Lotus Elise Driving Experiences

Lotus Cars’ original variant of their Elise sports car - a rear wheel drive, two seater, mid engined roadster, was released in the autumn of 1996. The Elise was named after the granddaughter of Romano Aritoli, who at the time of the car's release, was chairman of Lotus.

The Series 1 Elise - which is the very same model we have available - was a joint effort, kit assembled at both Lotus’ plant in Hethel in Norfolk, and the Shah Alam plant of Proton Holdings Berhad in Malaysia.

As ever, Lotus’ design and engineering principles of ‘lightness then performance’ are at the heart of the Elise, with its total weight of 725 kg making it one of the lightest such cars we have in our fleet at TrackDays.

Due to its weight, the Elise can reach 0 - 60 mph in an impressive 5.8 seconds, and you can expect to reach top speeds of around 123 mph. The Elise has always been a popular car for track days thanks to its sublime handling, meaning it can take the most demanding corners with ease.

In the near 25 years since it was first launched, there’s no denying that the Lotus Elise has become something of a modern day classic for car enthusiasts globally. This is reflected in the numerous awards and accolades it has received from the motoring industry and press.

Autocar magazine named it the Best Driver’s Car in 2001, the BBC’s Top Gear magazine named it their Best Sports Car in 2004, and more recently in 2019, Autocar magazine awarded it again, this time as one of their Icon of Icons.