Lotus Elise S1 1.8 Turbo Audi for the road, trackdays and racing. 1.8T

Lotus Elise S1 Audi 1.8T
Elise S1 Audi 1.8T 20 valve for road, touring, trackdays or race. A race car for the road – retaining road car comforts. A long and rambling advert (!), but plenty of detail and evidence that much has been replaced to ensure reliability and the perfect drive.
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£15,995.
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High specification, great condition, 12 months MOT, Calypso Red, HPI clear, no accident damage, 63,000 miles.
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History
An early, 1997 S1 Elise which was originally delivered with a Rover K series engine. Converted at considerable cost around 2009 by a company called LotusWerx, an offshoot of custom exhaust manufacturers PipeWerx. The only produced three Elises, this one being no.2.
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Body/Chassis
Calypso red, in very good condition with a lovely shine having received a full body polish. HPI clear, no accident damage, stone chipping to the nose area. This car has never had any damage to the wishbones or chassis at any time in its life. All race stickers were applied after I polished and waxed the body, therefore will peel off easily with no marks (happy to do this for the buyer). Front and rear clams plus undertrays are easily removed with most fittings in stainless steel with copper grease applied (no seized bolts!). Standard glass rear screen, angled to reduce glare. White hardtop shell fixed using 6 x stainless bolts into steel rivnuts and 2 x wing nuts at the rear allow you to remove the light weight hardtop in just a couple of minutes if you want to enjoy the sun. No wind noise and I have retained the standard roll bar cover. One of the advantages of the Safety Devices roll cage is that there is enough room to fit the standard soft top cant rails, which eliminates wind noise and rain getting in as there is a good close fit between the top of the window and the seals.
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Power plant
An Audi conversion makes perfect sense, providing ample power and torque from an unstressed standard Audi TT BAM engine running a K04 turbo. I have calculated mpg on a number of fuel tanks, achieving 35mpg with a mixture of driving, even better on a long run. It is an easy car to work on by yourself or a garage, with a standard Audi ECU, diagnostics port, fuses and relays, connecting into the Lotus wiring in a waterproof connector. Mapped by Audi VW tuning specialists Badger 5 with a brief for reliable power and a smooth power band. 250bhp and 247 lbs/ft torque is plenty, with more power available via a further re-map if desired, or go further with rods, turbo and a few other bits for 300 to 400bhp. After the initial engine conversion by Lotus Werx some 6 years ago 0-60 was measured by them at less than 4 seconds. I added a baffled Forge sump for protection when using sticky tyres on track. The car retains the air/oil cooler/warmer, helping to heat the oil from start-up and then helping to cool it when on track. 80c Audi thermostat now fitted (the TT has a choice of two, this being the cooler of the two). Twin fuel pumps.
Turbo-charged engines in mid-engined locations do present challenges to cool the hot air coming from the turbo. This is one of the main areas we have improved, with a combination of solutions: Pro Alloy side mount intercooler with large air scoop and fan plus small barrel charge cooler with twin water pumps and Snow Performance MAF controlled water/methanol injection. The intercooler/chargecooler combination work superbly for road work, with the water injection automatically injecting a very fine mist at full throttle high revs for track work. I have a small nozzle fitted to the water/meth injection; the 3 litre tank could last you months between fills. The water methanol mist helps to cool the air chemically, increases the RON rating and cleans engine internals. All of the above means the performance remains consistent even when used on track during warm weather. It is also more than enough should you wish to increase power further. Custom stainless exhaust made by PipeWerx, retains catalytic convertor and lambda sensors, so passes the MOT emissions test comfortably. The exhaust is very quiet, passing all normal trackday noise checks and is probably one of the quietest race cars I’ve heard! The induction noise through the washable cone filter is pleasing when accelerating. For me, the advantage of keeping the engine block standard, meant that if the engine ever let go for any reason, I could simply source another unit from a Seat Leon / Skoda Octavia RS / Audi S3 / TT etc and replace it with the minimum of fuss. It’s a cheap engine to buy secondhand through somewhere like ebay because they are plentiful. Although being standard and having to lug around much less weight than it’s used to in other applications, the chances of it letting go are minimal considering it’s known as a reliable unit anyhow. The engine is in good health having had a recent compression and sniffer test carried out after the previous water pump impellor started to fail.
