Editing Elises in Competition (section)

==Elises in Open Series==


===Britcar===

Several examples have appeared in this series, set up to offer endurance races for amateurs and professional drivers.  Race lengths vary from 1 to 24 hours.  

Perhaps the most well-known is Simon Scuffham’s yellow Honda-powered Elise, which was often co-driven by Chris Randall.  Even today you will find Lotus entries in Britcar events, such as David Fenn’s heavily tuned K-series Motorsport Elise.


===GT Cup===

A recent addition to the motorsport calendar, this series offers GT racing at a fraction of the cost of the British GT series.  

Amongst the Porches and Ferraris that dominate the entry list, a small contingent of Elises and Exiges can be found.


===British GT===


In 2006 the Cadena sport team entered a team of supercharged GT3 Exiges for Gavan Kershaw, Paul and Barry Whight, George McKintosh and Chris Randall.

Run with a power-to-weight-based formula, they were very competitive, despite having to use a control tyre designed for the heavier competition.  In contention for both titles, they took the makes trophy, losing the driver’s crown to Aston Martin at the final round. 

They returned the following year with the Exige GT3 concept design and more powerful engines but reliability issues led to the Cadena team joining the Aston Martin ranks.  The car never got to run in the FIA GT series.


===Mid-Engined Sportscars===

Started by the Aston Martin Owners Club, this was a series open to pretty much anything with a mid-mounted engine. Entries included cars from Ferrari, MG, Ariel and even Lee Noble turned up to race with one of his sportscars on occasion. During this time several Lotuses were entered, drivers included Gavan Kershaw, Simon Scuffham, Russ Treasure, David Harvey, George McKintosh, Guy Evans, Sam Blogg, Sean Bicknell, Matt Cummings, Rex Stamp and Michelangelo Segatori.

With heavy participation from Plans Motorsport in both preparation and organisation, the series ran for a few years but cost increases plus a switch to a power-to-weight formula led to a decline in entries and with the new Elise Trophy series attracting would-be Lotus entrants, the series disappeared from the AMOC bill


===Rallycross===

Believe it or not an Exige successfully competes in Rallycross! 

The car has even posted wins with Dave Bellerby, perhaps inspired by the Lancia Stratos rally car.


===FIA GT===

The most extreme derivative of the Elise was created for the FIA GT series.

Inspired by the success of the McLaren F1 and in response to the Porsche 911 GT1 and Mercedes CLK GTR, Lotus swapped the Esprit V8 for the Elise GT1, via GT1 Racing.  Julian Thompson, Richard Rackham and Russell Carr were heavily involved with this car, featuring a stretched version of the extruded aluminium chassis.  

A wider bodyshell housed at first a twin turbo V8 engine, derived from the Esprit.  A last-minute change in regulations favouring large capacity normally-aspirated units meant that the car was hastily refitted with a Corvette V8 lump, which was developed by Lotus Engineering.  Run by GT1 Racing for Jan Lammers and Mike Hezemans, there was also a Benetton-sponsored entry (plus a German team at domestic level), however poor results caused by lack of development and poor fuel consumption, followed by another change in the rules adding costs for engine development, spelt an end to the programme.


===Other Series===

The Castle Combe-based Special GT seres features a very successful Mark Funnell, who has also featured very competitively in the Elise Trophy (see below) at Brands Hatch and Castle Combe.  Mark also races in the LMA Euro Saloon And Sports Car Championship, which has featured several Elises and Exiges including Simon Scuffham's.  There's also the Gurston championship with Steve Butts and the Speed Championship with Rob Clarke.  The Time Attack sprint-based series has featured Steve Gugielimi's modified Elise and of course there are many cars competiting week-in and week-out in sprints and hillclimbs to varying degrees of success.  Most famous of these are the polycarbonate-bodied 340R prototype-based Expose, campaigned by Tony Shute and the Circuit Car, which was built to celebrate 100 years of Shelsley Walsh and became the basis for the 2-Eleven.