Esprit faster, better dynamically, and more involving, but noisier, more rattles, worse build quality, less comfortable and not as nice interior. I loved the paper dart styling - the two are too different to compare, they're both good-looking cars.
Great car,a group of us on here do 5/6 day runs,2,500 to 3,000km drive and yes one of those is in the group.
Out of the 308 series (any of them),a G series something all the way up to a late 3.2 Carrera and the Esprit, you would expect the latter to have the highest level of grip, be the most responsive and have the most communicative chassis. But it doesn't. The Lotus feels fabulous up to about 9/10, perhaps that's enough in the real world. The Porsche and Ferrari just seem to have that last 10% of chassis development, and it shows. I've done a fait bit of work to early Esprits and they've all ended up the same and despite my best efforts with tyres, damping, ride height, bushes and alignment settings, it's as if the front and rear just don't work together on the limit. That's not just me. At a track day in 1987, Alf Costanzo did some laps at Calder Park in Ivan Butterworths green 1985 Turbo Esprit. He said, and I quote; (Insert Italian accent); I can't get the car to work with me like the Porsche or Ferrari, it's as if the front and rear fight each other IMO they do look amazing and the chassis is communicative up to this 9/10 limit. Quick steering, light, plenty of torque and they make a good GT car too, with a reasonably quiet and compliant ride. The interiors wear poorly (As does the rest of the car actually) and the leather can look like a 1980s Peter Stringfellow designed night club after a while. I really like them, the S2 version is probably the underrated runt of the litter however in the current insanity of the classic car market, the Esprits are good value.
Great post and I agree with what a lot of what you are saying - especially about the interiors of Esprit’s and your comments on s2 - they truly very underrated.
Chloe took the Lotus to work today for the first time. Pleased to report she made it home safely. Chloe is also fine.
Mate of yours? https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/chuwar/cars-vans-utes/1969-lotus-elan-s4-4-sp-manual-2d-drophead-coupe/1328022389
What about this little hotrod. Looks the bizzness: https://www.my105.com/search/details/1965-lotus-elan/98c0b7e1-b3ce-4a98-a233-85926b1058fc?source=SEARCH_RESULT
My China plate was off to QLD to look at that over the W/E Decided against it & canceled Both the story & the price kept changing Was for sale on FB marketplace for 67K Photos show a sump off with stock rods (not cosworth) Vendor was bullshitting my cobber on all fronts & is a known flipper FYI
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Rob Roy VHRR 02/05/25 1st outing at the venue managing 0.27's easy !
Luckily the lad was given a F5000 drive the day before at Winton Which I am sure helped to recalibrate his expectations That & a lack of available space; with a nudge from Dad was enough Pretty pictures though & thanks for the info It will be passed on tomorrow !
There are some nice bits in it, but mostly crap. Bodyshell is a Series 3 Coupe, chopped to be a DHC. The doors have been changed to S1-2 spec, with an S1-2 hardtop (crudely bolted down). The boot has been modified the fit an S1-2 bootlid. It has 26R style flares fitted. It has a mild steel cage that weighs a ton and is non-compliant. The seats are alloy dirt circle sprint car style. It has a nice Tilton floor mount pedal box with twin master cylinders and balance bar. The engine is dry sumped, but only average power - certainly not 180bhp. Standard rods, as you noticed. Standard S3 radiator that he's made a fibreglass cowl from the grille for with electric fans, but no thermo switch (manually controlled - what could possibly go wrong?). And no header tank. Fabulous looking extractors, but gives it the ground clearance of a vacuum cleaner. He's fitted a lambda sensor, which he's hooked up to a fuel/air gauge on the (hideous) dash - very ricer. It has 26R knock-on hubs, which are very expensive, and fake Minilite wheels, which actually look OK. Finally, he has the rego papers, which have the correct S3 coupe 36 prefix chassis number, but the compliance plate has a S1-2 26 prefix - you can buy new compliance plates, so he's obviously faked this one. Like I said, he dodged a bullet. He was very keen to sell it and kept asking me to make an offer, but I politely (yes, really!) said it wasn't for me and GLWS.