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Transmission
6 speed 02M Audi gearbox retaining standard clutch and flywheel for good road manners with an excellent spread of ratios for the road and track. The 6 speed gearbox may weigh more than the 5 but I personally like the tall 6th for dual carriageways/motorways. At Castle Combe and Snetterton I use the top 4 gears at various points of the track. The gearchange is one of the best I have experienced in an Elise, using an S2 Toyota mechanism and custom cables. Stainless steel clutch cable.
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Suspension
Adjustable Nitron dampers with Eibach Springs. The dampers give a wide range of easy adjustment; my local roads are bumpy so I run them nearly full soft, then when racing or on track I stiffen them up with easy click adjustments. Springs are always a compromise and whilst probably too soft for racing on slicks at a smooth circuit I find them just right on trackday tyres and on the road. Uprated Toe Links. I am experienced in setting up my own cars and have set the rake, flat floored, 4 wheel tracking and camber based on proven fast road/trackday settings. The car tracks well on the road and wears its tyres evenly. Being an early S1 it has the benefit of the lighter alloy uprights.
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Wheels and Tyres
I have three full sets of wheels and tyres with the buyer having first refusal, the sale of the car includes a set of black AWI 5 spoke wheels with virtually new Federal 595RSR tyres. Also available are silver 340R ‘delivery’ wheels with Avon slicks and silver Rimstock alloys with new Toyo Snowprox winter tyres.
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Brakes
Carbon Lorraine RC5+ pads all round, very good performance hot or cold, no fade and no squealing! EP alloy belled discs all round, drilled and grooved. Braided hoses, Performance Friction RH665 high temperature fluid changed in April 2015. All discs and pads are almost new.
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Safety
FIA 6 point roll cage from Safety Devices with FIA padding, very safe and making it easier to race in Europe if desired. Lifeline fire extinguisher (first service end of 2016) and FIA battery cut off, both with neat external pulls neatly in the front wing. We fitted a simple, quick release end to the external pull, so if the car is parked a bored passer-by can’t play with the mechanisms. The FIA key also gives an extra level of security. Pair of matching 6 point Sabelt harnesses for driver and passenger, dated end of 2019, correctly mounted using Lotus crotch strap bars and eye bolts with spreader plates.
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Interior/Practicality
The interior is in standard road trim including the sill pads, heater and modern colour screen stereo with MP3/USB/CD. Pair of small pioneer speakers mounted behind driver and passenger seats, easily removed for weight saving. Matching pair of Elise Spares GRP race shell seats which despite the way they look (no padding) are very comfortable and supportive. The drivers side retains the adjustable rails so that both myself and my wife can drive comfortably. I chose these seats primarily for their ability to retain the adjustable runner and the additional head height when used with the roll cage (as driven by my 6’4” father with crash helmet and hardtop). I have the standard Elise seats if the new owner prefers these. The roll cage actually makes it far easier to get in and out of the car as you can use the bar above to lift yourself onto the sill before getting out. The boot divider can still be used along with the boot ‘bag’ liner giving enough room for a pair of crash helmets. Neat, lit push button alloy switches with relay controlled twin radiator fans, intercooler fan, fuel pumps, chargecooler pumps, transponder and DL1 datalogger and Dash 3 digital screen (these last three items are available by negotiation). 12v lighter socket for sat nav. The HID headlights are superb and are correctly adjusted (never flashed by oncoming traffic).
