Lotus Elise vs Mustang GT

For all those who hate on the LRA, and all those who know just what a properly setup 3-link is capable of.

A video I shot while driving the suches loop in North Georgia . This is heading down Georgia 60, south from Suches. The lotus pulled up on me while I was stuck behind someone, so I waved him over and we talked for a minute, then I let him take the lead to see if he could drop me. The video picks up as we pass the car we quickly got behind. Anyways, the cars:

2006 Lotus Elise: Lotus Supercharger, Lightened Flywheel, Racing clutch, Stiffer rate springs. (that is all he told me of)
Est. 290 BHP(quoted by owner)

2005 Mustang GT: GT500 shocks, struts, strut tower brace, strut mounts, and front sway-bar. Steeda ultralite springs (same rate as OEM for GT500) and rear sway-bar. C&L cold-air intake. SCT tuner, and 93 octane street tune.

On top of that, the mustang had nearly shot rotors/pads (rotors are grooved pretty bad and the pads started to fade about 15 seconds into the vid. Mmmm, burning friction material, smells delicious), a crack in the H-pipe, and the more mild of the 3 tunes I have in the tuner. Not saying that all of those things made a huge difference, it is what it is.

Both cars where pushing pretty hard. The driver of the Elise had been driving the twisties all day long, near the end of his 500 mile look that had taken him from Atlanta up to the Tail of the Dragon (on the Tennesse border) and back. Not sure if you can differentiate the sound in the video, but you could hear his tires squealing at some point during almost every corner. If you dont think he was pushing the car, look at the body roll through every corner. Its usualy 15*+, which is pretty huge in a car with stiffer than stock springs which is already stiff as a brick from the factory.

Anyways, lots of fun, sorry about the poor quality, was shot with my HTC with a simple dash mount, and the road was bumpy.

Oh, and note the state patrol car heading the other direction at the very beginning. Also, if you listen closely you can hear me say "Sorry if I scared you" to my (ex)girlfriend. Awesome on both counts.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Lotus
• Elise
• Mustang GT
• georgia dragon
• suches loop
• high speed
• street racing extreme driving

[13Tydavis13]

0:04 lotus slams on his breaks 5 seconds later a state trooper passes. you gotta love radar ditectors. lol 

[jeepmanification]

Even a 20 year old lotus is impressive. Look at a 1994 lotus esprit. Will corner almost as good as an elise and will go 170 mph. 4 cyl. with stock turbo and stock chargecooler. Look at "lotus fast and furious" on youtube

[shawncweed]

I have a 2005 Lotus Elise and it is a fun car, but the Mustang has so much more practicality overall I can't recommend the Lotus unless you have a bunch of cars. It indeed handles like velcro, but with the top off it sucks in the summer, and sucks in the winter. And frankly it isn't that fast in a straight line. My daily driver is an E55 AMG which leaves the Lotus like it was anchored at the dock...but on the right day, the right road, it makes you feel alive, which is what cars are all about.

[chicogotgreen]

@localfishinghole Actually, odd thing is because of the modifications done to the lotus, it was taking significant distance on the straights. It barely inched forward in the corners, I pretty much hung right there with it, but once it came to the straights I was toast.

[localfishinghole]

@TheManInDboX In a straight line you wil have it but they have already compared the two on a curvy hill climb and the Lotus won by a hair. Obviously the mustang will take it off the line and in the straights but the Lotus can get on the brakes later, carry more speed through the corners, and get on the power faster than the Mustang which will bring them pretty close on a track. It should go to the Lotus though. Should be the operating word here.

[localfishinghole]

@funkinfelix The Lotus ways a lot less and can get on the power a lot sooner than the mustang when it comes out of the corners. They definitely have the better Chassis as well. Combine that with a low weight and a motor that provides ample torque and you have a blast of car to drive.

[Storm7289]

and thats just a 2005 look at the 2011's

[paul127898]

The Lotus weighs significantly less so for the Mustang to do that good is impressive to say the least!

[funkinfelix]

Elise pulls away in a straight line, that suprised me, all those horse and the stang was loosing ground, elise would be about 4 secs a lap quicker, 10 laps in and it would nearly be lapping the stang

[RaskVousSalue]

@Aluv5 More power wouldn't help that much in such a twisty road.