the Police chase a Lotus Elan

December 1993, the 215bhp BBR Elan SE heads off on a crisp Sunday morning. A black unmarked police car containing an old acquaintance spies me pulling some unecessary and excessive G-force through a roundabout ! Download the VASCAR movie and hear the strange incessant banter from two of her majesty's finest....

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• lotus
• elan
• police
• vascar
• speed
• camera
• gatso
• unmarked
• chase
• sports
• car
• fast
• porsche
• caterham
• elise
• ferrari

[DeStijl333]

That exact car's up for sale at the moment. It's an absolutely gorgeous car - I plan to get one next year when I can drive.

[jackal2513]

crikey.... do you have a url for the advert ?

i might have to buy it back !

[eccIefechan]

The vehicle details for J576 EAH are: Date of Liability 01 09 2009 Date of First Registration 19 05 1992 Year of Manufacture 1992 Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1588CC CO2 Emissions Not Available Fuel Type Petrol Export Marker Not Applicable Vehicle Status Licence Not Due Vehicle Colour YELLOW Vehicle Type Approval null The car is still going!

[jackal2513]

yeah i hope so..

was sold to someone in Cambridge last i heard in 1995

[jackal2513]

it was on the A217 as it travels up toward M25 J8 through lower kingswood

[jameskuk]

BLOODY PIGS... just because you went round a roundabout too quickly, what a load a balls, bloody police "ANY TIME FOR REFRESHMENTS TOM" at the end, why don't they drop dead...

[kruzihbv]

Hope nothing came of this, police arent allowed to exceed the speed limit by more than 20% without blue lights.

[PingmanGTFOUR]

How did you get the video?

[StonyMalonie1]

@StonyMalonie1 Lotus could have used a 2.2(?) litre engine from Opel which was set up for rear wheel drive but this would have caused a revised bonnet design (longitudinal mounting). Something which Michael Kimberley (the man in charge of the Elan production) did not want. Hence the Isuzu 1.6 litre fwd was used. Fwd does not mean a lack of speed, just torque steer and steering kickback. This was negated by Lotus' clever interactive wishbones. Drive an Elan for yourself and then decide.

[StonyMalonie1]

@digitalczech You're making the mistake of pitting the Elan against current cars. Let's look at the Elan vs. the Mazda MX-5 (which, by the way is based on the very first Lotus Elan) The front wheel drive Elan beats the rear wheel drive MX-5 in a straight line as well as round a track. Nowadays Lotus has a wide range of engines to choose from to accomodate a rear wheel drive powertrain. Whereas back in the 80's they were very limited with what they could use.

[digitalczech]

@StonyMalonie1 Uh... sounds like marketing BS to me to talk people into why they made a terrible mistake with a FWD car. Ask yourself honestly why haven't they repeated this "advantage" with their current cars? You cannot beat a mid-engine rear wheel drive set up for balance, handling and stability.

[StonyMalonie1]

@bohemianbrewery I pulled that up from the wikipedia page but with my dad being an owner of one of these fantastic little cars i've read the book "The Lotus Elan Story" and i'm pretty sure Colin Chapman said something to that effect. Not trying to shoot you down bro, you asked a question, i answered it.

[StonyMalonie1]

@digitalczech Totally different context. The sales literature for the Lotus Elan M100 reads as follows "for a given vehicle weight, power and tyre size, a front wheel drive car was always faster over a given section of road. There were definite advantages in traction and controllability, and drawbacks such as torque steer, bump steer and steering kickback were not insurmountable." So are you going to argue with Lotus, a company renowned for producing quality handling cars?

[digitalczech]

@StonyMalonie1 That makes no sense. Why would it handle better as a front wheel drive? Why aren't F1 cars front wheel drive? In fact. Name one modern race car which is front wheel drive (other than touring car championships).

[StonyMalonie1]

@bohemianbrewery Because it handles better that way.

[bohemianbrewery]

But it's front wheel drive. Why would Lotus do this?

[strathpol]

erm, nom where dd you hear ths?