Monday 19th June 2023

Lotus Elise (S1) Sport 190 | Spotted

Tired of people calling the Elise 'underpowered'? Here's Hethel's original (and very seldom seen) riposte

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Power is just a number. That’s what some Series 1 Lotus Elise owners have crammed down the throats of individuals who put forward the ‘but it only has 120hp’ jibe. Philistines. Obviously, It’s all about the setting. A seven-tonne lorry with 120hp would be utterly useless, but in a sports car that tips the scales at just 725kg – it’s unadulterated magic. That said, it’s hard to turn down an extra helping of oomph when the opportunity arises.

After gracing the car world in 1996 with the original Elise, Lotus set about ways trying to make its spartan sports car even faster. It’d nailed the formula from the get-go, now it all it needed was to refine the formula. That initially came about with the Sprint: a speedster-style track car that opened the door for the Elise in motorsport. However, the Sprint was deemed too expensive to make it viable for production, so Lotus decided to retain the standard Elise form – windscreen included – for its first track-focused variant. And by track-focused, I mean not entirely road-legal. The Sport 190 wasn’t an off-the-shelf product, rather a regular Series 1 Elise that was converted post-sale to 190 spec by Lotus Special Vehicle Operations.

The standout upgrade was, of course, a considerable hike in power. It retained the same 1.8-litre K-Series engine as the base car, only with an upgraded cylinder head, pistons, valves, crankshaft and flywheel. That lifted peak power all the way up to 190hp – a whopping 58 per cent increase over the standard car - at a screaming 7,000hp, with the redline arriving just 1,000 revs later. Again, it’s not like the Elise was lacking in punch, hitting 60mph from a standstill in 5.5 seconds, yet the Sport 190 upgrade slashed that to just 4.4 seconds. The semi-slick Yokohama tyres would have also helped here, but it’ll surely silence those who lambaste the Elise for being ‘underpowered’.

The mods go far beyond a bit more grunt and sticky tyres, though. Lotus employed lighter glass fibre for the car’s skin, a lightweight dashboard and race-spec Corbeau seats, slashing weight to just 670kg dry. Any lighter and it’d need guy ropes. A close-ratio gearbox should make it feel extra barmy under acceleration, while AP Racing front callipers provided ear-bending stopping power. Factor in fully adjustable Koni dampers and it’s clear why Lotus didn’t fancy going through the type approval process.

Which is where things get a bit hazy. With the Sport 190 being somewhat of a ‘grey area’ in the Elise production run, it’s hard to nail down production numbers. Feel free to correct me below, but the ad for the car here suggests that 48 were produced in total, though only seven were destined for the UK. Furious internet searching suggests they were popular in the US (one of the few places where an Elise would feel underpowered), though, as far as I can tell, the Series 1 was never officially sold Stateside.

Either way, what you’re looking at here is a mighty rare car. Whether it’s the ultimate Elise experience is up for debate, but it’s certainly the rawest offering of the original Hethel hero short of the bonkers 340R – and this would still be quicker. Especially as this one’s been lightly upgraded to 215hp, plus an ECU upgrade to improve driveability after a few seasons of racing. That’ll hopefully make the asking price of this 1998 example slightly more bearable at £52,000, and the fact that it’s only had one owner for the last 25 years should bring peace of mind – which will be scrambled the moment you hit your nearest B road.

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SPECIFICATION | LOTUS ELISE SPORT 190

Engine: 1,7896cc four-cylinder
Transmission: five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 190@7,000rpm (tuned to 215hp)
Torque (lb ft): 140@5,600rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
Year registered: 1998
Recorded mileage: 15,000
Price new: £33,500
Yours for: £52,000

See the original advert here

[sidesauce]

I note the article doesn't mention the bloody great big brace in the interior; just the thing help make a car that's already not the easiest to get in and out of even more accessible...

Nah, I'll pass thanks.

[stavr0ss]

Not sure this is worth the extra over 340R as an occasional use / track toy, sadly destined for static display in a speculators private collection.
On the plus side for less than £52k you should still be able to buy a goodish S1, fully refurb it, get the engine tuned and balanced (vibrationfree will get these revving safely to 200hp+ allegedly) and maybe throw in some lightweight clams for good measure…

[Venisonpie]

sidesauce said:

I note the article doesn't mention the bloody great big brace in the interior; just the thing help make a car that's already not the easiest to get in and out of even more accessible...

Nah, I'll pass thanks.

It's a race car that has been converted to road use hence the roll over stuff. If you look it's held in by a bracket with bolts that will undo easily enough.

This is a phenomenal car with incredible pedigree and will likely be an absolute riot on the road provided it's not over sprung.

At 725kg it's half the weight of a contemporary Boxster and will be miles more fun to drive. You might need a 2nd car though.

Love it.

[911Spanker]

Just get a Sport 160 with a few mods

[Jon_S_Rally]

Expensive, but rarity was always going to ensure that was the case. For someone looking for the ultimately early Elise, then I can see why this would appeal. It's hardly insane money compared to a lot of other stuff. For those who just want a taste of something similar, it should at least provide some inspiration about what you could do to a base-model Elise.