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Maintenance
I have always maintained my own cars, with all work carried out in my friends workshop complete with full height lift. I have a folder full of receipts for all the parts and consumables I have fitted. Oil and filter changed four times in the past year (after each trackday or race meeting, approximately 500 miles on each fill of fully synthetic 5w40 oil. Currently running Silkolene/Fuchs Pros S Ester, last changed in April 2015. Zero oil consumption. Aside from all of the many parts used in the race car conversion the following has been changed by me in the past 12 months:
WOSP starter motor, most boost hoses (for black or red silicone), Audi water pump, Audi 80c thermostat, timing belt and rollers, auxiliary belt, Bosch spark plugs, stainless steel front brake pad heat shims, front wheel bearing, rear discs, pads all round, brake fluid (three times), nearside competition spec. driveshaft and cv boots, fuel filler cap and keys, aero wiper, battery terminals, heater panel, grey stack dash surround, carbon fibre side scoop, twin radiator fans, intercooler fan, front caliper seals and pistons, uprated M16 front hub bolts and many, many small jobs completed and parts replaced whilst the clams and undertrays are off.
It has just passed its MOT with no advisories at a main dealership.
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The previous owner, James, a regular Elise owner bought the car just after it’s Audi conversion, using it for the road and for foreign trackdays and touring. From speaking to James at length there is no question that he knows his stuff about the Elise and also maintained his own cars. Whilst receipts are limited from his ownership he too changed the oil and filter far more often than needed and also changed:
Discs and pads, stainless steel braided brake hoses all round, stainless steel braided clutch hose, EP rose jointed toe links, outer CV joints, crank sensor, coil packs, rear wheel bearings, front ball joints, front anti roll bar drop links, front anti roll bar bushes, brake master cylinder, new steering rack, hose/pipes that run through the sills have been replaced, Nitron adjustable dampers all round with bespoke uprated Eibach springs, uprated ali radiator, Bosch battery, HID headlights, uprated V&M engine mount, heat wrapping on exhaust downpipe.
I have the original service book, although honestly it is of little value as so much has been changed since it had the original Rover engine.
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Personal
Having raced a Caterham in the past, swapping to an air cooled 911 for the road just didn’t quite excite in the same way. I missed my racing but still wanted to retain a certain amount of road comfort for foreign trips and driving to work. My good friend Philip wanted to work with me on a winter project so we agreed a road going Elise would make a good basis to start. Not wanting to buy a tow car and trailer this time we focussed on a car to suit the local Castle Combe Sports and GT Championship. Why not buy an existing race car? Well, it would have been much cheaper and far less time consuming, but we wanted to start with a car in good condition and still retaining its heater and stereo. Much as I love a good K series engine, the Audi engine would give far more power and be comparatively reliable, plus I remember seeing how fast they were ten years ago when sprinting. Having bought the car in July through SELOC we started to prepare the car in September after preparing a list of jobs to complete. Knowing that I would be using it in all weathers and for occasional long distance I decided to retain the heater, stereo, boot area and glass rear window. All these add weight of course, but it is nice to be warm, see where you are going (I see too many cars on track with no heaters that steam up in the wet), listen to the radio on the way to work and still take two crash helmets in the boot.
My wife and I have taken part in three trackdays and two race meetings with me covering a couple of thousand miles on the roads when commuting.
After many, many months of hard work and effort, the car is finished, so why sell? Simply, we have completed what we set out to achieve, we had great fun working on an interesting project that kept us busy over the autumn, winter and into the spring and I got to race and drive home after both meetings.
As a result you are looking at a superb all rounder: an all weather road car, safe trackday car or race car. This is a car that is easy to live with on a daily basis and is sold with no known problems.
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I am asking for £15,995, viewing is welcomed, I am happy to take a serious prospective buyer out for a test drive, buyers via ebay will be required to pay a £500 deposit within 24 hours please. The balance can be paid by cash or bank transfer. In the mean time I will be using the Elise in nice weather with the mileage only likely to increase a little. I live in Bath and work in Corsham, Wiltshire. Registered for the Castle Combe Sports and GT Championship and the Welsh Sports and Saloon Championship, also eligible for the MSVR Team Trophy, BARC NW Sports and Saloons among others in the UK.

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