Elise vs MX5

cheeseontoast · Post by **cheeseontoast** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:29 am

Went to a trackday at Ruapuna last Thursday in my '04 NB and had a ball.
Once I'd got a bit of air in the tyres (it hated standard road pressures) the car just flew. I run it on 98 octane, which it loves and with spare wheel and tools removed to save a few kilos I followed a K series S2 elise out of the pits and he held me up for 5 laps. Granted the Elise had a passenger which added some weight but he was really trying and he had the back end stepping out through the turns but I'd have been a good 3 seconds a lap quicker if he'd had the humility to pull over.
Surprising eh?

madandy · Post by **madandy** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:34 pm

It's not what you drive but how you drive it

Owning a Lotus, or any high brow sprots car, means little more than that one has the means to do so

Gordon Tucker · Post by **Gordon Tucker** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:20 pm

04 NC with a spare tyre??? Surely you mean a NB

PLSEME · Post by **PLSEME** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:02 am

MX5's are very easy to drive & alot of time & money went into developing them that way ,
Most of the time my car makes me feel like a much better driver than i really am .

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:34 am

Sorry, an NB is not 3 secs a lap quicker round Ruapuna than a Lotus Elise!!!

cheeseontoast · Post by **cheeseontoast** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:10 am

Ian wrote:Sorry, an NB is not 3 secs a lap quicker round Ruapuna than a Lotus Elise!!!

I'm with you on that Ian and after hankering after an Elise for years I'm a little dismayed.
However:
The Elise was a base model K series S2 (120bhp) with two burly adults on board so weighed in at over 1000kgs, my VVT NB puts out 146bhp as standard and was weighed that day at 1090kgs including driver. The Elise driver cetainly wasn't the Stig but he was pushing on. There was absolutely nothing in it on the straights, it was (ironically) through the twisty infield section where I made up time.
I ran 1.53's (an extra 12psi in the tyres gained me 4 secondsa lap) and a decent peddler could take another 3 seconds off of that. Out of interest a 400bhp Jaguar XKR driven by a Porsche GT3 Cup driver was running 1.57's.
The Elise driver (who also bought along a $300,000 Maserati Granturismo S) was running 1.56/1.57's. A friends Elise S1 111s (143bhp/770kgs) runs mid 1.40's.

PLSEME · Post by **PLSEME** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:23 pm

Well maybe its the Mid engine set up , maybe they just dont know how to get the best out of them ,
Iv driven alot of fast cars & can say iv never been that confident pushing cars with this layout.
also a Jag , maserati & alot of other high end cars have alot of driver aids that hide one's inability to really drive witch a Lotus dose not .
Anyone can set a fast lap time in a Nissan GTR but dose that make them a good driver ???????

Elise vs MX5

Elise vs MX5

Elise vs MX5

Elise vs MX5

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