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- The Tri-State Area
Developed by Lotus to race in the new FIA GT Championship, the purpose-built Elise was a replacement for the modified Esprit GT1 it had been previously campaigning in the predecessor BPR Global series.
Lotus aimed to ape what Porsche and Mercedes were doing with the category, with a bespoke race car related to an existing road model in vague resemblance alone. In fact the Elise GT1 did use a similar, bonded aluminium tub to the regular Elise, albeit heavily modified as the GT1 was almost 20% longer and wider, with a 10% longer wheelbase. It sported a specific carbon-kevlar body.
For the most part the seven race cars used a 5.7-litre V8 engine derived from the LT5 Chevrolet engine that Lotus had helped dvelop for the C4-generation Corvette while under GM's ownership. Only one privateer outfit opted for the Esprit GT1's 3.5-litre turbo V8, but in either form the car produced close to 600hp... for a few laps before shredding some vital mechanical component. Its best ever finish in FIA GT was 5th, in a three-hour race at the temporary Helsinki Thunder street circuit which few teams attended due to the impending 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Proton, owner of the Lotus brand at the time, unceremoniously pulled the plug after one season, given that the car wasn't even as fast as the now-outdated McLaren F1 GTR - never mind the new Mercedes and Porsche - even without the mechanical unreliability.
Of course participation the GT1 category meant a requirement to produce some roadgoing models, and an unclear interpretation of the rules from Lotus saw it produce just one vehicle to meet this obligation.
This single road car shared just about everything with the race car with the single exception of the engine - the Type 918 Esprit V8 not used in the factory race cars - and the five-speed Renault manual gearbox to which it was mated instead of the six-speed Hewland sequential, with the lever in its standard position in the centre tunnel. Some suede cladding, standard switchgear, and a CD radio head unit was pretty much the only nod to roadgoing use.
Lotus never sold the car, although its whereabouts since 2017 are unknown.
