zero_to60

the S2000 is in fact not especially quick....well actually it's relatively slow and not significantly quick enough to embarass a well driven hot hatch

I bought one knowing that it would be the slowest perfornace car I had ever owned but for me the car was so much more than traffic light GP's and 'bar room stats'......

mikey k

hit the nail on the head

SandyS2K

Standard S1 is 120bhp.
I'm not surprised you beat it in a straight line but that;s not what they are about. Hit a corner and you will see any advantage the s2000 had removed.

A better match would be against an S160!

Paper Lawyer

Wang UK said:
" 111S i thought had 160 bhp with the celica engine in it."

and you said "yeah but not the S1"

thereby implying that the S2 111S has indeed got a Toyota engine in.

GTFCTIM

I wasn't meaning anything about the 111S!


I was pointing out that the topic of the thread was about a standard S1 Elise.

stocky

Apart from this topic...

Is the Elise really so much better in corners?

I actually didn't like the steering and brake feel at all

MarkB

I have to take issue with this.

A heavier car will have more momentum. In other words, it takes more energy to change direction the heavier the mass you are trying to act upon.

There are various things you can do to make the car handle better, but the fact remains, a given tyre will only resist a certain force, and the more sideways force you ask the tyre to resist the more likely it is to reach the limit of it's traction.

To reduce the momentum acting on a tyre, you can either reduce the mass, or reduce the rate at which the mass is thrown to the outside of the corner, ie. the car's speed.

So, in general a heavier car will not be able to corner as quickly, since you have to modulate the speed round the corner to take into account the fact the car is heavier. Regardless of the power it may have, the driver will not be able to use that advantage bacause they are always having to accommodate the extra mass. It's the principle Lotus was founded upon.

Of course, then there is the question of polar moments and weight distribution too, but that's a whole topic in itself.

Neil.H

Rahul, you must never seen that Best Motoring video of the SL55 AMG getting spanked around Tsukuba by much less powerful and cheaper cars, the S included

PS Standard Series 1 Elise has 118bhp, the 111s has the K-Series VVC engine and puts out 140ish.

RAB2000

I'm not sure i totally agree with the fact that more weight reduces cornering potential.

Take one lotus elise, make an exact copy but everything 20% bigger (20% more powerful, 20% bigger tyres etc and 20% heavier).

In my mind both cars would be able to generate the same level of lateral g force.

GSi

But that lateral g is around 1 corner, all you need there are super sticky tyres - no need to worry too much about suspension and weight distribution.

Try driving around in right hand circles for a while until you get to break away point and then immediately turning into left hand circles. Your bigger car just won't be as nimble as it will have more momentum to deal with.