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Hello everyone, I've been meaning to get around to starting this thread here as a bit of an introduction as a new member but also to document my ownership journey. I've had a fairly long history with cars over the years, some highlights being fairly active in the WV water cooled community for a number of years, G40/G60 converted MK1 Golfs, VR6 converted MK2 Golf, Golf Rallye (I should never have sold it, they're worth a lot now by comparison), E46 M3, S4 Estate, Z4, R32 Golf, C63 estate… and a trio of Audi A2’s at one point! I’ve probably favoured larger capacity engine for a while now, having overlooked just how capable (& fun!) a light weight car with a smaller engine can be. I’ve always liked my cars OEM/OEM+ and love the detailing side of car ownership as well as refreshing/replacing anything required so it’s as fresh as when first registered. I still find time for enjoying them sparingly too. I’ve been active in owners clubs in the past and hope to be across a number of Lotus clubs also 🙂 I've not had a car for fun and pampering for a little while and have been window shopping for a bit. Looking at the usual sorts of things like Aston's (can't afford the V12!), Porsche's (can't afford a GT4/GTS!) but not really settling on anything until I came across this. I've enjoyed motorsport and track days in particular for a few years now in a supercharged R53 Mini and wanted something that felt like an event to drive on every occasion. Little did I realise that just getting in would be an event all of it's own! So, a bit about the car... (Dealer pics) This was also a lovely touch from Hilton & Moss, a nice print for the office. It's a 2015 Lotus Elise S Cup. 18k miles and an early variant of the run out Cup cars. I believe there are only 28 of these in the UK as they were quite quickly replaced with the Cup 220. Toxic Green is the colour. I love it, but the wife is convinced that I'm in full mid life crisis mode now. She’s rarely incorrect, but don’t tell her I said that! Collection day was less fun with torrential rain mid last week and about 130miles to cover. It was a fantastic drive despite that though. Raw, loud but very very connected. However, that left it filthy and I was away with work for a couple of days straight away... Right, time to get cracking. Que Bilt Hamber Auto foam! That was followed by a good deep clean on each of the forged wheels with the wheel woolies to get right behind the spokes. Contact wash with CarPro Reset before being dried off with a nice big drying towel. At this point rain paused play for the first time today! Short light showers seem to be the order of the day, so back out to dry off again before treating all trim & tyres with SiRAMIK Tyre & Trim dressing. I've had this for a while now and it gives a great matt finish which lasting quite well on Tyres too. I used this on the aero kit too and it came up lovely. Next it was Bilt Hamber Traceless on the glass inside and out before turning attention to the paint. I've had Kamikazi Overcoat 6.0 for a while and only tried it out on my wife's car, so I thought to get a little protection on while it still lives outside this would be a nice quick product to get on while we had a decent break in the weather. Nice and easy to apply and I think it's come up just as nice as when I left the showroom straight into a downpour! The included nozzle was terrible though and I could just not get on with it and it's inconsistent spray. Once switched to another I had there was no issue with application. Very happy with these initial results, although it's probably not going anywhere now this weekend as the weather is too unpredictable (sorry for a bit of dried water on the discs, I'd have liked to take it for a short spin to clean them off but don't want to throw anything back up it! The car hadn’t moved since my last clean but it s picked up some dust etc so a good clean was in order prior to a drive out to the Peak District for a nice drive during the hot spell. The beading has been good from the Kamakazi Overcoat 6.0 though. I was out early this morning to get cracking and started with Bilt Hamber touchless. Followed by a quick contact wash - having to work quickly to keep the car from drying out in the early sun. I decided to get the Blo-Air GT out for drying. In with the earplugs (a real must for protection) and in no time at all it was fully dried. Really useful, especially so around the engine cover, rear lights and the aero kit in particular. Tyres were dressed again with SiRAMIK tyre and trim. A little goes so far and it dries to a lovely deep matt finish. Glass was cleaned again with Bilt Hamber Trace-Less. Then I bought out the Zaino Z8 Grand Finale. I forgot how much I like the smell! Really easy on and off as the heat was starting to build by this point, lovely slickness added and it really helps bring out the metallic flecks in the paint. One thing I wouldn t mind some advice on is the matt wing mirrors. I love the contrast, but I m unsure how best to protect them or dress them as there is no clear coat as best as I can tell. Any advice is welcomed. A couple of finished pics I had a great drive out through Ashbourne and Matlock. In other ownership news, I won a number plate at DVLA auction. I m just awaiting the paper work to come through before it goes on. Plans once I get a bit of time off are to turn my garage back to a full garage (half is a utility at the minute). I ve done some measuring up and the Lotus will easily fit inside a carcoon when not in use. I m not sure the wife feels the same way but I ve got a few tricks up my sleeve! Future plans. Apart from adjusting the exhaust to the left by a few mm, much more cleaning! I'd like to have the wheels off, give them some deeper cleaning and a ceramic coating at some point. I'd also like to do some machine polishing to bring the paint up to it's best. I've only ever done this a little on an Audi A2 I had as a show car a few years ago and it's something I'd be keen to learn. Other than that, just enjoy some nice drives and a few track days a year (I’ve booked Donington evening session with Lotus on Track for 04/08) and perhaps a few more carbon parts to 'add lightness'! So far I’ve purchased the red front towing eye, rear towing strap and fixings, harness bar and fixings for Schroth harnesses. More on all of that in my next update. If you've read this far, thanks. Let me know if there is something specific I could cover or answer.

