the car I wanted up in the Forest of Dean, so snapped it up after the obligatory test drive or 2, lots of umming and arring etc. Major wishes for me were a quieter exhaust, smaller, easier to look after, simple, better mpgs, but still the epic Lotus handling.
Lotus Elise S3 Macau Special Edition
The car was mint, low miles (2500) and obviously barely run in and it was so much fun to drive and so much easier to throw around than the Esprit ever was. Life is short, I'm getting old, the Esprit sold well - so went for it, then tried to improve my knowledge of the model, which a bit like me, was slim to start with.
Turns out this was originally a run of lightweight Elises with A/C and little else, to be shipped to the Asian market, to coincide with the big Macau Grand Prix meeting, where they have one make racing for 3 classes of Lotus cars. Some sort of technical or funding hitch meant the order was not finished and they had made 51 cars, 10 or 12 in Old English White. So the order was converted back to UK spec, from Asian market spec, which meant the VIN on the chassis has a row of X's across the old number and the new UK VIN stamped below it. This may well have put some people off but it is a well known occurrence in Lotus cars.
So this weighs 850kgs ish, it's great fun. No radio or speakers, power steering or even central locking here. I have to use the key!
135HP 1.6 1ZR Toyota power, VVT on both cams, and amazing variable lift on the inlet cam from 1mm to 12 or 13mm. This reduces pumping losses when you back off and is combined with the fly by wire throttle body, Lotus DPM, which is basically sport mode, turns the car up to 11, but with Bosch ABS and some driver aids to de-select.
Six speed tallish geared Toyota box, very well geared,
Sport Suspension package as std, with the adjustable front anti-roll bar, off of the Exige, basically 30% stiffer than a std Elise
No hard top, didn't want one anyway, black soft top, easy to fit and remove, good heater as it's got A/C too,
Beautiful Heritage edition black leather interior with amazingly comfy Probax seats with special stitching, special mats and door cards etc
Best bit is is does do 45mpg average, and up to about high 50's on a run, which means I can actually go somewhere in it without killing the wallet and its just 145£ a year RFL, which were two of the major draws of this model. Plenty fun, not plenty expenditure.
Just had it serviced as it was due on time and to my surprise it was free! The supplying dealer when new did an offer of 3 years free servicing/warranty/breakdown cover and it all carries over to a new owner. Super. While I was there I had the cruise control enabled by the Lotus computer, as it was the only thing I wanted that it didn't have initially, so bought an Astra stalk, installed it and they switched it on for me.
Totally loving it so far and 1000 miles in a month in the winter has been superb.
Still looking for a rusty old shed for the driveway though, hence the parts sell off again.
