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Lotus Elise GT1
The Lotus Elise GT1 (also known as the Lotus GT1 and known internally as Type-115) is a race car developed for grand tourer-style sports car racing starting in 1997.
Lotus Cars had previously been using the Lotus Esprit GT1—a racing version of their Lotus Esprit road car—in the BPR Global GT Series since its foundation in 1994, competing in the premier GT1 class against the likes of the McLaren F1 GTR, Venturi 600LM, Ferrari F40 GTE and others. However, in 1997, the series came to be known as the FIA GT Championship and manufacturer involvement was increased with the new international exposure. Porsche was the first to start a new breed of racing cars in 1996, with their purpose-built homologation special known as the 911 GT1. This was quickly followed by the announcement that Mercedes-Benz planned to do the same with their CLK GTR for 1997.
Thus Lotus decided that in order to remain competitive in the GT1 class, it would be required to follow the blueprint set by Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. However, the company management was aware that they lacked the resources available that Porsche and Mercedes had to create not only the race cars but also the street legal variants. Therefore at a guaranteed financial loss, Lotus decided to take an alternate route—making a single road version of their new race car.
With this in mind, Lotus set about to develop their racing car. Lotus decided to abandon the aging Esprit chassis and instead turn to its new sports car, the Elise.
Lotus knew that the Elise's inline-4 engine would not be competitive so it was initially decided that the car would use the 3.5 L V8 engine from the Esprit sports car. However, testing showed that the engine was not as reliable as hoped. After installation of it in the road car, Lotus teams were left to decide whether or not to use the Lotus V8 or opt for a 5.7 L LT5 V8, a car which Lotus had jointly developed when they had been under the ownership of General Motors. Lotus further developed the Chevrolet engine by fitting it with a carbon intake, developing a dry sump system. Initially it was an aluminium engine block, which proved to be problematic, The last 2 races at Sebring and Laguna Seca, they decided to change to a Nascar cast-iron block with 2 valves which resulted in bigger restrictors sizes of 2 x 36.8 mm. for the Elise GT1 Race car. Seven Elise GT1 racing chassis were built, by G.T.I. racing; and financed and owned by Toine Hezemans and new President Roman Artioli, 2 cars going to the factory team GT1 Lotus Racing (1 car run by Fabien Giroix's First Racing) as well as privateers GBF UK and Martin Veyhle Racing. The factory GT1 Lotus Racing team and Veyle racing would be the only ones to opt for the Chevrolet V8 instead of the Lotus twin-turbocharged unit.
The Elise GT1's water-cooled 3.5 L Type 918 Garrett twin-turbocharged V8 engine has a power output of 550 PS (540 hp; 400 kW) at 6,500 rpm and the modified 5.7 L Chevrolet V8 engine has a power output of ca 600 PS (590 hp; 440 kW) at 7,200 rpm. Only the factory cars had the Chevrolet V8 engine and the road version had the Type 918 V8 with the former proving to be more problematic. Both of the engines helped propel the car from 0 to 60 mi in 3.8 seconds and on a top speed of approximately 320 km/h The race cars were initially fitted with a Hewland 6-speed sequential manual transmission,although multiple other transmissions were used during their life span. The last 2 races of the GT championship at Sebring and Laguna Seca the factory lotus used a 2 valve Nascar engine with steel block which gave more power and was much more reliable. The road version was fitted with a Renault 5-speed manual transmission. Even with such performance figures, the car wasn't able to match the performance of its competitors at Le Mans and would see a dreadful fate.
Debuting at Hockenheim, on 13 April (first round of the 1997 FIA GT Championship season), the three factory Elise GT1s and the privateer GBF car took to the grid. Their debut was short lived, as all four cars failed to finish, all due to alternator problems in the engine. For race two (Silverstone, 11 May), privateer GBF UK received their second car (an untested chassis bearing number 06 driven by Andrea Boldrini and Mauro Martini). Again the three factory cars suffered, failing to finish because of gearbox difficulty. GBF's Elise GT1s fared slightly better, with one of their entries actually finishing, although classified last and 25 laps down from the winner.
The third race of the season in Helsinki was a shorter race, featuring a smaller field (23 cars). Only three Elise GT1s were entered, but GBF was able to succeed in taking 5th place, earning them points in the championship. The other two Elise GT1s also finished the race as well, an improvement for the company.
