Page 1 of 1 When Lotus Racing wheeled out the Esprit GT1 ahead of the 1996 season, it quickly became apparent that the British manufacturer brought a knife to what was turning into a gunfight. At the start of the season, the Esprit faced off against other production based GT racers like the Ferrari F40 and McLaren F1 but then the bar was raised considerably by the purpose-built Porsche 911 GT1. This prompted Lotus to follow suit and create a new GT1 car based only loosely on the brand-new Elise road car.
The Elise GT1 was built around a subtly modified version of the bonded aluminium spaceframe chassis. It was equipped with a full roll-cage that added rigidity. Lower wishbones and rocker actuated in-board springs over dampers were fitted on all four corners. As were carbon ceramic discs. The rolling chassis was clothed in a Julian Thomson designed carbon-fibre composite body that followed the silhouette of the Elise road car. It was considerably wider to clear the racing slicks. Mounted above the broad tail was a full-width rear wing.
To ensure the Elise GT1 was up for gunfight, the four-cylinder used in the production road car was set aside. Fitted in its place was a Type 918 V8 engine from the Esprit. The 3.5-litre unit was equipped with a pair of turbochargers, fuel injection and Lotus Racing's proprietary engine management system. With the mandatory restrictors fitted, it produced around 550 bhp. A six-speed Hewland sequential gearbox was mated to the twin-turbo V8. A thinly veiled road-car was produced for homologation purposes in addition to the six GT1 racing cars.
Lotus Racing was optimistic at the launch of the Elise GT1 in November of 1996. That changed dramatically when the new restrictor dimensions were announced shortly before the 1997 FIA GT Championship kicked off. With an eye on keeping the Porsches in check, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren / BMW had convinced the governing body to tighten the restrictors for forced induction engines. Very much collateral damage, the Elise GT1 was down 100 bhp on power because of the regulation change and Lotus Racing did not have the budget to claw back the deficit.
Although Lotus Racing had built a brand-new car, it was once again a knife at a gun fight. Two teams had signed on to race a pair of Elise GT1s each but not surprisingly struggled. One team carried on with the twin-turbo engine and even experimented with a smaller version of the engine for restrictor benefits. The other team, headed by Toine Hezemans, tried a naturally aspirated Corvette LT5 V8, which had been designed for General Motors by Lotus. The Corvette-engined Elises were disqualified retroactively as using an engine so substantially different was found in breach of the homologation regulations.
Hezemans carried on with extensively modified Elise GT1s into the 1998 season. Fitted with revised bodies and a Viper-sourced V10 engine they were now known as Bitter GT1s. The changes did not improve the competitiveness and the cars were set aside. One of the Corvette-engined Elise GT1 was pressed backed in service for the 2004 Sebring 12 Hours as a LMP1 car. Forced to retire early in the race, it was a suitably inconspicuous epilogue to the Elise GT1 racing career. Page 1 of 1
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When Lotus Racing wheeled out the Esprit GT1 ahead of the 1996 season, it quickly became apparent that the British manufacturer brought a knife to what was turning into a gunfight. At the start of the season, the Esprit faced off against other production based GT racers like the Ferrari F40 and McLaren F1 but then the bar was raised considerably by the purpose-built Porsche 911 GT1. This prompted Lotus to follow suit and create a new GT1 car based only loosely on the brand-new Elise road car.