Has anyone raced an elise on a track yet? I'm curious as to how a tuned 350 would run against the little elise. I've driven an elise and was amazed at how good and tight it felt. However, I haven't had the privelage to drive a 350 that has had a good suspension tuning. I'd rather keep the 350, if it could feel as tight and confidence inspiring as the elise.

Thanks.

 

43k is not that much of a jump...and it looks great....just wonder how much more the parts/repair would be than the Z (already pricey)

 

In canada they're 67,000 plus tax... are you seriously telling me I could get an elise in the states for 43 thou. The hell?

 

is that 67k Canadian dollars?

 

Both the Elise and Exige are nothing more than fancy go-karts. Ive checked them out on more then a few occasions at World Imports down the road from me here in JaX. Besides for them looking goofy, the interior is terrible... They would be fun as hell for a weekend car but as a daily driver...

as far as the race goes, ive been tryin to track one down here but no luck... its the ultimate power/weight ratio race.

 

Ya. So about 60 thou US. I'm curious as to whether the 350 could hold up too.

 

http://www.edmunds.com/lotus/elise/2006/index.html

 

Go Karts are great fun. I'm debating whether to spend a whole lot on suspension components, or just wait to get an elise.

 

For a Z to beat an Elise on a road track (not the quarter mile!), it'd have to be pretty fast in the straightaways. The Elise weighs around 1900 pounds, while the Z weighs around 3300 (stock).

 

I have seen elises only at HPDE events so can't really say much, as it really depends a lot on the driver. (At a race, you can assume all drivers have some skill, at HPDE you never know, you can have a driver in a GT3 turbo porsche driving slower than the next guy in his non-S boxter).

But from what I could tell, they don't have a chance if there is at least 1 or 2 straight aways. They are fast in the corners but the 190HP compared to close to 300HP is just not good enough, inspite of weight advantage.

The guy in my session even had tires looking like slicks, was young and daring .. what I mean: he didn't look like he is terribly underdriving the elise.
Yet he had no chance.

Probably if you modify the Elise and are a PRO than you are like those pro miata drivers that can hang with the big engine guys....

 

Pedrosan is right.

I've driven a Mark I Elise and I've "raced" against the newer Toyota powered Elise during HPDE. They have no chances agains a Z down the straitghs, but are silly fast in the corners. The only reason I could lap them was because of the unwillingness of the owners to push harder.

As a street legal track car that "disappear" and leave you alone with the track, they are unbeatable.

The relative grunt and the sound of the Z's engine would be missed though.

 

I've been lucky enough to drive against an Elise during an HPDE. On a road course, the Elise owns the twisties but like several posters have mentioned, it is at a disadvantage on long straightaways. In a recent auto-x that I participated in, there were a couple of Elises that were simply nasty. The Elise is perfect for an auto-x course, where there are lots of twisties & mostly very short straightaways. Interior wise, it is bare and certainly not made for comfort. IMO, it is a fun weekend and track/auto-x sports car.

Bottom line, I'm not sure if I'll pay over $40K for an Elise though. Given an option, I'll get me a new C6 or even better within that price range, a nice used C5 Z06. It's a more complete package than an Elise that's for sure.

 

Sorry this is out of topic. But I just remember back in my super white trash highschool, kids didn't know anything outside of the US. They thought Canada was part of the US and Japan was part of China. One day a kid heard that USD to Yen is about 1 to 119. And somehow he thought that a car that costs $20,000 also costs $20,000 in whatever currency in the whole world. So he did the math told me he could buy a brand new Civic SI for less than $200 USD in "China". Only in a white trash city (Dundalk, MD)!

 

This last summer an elise run a few of the autox here. Here are some of the reults:

Class / Driver / Car / Best Raw time / Best PAX time
BSP JIM SETZER NISSAN 350Z 41.957 35.202
BSP JIM ROBINSON NISSAN 350Z 43.101 36.162
BSN JEFF STEINWAND 06 NISSAN 350Z 47.087 38.658 <- me

SS BOBBY SMITH 05 LOTUS ELISE 43.792 36.654

 

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

 

I guess that's not bad for a 4 cyl . . .

 

Now his question was about a "tuned" Z against an Elise, and the answer as stated many times is - it depends. The main thing it depends on is the nut behind the wheel.
On a different note - every single elise owner I have talked to (>10) have all complained that it is like driving a motorcycle on the road - no can see them. So they have to drive super defensive on the road, which translates to the track - which would agree with Kolia statement.

 

Here are the top 15 from super stock at this years Solo National Finals. The times are the total time for both courses...

As you can see the lotus is fast. It is all about the Nut behind the wheel that makes the car fast... I am working on getting my "Wheel Nut" tightened up this year...

T 1 199 Matthew Braun 2005 Lotus Elise Hoosier Detroit 99.358

T 2 193 Ian Stewart 2005 Porsche 911 GT3 Hoosier Central Florida 99.676

T 3 177 Alek Tziortzis 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Hoosier Chicago 99.816
T 4 170 Gary Thomason 2004 Porsche GT3 Kumho San Diego 99.953

T 5 86 Patrick Salerno, III 2005 Lotus Elise Hoosier New York 101.140

T 6 95 G J Dixon 2004 Cheverolet Corvette Z06 Kumho New York 101.299

T 7 188 Stuart F. Maxcy 2004 Porsche GT3 Hoosier Texas 101.812

T 8 196 Jerry M Onks 2002 Chevrolet Z06 Hoosier Tennessee 101.875

T 9 73 Michael D Losert 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Hoosier Detroit 102.019

T 10 186 Brian Conners 2005 Lotus Elise Hoosier Philadelphia 102.093

T 11 130 Lance Adams 2002 Chevy Corvette Hoosier Lone Star 102.170

T 12 77 Sam Makhlouf 2002 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Kumho Chicago 102.184

T 13 182 Rita Wilsey 2002 Chevy Corvette Z06 Kumho Cal Club 102.240

T 14 70 Adam Breakey 2004 Porsche GT3 Kumho North Carolina 102.523

T 15 194 Albert W Chan 2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Kumho Detroit 102.552

 

An additional comment I just thought of, from my experience on a road coarses - I have theorized that drivers confidence in a car determines how fast they will be. I also think that the 350Z is a very forgiving car - ie it is very easy to save when you get loose, thus it is very easy to drive it at its limits. Thus taking proffessional drivers times doesn't translate to what you will do on track.
My best example is the GT3, wonderful car that is capable of being one of the fastest street cars on track. Yet, they are prone to spin - thus when an unexperienced driver is in one - after the first time they spin - they will not push the car anywhere close to the limit. So if you are just a grassroots type driver (as many of us are) than you need to have a great confidence in the car inorder to drive it anywhere close to the limit.

 

Now here is one NUT behind the wheel of an elise, you can tell that he is down on power in the straits also.... But once again a driver will big ***** shows you how it is done...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...70722687036230