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Lotus Elise GT1
The Lotus Elise GT1 (also known as the Lotus GT1 and known internally as Type-115) is a race car developed for grand tourer-style sports car racing starting in 1997.
Lotus Cars had previously been using the Lotus Esprit GT1—a racing version of their Lotus Esprit road car—in the BPR Global GT Series since its foundation in 1994, competing in the premier GT1 class against the likes of the McLaren F1 GTR, Venturi 600LM, Ferrari F40 GTE and others. However, in 1997, the series came to be known as the FIA GT Championship and manufacturer involvement was increased with the new international exposure. Porsche was the first to start a new breed of racing cars in 1996, with their purpose-built homologation special known as the 911 GT1. This was quickly followed by the announcement that Mercedes-Benz planned to do the same with their CLK GTR for 1997.
Thus Lotus decided that in order to remain competitive in the GT1 class, it would be required to follow the blueprint set by Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. However, the company management was aware that they lacked the resources available that Porsche and Mercedes had to create not only the race cars but also the street legal variants. Therefore at a guaranteed financial loss, Lotus decided to take an alternate route—making a single road version of their new race car.
With this in mind, Lotus set about to develop their racing car. Lotus decided to abandon the aging Esprit chassis and instead turn to its new sports car, the Elise.
Lotus knew that the Elise's inline-4 engine would not be competitive so it was initially decided that the car would use the 3.5 L V8 engine from the Esprit sports car. However, testing showed that the engine was not as reliable as hoped. After installation of it in the road car, Lotus teams were left to decide whether or not to use the Lotus V8 or opt for a 5.7 L LT5 V8, a car which Lotus had jointly developed when they had been under the ownership of General Motors. Lotus further developed the Chevrolet engine by fitting it with a carbon intake, developing a dry sump system. Initially it was an aluminium engine block, which proved to be problematic, The last 2 races at Sebring and Laguna Seca, they decided to change to a Nascar cast-iron block with 2 valves which resulted in bigger restrictors sizes of 2 x 36.8 mm. for the Elise GT1 Race car. Seven Elise GT1 racing chassis were built, by G.T.I. racing; and financed and owned by Toine Hezemans and new President Roman Artioli, 2 cars going to the factory team GT1 Lotus Racing (1 car run by Fabien Giroix's First Racing) as well as privateers GBF UK and Martin Veyhle Racing. The factory GT1 Lotus Racing team and Veyle racing would be the only ones to opt for the Chevrolet V8 instead of the Lotus twin-turbocharged unit.
The Elise GT1's water-cooled 3.5 L Type 918 Garrett twin-turbocharged V8 engine has a power output of 550 PS (540 hp; 400 kW) at 6,500 rpm and the modified 5.7 L Chevrolet V8 engine has a power output of ca 600 PS (590 hp; 440 kW) at 7,200 rpm. Only the factory cars had the Chevrolet V8 engine and the road version had the Type 918 V8 with the former proving to be more problematic. Both of the engines helped propel the car from 0 to 60 mi in 3.8 seconds and on a top speed of approximately 320 km/h The race cars were initially fitted with a Hewland 6-speed sequential manual transmission,although multiple other transmissions were used during their life span. The last 2 races of the GT championship at Sebring and Laguna Seca the factory lotus used a 2 valve Nascar engine with steel block which gave more power and was much more reliable. The road version was fitted with a Renault 5-speed manual transmission. Even with such performance figures, the car wasn't able to match the performance of its competitors at Le Mans and would see a dreadful fate.
Debuting at Hockenheim, on 13 April (first round of the 1997 FIA GT Championship season), the three factory Elise GT1s and the privateer GBF car took to the grid. Their debut was short lived, as all four cars failed to finish, all due to alternator problems in the engine. For race two (Silverstone, 11 May), privateer GBF UK received their second car (an untested chassis bearing number 06 driven by Andrea Boldrini and Mauro Martini). Again the three factory cars suffered, failing to finish because of gearbox difficulty. GBF's Elise GT1s fared slightly better, with one of their entries actually finishing, although classified last and 25 laps down from the winner.
The third race of the season in Helsinki was a shorter race, featuring a smaller field (23 cars). Only three Elise GT1s were entered, but GBF was able to succeed in taking 5th place, earning them points in the championship. The other two Elise GT1s also finished the race as well, an improvement for the company.