Thank Frankel it's Friday: Back to basics in the Lotus Elise Sprint

And this is not surprising as it sounds: the standard 911 is 240kg lighter than the flagship. That’s half a Caterham. Of course, if we think about it, we all know that lighter means quicker but because it’s far cheaper for a car manufacturer to add power than remove weight, we’ve been fed a diet of ever more powerful cars that only recently have started to lose a little bit of weight.

But then you go to Lotus, drive the latest Elise and realise all over again just how good a really light car can be. The new Elise Sprint (the Sprint name being used on a Lotus for the first time since the Elan Sprint went out of production in 1973) weighs just 798kg if you accept Lotus’s somewhat unorthodox measurement method that weighs the car ‘dry’ rather than full of fluids, and doesn’t include the roof because it’s sneakily been made into an option – a no cost option as it happens – that no sane person would pass up.

Even so, there are genuine weight saving measures in here, including a carbon fibre roll hoop and engine cover, polycarbonate rear screen, carbon seats and a lithium ion battery, all of which account for around 26kg of savings. Modifications to the revised front and rear body panels common to all new Elises save around 10kg more.

It is amazing how fast a car with so little weight can go, even with a mere 132bhp 1.6-litre engine doing the pushing. It will, for instance, just about keep up with a Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport to 62mph despite having barely half the power. But this is as nothing compared to the advantage such slimness brings in the corners and under braking. The car is so light it needs a front tyre just 175mm wide, which is a bicycle wheel compared to the rubber on most brawny hot hatches. And while on a racetrack, it’s not difficult to make the car understeer, that’s a small price to pay for a level of delicacy and feel conveyed by the steering.

Out on the road, the car is as much a joy to drive now as it was 21 years ago when new, largely because nothing has appeared in the interim to challenge it. Of course, there are Caterhams and Ariels that provide an even more intense driving experience but these could never be considered more than purely recreational motorcars. The genius of the Elise now and then was and is for it to be sufficiently civilised and practical for a reasonably robust owner to use it for any number of reasons, including everyday transport. 

But that is still a hell of an age for a modern car to reach and its days are indeed drawing to a close. Lotus has confirmed it will be replaced by an all-new car that may or may not be called Elise in 2020. It will be longer and wider and contain the side airbags whose absence have hitherto denied the Elise access to the crucial US market. It will have a little more room for the driver and passenger and even some more space for luggage.

Sounds dull, doesn’t it? Sounds like an Elise with its priorities the wrong way around. This, I am assured by Lotus boss Jean-Marc Gales, is not the case. The new Elise (or whatever it’s called) may be easier to live with but lightweight will still be the most important consideration of all, followed closely by benchmark handling: the two hallmarks of Lotus, in other words.

It’s encouraging. If Lotus really can produce a replacement to the Elise that appeals to a far wider audience because it’s easier to live with and can be sold right around the world, so long as it’s no heavier and no less fun to drive that can only be a good thing. And if a current Elise can still feel this good after 21 years, just think what potential could lie within one that’s genuinely brand new.