[PhilboSE]

The 190bhp version of the engine was called the VHPD (Very High Performance Derivative) and had something of a reputation of being a bit of a grenade as the stroke was longer than you would like for high revs. It was already very highly tuned so getting another 25bhp out of it would involve a lot more than “light” tuning. There were Elises with more than 200bhp N/A semi-reliably but they were based on the standard engine (with everything but the block changed!) and not based on the VHPD. Be interested to hear a bit more about this specific engine and how much of the original remains.

Edited by PhilboSE on Monday 19th June 07:49

[Dombilano]

£52k, shut up

[HM-2]

Not sure it's worth £20k over an S1 Exige?

[Tickle]

Peak Elise this, the VHPD in these is supposed to be a great build (differing to the Exige one, not sure on the details)

The magnesium Speedlines are beautiful!

[fridaypassion]

My car. It's bonkers quick and sounds awesome. Similar power to a Honda conversion. Only 7 were ever road registered with Bell & Colville and HR Owen doing conversions. Out the 7 ones already exported and ones had an Exige body swap so really only 5 it's an exceptionally rare car for Lotus geeks.

[cerb4.5lee]

I've always been a bit of a numbers man, so I've always liked this model for sure. I love how light these things are as well.

[S600BSB]

I know it's a rare car, but I think I'd rather have an S2. Looks better too.

[Tickle]

fridaypassion said:

My car. It's bonkers quick and sounds awesome. Similar power to a Honda conversion. Only 7 were ever road registered with Bell & Colville and HR Owen doing conversions. Out the 7 ones already exported and ones had an Exige body swap so really only 5 it's an exceptionally rare car for Lotus geeks.

Is this engine similar to the S2 190 VHPD build?

[Moospeed]

911Spanker said:

Just get a Sport 160 with a few mods

That's the thing - for the money, you could buy a really good 160 (I've had a couple) and mod it. But it's missing the point of the rarity factor which is making this car's value.

It fact in doing so you'd be throwing even more money away wasting a good 160 because likewise their value is in the originality.

If you simply wanted to "beat" this Sport 190 then starting with a much cheaper good normal S1 would be the best base point to start with and you'd have oodles of cash to spec it up however you like. Or even better, buy something that someone else has already spent the money on.

Personally I'd prefer an unmessed with, SVA Sport 160 (had one in fact) over the 190, disregarding value. But that's just my preference.

[chickensoup]

not convinced that there was "lighter glass fibre for the car’s skin, a lightweight dashboard"
VHPD was not the smoothest engine at low revs, and had a habit of going bang
S160 is a sweet spot, and a reliable amount of power, maybe add a CR box
But why pay more for this than you would a Honda'd one

[schaeffs]

PhilboSE said:

The 190bhp version of the engine was called the VHPD (Very High Performance Derivative) and had something of a reputation of being a bit of a grenade as the stroke was longer than you would like for high revs. It was already very highly tuned so getting another 25bhp out of it would involve a lot more than “light” tuning. There were Elises with more than 200bhp N/A semi-reliably but they were based on the standard engine (with everything but the block changed!) and not based on the VHPD. Be interested to hear a bit more about this specific engine and how much of the original remains.

Edited by PhilboSE on Monday 19th June 07:49

To add to this - owned a 340R as a track car for 8 years with the VHPD engine, and it went to pretty much every track in the UK and Europe over that time - racking up 12K miles in it. After 3 years of ownership I moved the engine to the fantastic Emerald ECU (picking up around 10bhp in doing so) and the engine itself performed faultlessly during that time except for two(!) head gasket failures. Those engine miles were very hard one's, so in my experience the reliability was pretty damned good. I think a lot of the hype at the time for the VHPD going ping was more down to the head gasket failures than the engine lunching itself, and it was a much cheaper fix as well.

[clacs2]

"A seven-tonne lorry with 120hp would be utterly useless..."

https://www.commercial-motors.com/new-vehicles-det...

Nope.

Also, a lightweight dashboard? There isn't anything to lighten as far as I can see.

[EmBe]

I bought a dark metallic purple one of these way back in 2005ish for about £20k from Spotomotive in Salisbury and sold 18 months later for £17k. I have a habit of buying good cars on the wrong slope of the depreciation curve (see Integrale, S2000, S2 Exige etc).
Wife hated it, it wouldn't idle cold so you'd have to sit in it with part open throttle until it warmed up which was fine for my Sunday morning trips out or trackdays, not so fine when she had to borrow it for work when her car was broken - she vividly remembers having to explain to a number of colleagues why she was sitting in a tiny, loud, stationary car outside work at 5.30 and not going home.

I loved it though, it was far quicker than anything else I'd owned at that point and for some time after. It still ranks among the best cars I've owned. Like an Elise turned up to 11 and then some. The VHPD engine needed 'refreshing' every 20k miles I think, which involved a couple of grand's worth of work, but other than that and it blowing all the packing out of it's exhaust, it was reasonably reliable for a Lotus oddity.

Edited by EmBe on Monday 19th June 10:09

[Baddie]

Reading the ad it’s a pukka piece of kit that’s been used properly and well looked after. It’s got a pedigree of its own.

I’m not in the market, but interested to know more about the engine.

[James Junior]

Seeing this further highlights that most cars have got progressively uglier, since hitting a peak of aesthetic design in the 90s and early 2000s.

There is very little on sale today that I look at and feel any sort of desire. I look at this and immediately feel like i want one. What a beautiful piece of design.