Lotus Elise GT1

The359 · 24 Jul 2007, 16:22 (Ref:1972256)

The runt of the former GT1 glory days, the Lotus Elise GT1s. I've been trying to do some research on them but have trouble getting a clear cut answer on some things.

I know the homologation road car has the 3.5L Turbo V8 from the Esprit. However what engine was in the race cars?

I've heard that some teams had the Lotus V8 and some had the Chevy ZR-1 V8. Then I've heard that all had the Chevy V8. Or did some start with the Lotus V8 and switch to the Chevy V8 later?

kurtiejjj · 24 Jul 2007, 16:52 (Ref:1972281)

You're right about the corvette engine, I believe some cars were changed to LS1 engines because the Lotus engine was too unreliable.

The359 · 24 Jul 2007, 17:03 (Ref:1972289)

I know for certain the Frank Muller GT1s at Le Mans had Chevy V8s in them, but other then that, I'm lost.

kurtiejjj · 24 Jul 2007, 17:29 (Ref:1972294)

http://www.autosalon-singen.de/Katal...?languageID=GB

Frank de Jong · 24 Jul 2007, 20:17 (Ref:1972464)

I know of three different specs of Elise GT1's.
See here: http://www.gaffersports.com/motorspo...otus/lotus.php

The359 · 24 Jul 2007, 20:22 (Ref:1972468)

Interesting, I never heard of the 2.8L.

**Adam43** · 24 Jul 2007, 20:26 (Ref:1972471)

How many where made?

The359 · 25 Jul 2007, 00:20 (Ref:1972641)

5 GT1s raced in FIA GT, with there being 1 homologation road car.

There appears to be a 6th race car that was on entry lists but never ran.

Also, to make it even more confusing, the Bitter GT1s are apparently all new cars as well, with 1 road car and 2 race cars.

Graham Goodwin · 25 Jul 2007, 06:16 (Ref:1972735)

Hmmm I'm fairly certain that at least one of the 'Bitter's' was a converted Elise - And I think it was converted back to one too!

fausto · 25 Jul 2007, 07:24 (Ref:1972762)

The original GT1 was planned to have the Esprit 3.5 V8 engine, then the rules were changed, apparently favouring atmospheric induction, big capacity engines, so at Lotus they decided to use the Corvette-based motor (developed at Lotus Engineering). Italian team GBF decided to stay on the turbo route, and developed, with the help of former Ferrari technical boss Mauro Forghieri company (Oral Engineering), a smaller capacity V8, trying to take advantage of the lesser weight the rules allowed...

If I remember well 7 cars were raced (two works, two GBF, two from Deletraz team, one from MVR german team), and then there was the road "homologation" car...

pitviper · 25 Jul 2007, 20:03 (Ref:1973360)

Yes, the Bitter was a modified Elise GT1. With a Viper V10 in the back! Done by Hezemans and crew...

pit

Bullett · 25 Jul 2007, 22:31 (Ref:1973481)

I remember reading somewhere that a Elise GT1 was going to run ALMS this year? Did it ever run? Anyone else read this?

The359 · 26 Jul 2007, 07:57 (Ref:1973655)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bullett

I remember reading somewhere that a Elise GT1 was going to run ALMS this year? Did it ever run? Anyone else read this?

One ran Sebring a few years ago for a few laps before breaking. They were still using the old Chevy V8.

They had plans for a Judd V10 later, but they never showed.

matherto · 3 Jan 2012, 02:28 (Ref:3006615)

Just bumping this.

Managed to find two cars in France/Switzerland it seems.

The Thai sponsored car (or one of the two) is here.

http://www.seven-passion.com/lotus-c...elise-gt1-thai

It's apparently for sale at Carugati near Geneva, I can't provide a proper link to it on their site but it's here anyway: http://www.carugati.ch/?lg=en&pg=cars&sel=m624

http://www.seven-passion.com/lotus-c...-une-elise-gt1

Seemingly the same guy has found one of the Franck Muller cars as well.

http://www.seven-passion.com/lotus-c...1-frank-muller

The Franck Muller car is chassis #05.

Does anyone know if it's the same car that appeared in the GT90's series with Fabien Giroix a few years back?

Or anyone know where the rest of the cars are?

lemansfan · 3 Jan 2012, 15:45 (Ref:3006789)

I have seen some Pics from a Lotus Elise GT1 which is streetlegal now . Colors are yellow and black .

matherto · 4 Jan 2012, 19:13 (Ref:3007285)

The Franck Muller car was sold by Carugati in August.

The photo used was from one of the above links, pictured outside the warehouse.

Wonder if the new owner will use it in the Revival series next year.

Juntos · 26 Apr 2020, 21:34 (Ref:3973005)

How many of the 6 six built are still existing today?

matherto · 7 Jan 2022, 00:33 (Ref:4092742)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juntos

How many of the 6 six built are still existing today?

All of them.

Two of them converted to Bitter that still exist. Both have appeared within the last two years.

I believe this was the car at the Hezemans kart track restored to running order:

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2021/0...-on-track.html

And this one was for sale by Engstler Motorsport a few years ago:

Then of the remaining Elise GT1 chassis

One of the original GBF cars appeared at Retromobile wearing it's original bodywork with the different nose treatment that the homologation car (at least, in the homologation papers for the FIA) wore.

Another was restored into GBF livery but has the original/standard nose, it's stil for sale at Springbok in Germany.

https://www.racecarsdirect.com/Adver...y_Mike_Walters

Then of the two remaining after that.

One Thai car was sold by DHRofgo at some point in the last few years (picture from a previous sale):

https://www.dhrofgo.com/sold/1997-lotus-elise-gt1/

And the sole remaining Franck Muller liveried car is still kicking around somewhere, hasn't been seen for a few years though.

Add in the spare one (built by G-Tech to race in British GT after the original run) which was for sale fairly recently:

https://www.dylan-miles.com/vehicles...tus-elise-gt1/

And they all exist.

Only mystery is where the hell the road car has gone, it hasn't been seen since around 2012 and hasn't been road registered for years.

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