Hethel (Great Britain), 28. August 2008 – admitted, over 50.000 euros are a lot of money, but at this sight one could already be weak. Originally, the makers wanted to offer Lotus the Elise Special Model Clark Type 25 only in their British home. Demand on the part of the fans on the European mainland, however, has now made the lightweight construction experts from Hethel but now to increase 25 additional copies for the continent. One reason to joy for sports car fans, even if the occasion for the special model is a sadder: the limited Elise reminds of the 40. Death Day of Jim Clark, the on 7. April 1968 in a Formula 2 race on the Hockenheimring for a deadline.
Small car, strong engine
The car is based on the currently strongest version of the Elise, the SC model. Thanks to the compressor motor, the small Britin now provides 220 hp, reaches a highest speed of 238 km / h and should break through the 100 km / h mark in 4.6 seconds according to Lotus. As a bow before the perhaps large racer of all time, the painting of the small sports car is based on the classic colors of the Lotus F1 team. Consequently, the Jim Clark Elise shines in British Racing Green and carries a yellow long strip that is pulling itself from the front grill over the roof towards the rear spoiler. The design of the interior is also to quote the Lotus racers of the 60s: driver and passenger, for example, are taken from leather-related, black bowl seats with red contrast flats and striking "Type-25" letters into the pliers.
Save faster
The basic price for the special Elise calls Lotus 53.375 Euro. A regular Elise SC is already from 49.950 euros to have, but the Jim Clark model comes from the factory with numerous extras. So about the sports package with on board. Among other things, it contains a Bilstein suspension, the traction control and the probax shell seats. In addition, the special elise series-mabig comes with hardtop, special forgings and ultra-handy yokohama sports tires. According to Lotus, the savings of a series model is around 4280 euros.