Guide: Lotus Elise S1 Sport 190 — Supercar Nostalgia

Jan 23

Jan 23 Guide: Lotus Elise S1 Sport 190

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Background

Lotus unveiled the Type 111 Elise at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1995 and production began nine months later in June 1996.

Thanks to rave reviews, handsome looks and a competitive price, Lotus found themselves with a considerable waiting list for the Elise long before the first customer deliveries took place.

Despite the lengthy wait for a standard Elise, Lotus pressed ahead with the development of a radically uprated variant to satisfy those customers that wanted either the ultimate track day weapon or a fully fledged competition car.

The first such Elise to arrive was the Sprint which broke cover at the Birmingham Motor Show in October 1996. The Sprint came with a cut-down Speedster-esque windscreen, modified doors, adjustable suspension and a racey interior with lightweight dash, bucket seats, quick-release steering wheel and a Stack digital read out.

Unfortunately, the Sprint was quickly deemed too extreme to make it commercially viable.

However, the idea for a super high performance Elise was not killed off and in November 1997 Lotus unveiled a more practical proposition: the Sport 190.

Intended primarily for track use, the Sport 190 wasn’t strictly road legal because it was never type approved. To get around this, each car was sold as a standard Elise and then converted to Sport 190 trim by Lotus Special Vehicle Operations.

Although the conversion could be carried out on an existing machine, the overwhelming majority of Elises built to Sport 190 specification were converted from brand new cars taken straight from the production line.

Each Sport 190 cost around 40% more than the standard variant and the list of enhancements was extensive. These cars came with considerably more powerful engines (hand-built by Lotus’ race technicians) plus competition-grade suspension, gearbox, brakes, wheels, tyres and safety equipment.

The first customer cars were built in February 1998.

Chassis

The chassis (a state-of-the-art epoxy-bonded aluminium spaceframe with integral steel roll-over hoop) was unchanged. It weighed 68kg and the wheelbase measured 2300mm.

Likewise, the existing fully independent suspension layout was retained. This comprised upper and lower wishbones, co-axial coil springs over inverted monotube dampers and Lotus-patented extruded aluminium uprights.

The Sport 190 added an adjustable suspension kit with re-rated monotube Koni dampers and competition Eibach springs which enabled the ride-height to be dropped by up to 50mm. A higher rate adjustable front anti-roll bar was added along with toe links on Uniball joints.

Uprated cross-drilled and ventilated disc brakes were fitted all round. At 282mm they were the same diameter as the standard Elise. To reduce fade during track use, the discs were now made from cast-iron instead of aluminium.

Front calipers were new Lotus-AP Racing items. The standard Brembo units were retained at the back. Race-spec Pagid brake pads were fitted at either end.

Instead of the AWI 5.5 x 15-inch front and 7 x 16-inch wheels found on the normal Elise, the Sport 190 came with one-inch wider wheels. The 6.5 x 15-inch front and 8 x 16-inch rears were manufactured by Speedline and were offered in a choice of silver, gold, anthracite or black paint.

Semi-slick Yokohama tyres were fitted.

A lightweight competition battery was also installed.

Engine / Gearbox

At the heart of the Sport 190 was another all-alloy Rover K-series inline ‘four’ complete with the normal dual overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder.

To extract the maximum levels of performance, Rover Sport and Lotus had collaborated to create a reconfigured Very High Performance Derivative (VHPD).

The VHPD engine featured a modified cylinder head plus improved valves, pistons, crankshaft and flywheel. Solid valve lifters enabled it to rev to 8000rpm. The VHPD unit also came with carbonfibre air box, a competition air filter, a supplementary oil cooler and lacked a catalytic converter.

It was supplied as a complete assembly intended for competition use and did not come with the normal warranty.

Peak output went from 118bhp at 5500rpm and 122lb-ft at 3000rpm to 190bhp at 7000rpm and 140lb-ft at 5600rpm.

Each Sport 190 came with a special close-ratio gearbox and single-plate clutch.

Bodywork

Externally, the Sport 190 was equipped with thinner glassfibre composite body panels, a lightweight polycarbonate rear window, a towing eye and an emergency power cut-off switch.

As usual, the front and rear body sections were detachable for easy access to the running gear.

Interior

Interior upgrades comprised an FIA-approved Corbeau competition seat with six-point harness, an FIA-approved roll-over bar, a removable steering wheel with a red leather rim, a battery cut-off switch and a fire extinguisher.

To further save weight, the alarm, immobiliser, audio system, floor mats and central locking were discarded.

The standard two-gauge instrument binnacle housed analogue read outs for road and engine speed. All other vital statistics were accessed via the Stack digital readout located at the base of the two main dials.

Options

Customers could further enhance their cars by specifying a range of optional extras. Lotus offered a passenger seat, a plumbed-in fire system, metallic paint, spot lights, headlight covers and a lightweight sports exhaust which took output to nearer 200bhp.

Also available were expensive carbonfibre front and rear clamshells.

USA Version

For the US market, many of the Sport 190 upgrades were offered as part of the optional Motorsport Kit. This included the lightweight competition silencer kit, competition air filter, carbonfibre air box, cat replacement pipe, oil cooler, lightweight competition battery with master switch, dry break fuel system, lightweight rear window, removable competition steering wheel, competition springs and dampers, competition seats and belts, FIA-approved roll bar with diagonal brace, adjustable front anti-roll bar, Uniball toe links, lightweight front and rear clamshells and fire extinguisher.