Name: S1 Elise 111s Category: Vehicles Date Added: 2024-10-25 Submitter: Geek S1 Elise 111s

All, It has been some time since I last updated the blog. All these years on, the little Lotus is still going strong. She is now 20 years old and looks and drives as good as ever. The love for this iconic car remains. My days of mods and getting under the car every weekend are over I think. I now simply enjoy the ownership experience and driving! Oh, I also do a little bit of polishing - just a little. This car is simply pure magic and medicine to all gloominess. 😁

I had given up looking for a track car. I had resigned myself to the fact that there was nothing I actually wanted to buy out there in my price range. Imprezas, which could be had for that money, were so rusty they needed medical insurance and the word on the forums was that they were hellishly expensive to run on track days, and tended to ingest engines and gearboxes. Then I accidentally went back to looking at the Elise. I'd always wanted one since they first came out. I'm a particular fan of the rear styling of the S2. Looking around I realised that I could get a leggy one for under £10k. This seemed like a bargain and I convinced myself, through proper "man maths" that it would actually be cheaper than a £1000 track car in the long run, AND I could drive it at weekends. Unfortunately, one test drive later, and I realised that the power output of the base spec models wasn't going to be enough. That subaru I had test driven was still in my memory and I wasn't going to settle for anything slower. I kept looking, but the higher power output variants of the S2 were just too expensive. I knew what I really wanted was an S2 Exige, but I just couldn't justify £20k. But it was starting to look like that was the only "sensible" option. Then by accident, I spotted an old S1. I hadn't been looking for S1's, certainly not over £10k. And I was amazed at how strong the values of S1s had become over the last 12 months. The S1 I had spotted was far from standard, it had had all the track modifications I was going to do to a standard car already done, and then some. Plus, most importantly of all, it had a full Turbo Technics supercharger upgrade. The fact that it was also one owner from new and had only done 27k miles, was just icing on the cake. Some more man maths later, and I had secured the purchase of an S1 track slag with a 190hp TT supercharged K series on Nitrons with full race harnesses, harness bar and removable steering wheel. I was a very happy bunny. I figured, as long as I didn't bin it on a circuit, then it should appreciate in value and be a fairly sound investment, in fact costing me LESS than that £1000 track car I had started looking for. Yes, man maths at its best. As I write this, the car is in the garage having a few details sorted out. Then it will be coming home to be prepped for its first track day on the 19th July. Myself and my two co-conspirators are really looking forward to it. Next time: One track, one car, three drivers, what could go wrong?...

So about a year ago, I decided I wanted to do some track days. I wasn't getting any younger and a mid-life crisis was in the offing. After a few months searching the classifieds for that £1000 perfect track car, I realised that my budget wasn't going to stretch to what I wanted, not if I wanted to be able to run a track all day without running repairs. Fortunately, I had a couple of friends who had shown some interest in this, so I suggested we go in to a car with a third share each. This would put the budget for the car up to about £2000 with another £1000 aside for track day modifications. A fruitless 6 months followed and I failed to find anything I would be willing to put money behind, mostly because I wanted something rear drive to widen my personal experience. I could have bought a saxo or pug for this money, even a well sorted track slag with trailer, but I had decided on rear drive, not for speed, but just for the experience. I still feel its important to buy the things you want, not necessarily the things that will be best at the job. So i had decided it had to be rear drive and light. But westfields and caterhams were starting about £4k, which left MR2s and MX5s as the target fodder. After some test drives, I found that MX5s just weren't fast enough to be interesting and MR2s in my price range were generally rust buckets or old smokers. But the budget was fixed and I almost settled on a particular well sorted MX5, until I realised i just wouldn't allow myself to be seen in public driving it. A bit harsh, but I just don't find the styling of the Mk2 mx5 remotely masculin, and the mk1 is not much better. So what to do? I had basically ruled out every car worth considering on price, performance or prejudice. So i went and drove a track prepared impreza. That set the benchmark for performance, and I almost had that car on the spot, but the owner was asking £500 more than I had and wouldn't budge. Then I gave up.