Lotus designer plotting super Elise
Former Lotus designer wants to reimagine original Elise by creating a carbon-fibre bodied, Honda VTEC-powered supercarJaguar’s current advanced design boss and C-X75 hypercar designer, Julian Thomson, has tweeted pictures of the one-off super Elise he hopes to make.
Thomson, who designed the original Series 1 Elise while working for Lotus back in 1996, says he wants to create a super Elise inspired by Singer Porsche 911s.
Lower by 30mm and 75-100mm wider, Thomson’s recreation sports bigger wheels and a completely new front and rear incorporating better cooling and a huge rear venturi for extra downforce.
Speaking to British car magazine Autocar, Thomson said he wanted his super Elise to look more “solid and purposeful” than the original car he penned.
Under the bonnet the car designer said he will ditch the old car’s Rover-sourced K-Series engine and fit a Honda VTEC engine combined with a sequential gearbox.
“Whenever I washed my own Elise, I was reminded of things that didn’t turn out quite as I’d have liked and I always wanted to put the right.”
Thomson, who hasn’t confirmed when work will begin on his one-off Elise, follow a recent trend of Jaguar car designers reimagining iconic cars. Last year fellow JLR designer, Ian Callum, revealed his reinterpretation of the classic Jaguar Mk2.
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