Lotus Elise/Exige for Rallying ?

[EvilPaladin]

My father was a rally-man(for fun) in the 70's-80's, he got some pretty cool cars, Opel Manta, Lancia Stratos, others I'm forgetting, and he even test drove a Ford RS 200.

He always wanted to restart rallying when I would reach the legal age to be co-pilot, which I will next year.

He has been considering a Lotus Elise/Exige, a very cool car that we both like.

Is it a good idea ? If yes, which one would be better ?

[whiteballz]

well... in my view, both would be extreme weapons, capable of giving the best cars a run for their money, but i dont know your dad's driving style, ive seen a guy throw a V8 around a Super Special stage within 4 seconds of a group A asia-pacific rally car, the guy he was racing, was an EX v8 driver, and their lines were so different, it made such a difference, i guess my point is that driving style is almost everything... im not too familiar with ether of these cars, but love their styling. i dont know about their engine layout or drive on the exige... so im not the best person to ask... good luck! hope you do well if you get in and do the whole rally scene.

[Cotterik]

definitely the exige; its much more advanced than the elise. If you watched top gear last night it raced an apache helicopter around the track and it couldnt even get a missile lock on it!! amazing!! The front and rear spoilers work together to create even downforce like an f1 car, therefore making it corner like a dream. One of the best driver's cars around. And under 30 grand!! Some people think that looking at the stats (190 bhp) it isnt much of a performance car. They couldnt be more wrong, that car is so light it performs like it has 500 bhp!!

[Matra et Alpine]

My father was a rally-man(for fun) in the 70's-80's, he got some pretty cool cars, Opel Manta, Lancia Stratos, others I'm forgetting, and he even test drove a Ford RS 200.

He always wanted to restart rallying when I would reach the legal age to be co-pilot, which I will next year.

He has been considering a Lotus Elise/Exige, a very cool car that we both like.

Is it a good idea ? If yes, which one would be better ?

The chassis is bonded.
The question is, were the glues chosen to take the shock loads of rallying on forest events.
If you were only planning tarmac then I'd say it might be OK.

Think about fixing bent bits though, how easy is it for chassis repair ?
Will a bent leg/member mean a new chassis - a bit expensive
Brother ran the first Audi 80's and it was a nightmare as he couldn't do seam-welding repairs to the floor and the seams kept opening up as they were not designed to take rallying stresses.

Once a full cage were fitted I think there would be little difference in body strength. YBut I think you'd need to contact Lotus to discuss mounting a cage ?
International rally events require a cage to be WELDED in - a bit hard with an alu chassis !! Even bolt-in would raise a concern about weakening the alu where the holes were drilled. Would neeed Lotus comment I think !!

Can you increase the ground clearance easily without compromising the handling ?

Miek Dresser competes in Britsh Rallycross series with a 240bhp Exige, you could try contacting him. It's not doing very well, but this is only his second season with a whole new car ! You can probably contact him via the BRDA ( he's the chairman )

Navigating inside an Exige would be seriously difficult.
If you are only planning stage and pace note events it might JUST be OK.
Forget it for navigational. It would be a nightmare.
I'm currently struggling in a post-historic MGB to find enough room to nav

have you thought about post-historic rallying ?
A110s, Escort Mexico, 911, Imp, Sunbeams, TR6s etc Great fun
Old style rallying and not too expensive.

[Coventrysucks]

I wouldn't have thought the Exige would be ideally suited to rallying.

I assume you will just be doing tarmac, and nothing too seriously off road.

They are very fast, but also very small, like Matra said; it might be difficult trying to navigate.

Also some of the S1 Exige's have a nasty habit of bursting into flames occasionally, which you wouldn't want, as they are hard enough to get out of, even when your behind isn't being gently toasted.

You might as well try for a test drive in one anyway to try it out, if there are any dealers near you.

Good luck with it though.

[EvilPaladin]

Well, it would be only for tarmac and just for fun, we're not going to try getting first.

Here's the website of the regional rally championship: http://www.rallyreunion.com (in french only, sorry)
Two years ago, there was WRC cars all over the place, now most of the cars are Super 1600.

[Matra et Alpine]

Two years ago, there was WRC cars all over the place, now most of the cars are Super 1600.

Yep, the same the world over.
Sponsorship and manufacturer support for lower classes of rallying is being directed to super 1600s. You still get some great rallying
Are you planning to get sponsorship ?
This could be a key factor in going Lotus. You will stand out in somethign differnet and sponsors like that
You should check regs and contact organisers, we are getting classes added to some rallies in the UK for kit cars so they can come compete and be failrly grouped with like cars and like-minded competitors. Just another option for you. THIS is also where my warning about space in an Exige REALLY comes from. We did some events in the Striker (7-copy). We won a special award for most entertaining. Almost every time-marshal had a good laugh as I tried to give him timesheet, take next route and start plotting in an open-top car at midnight in the middle of winter in Scotland - I just shivered again remembering it The first few stages we did with the roof up and it was impossible. The only way I could get "working space" was to get the top off !!

[stratos]

My father was a rally-man(for fun) in the 70's-80's, he got some pretty cool cars, Opel Manta, Lancia Stratos, others I'm forgetting, and he even test drove a Ford RS 200.

He always wanted to restart rallying when I would reach the legal age to be co-pilot, which I will next year.

He has been considering a Lotus Elise/Exige, a very cool car that we both like.

Is it a good idea ? If yes, which one would be better ?

Your phater have one Lancia Stratos ??!!??!!

I prefer the Lotus Elise ....

[EvilPaladin]

He HAD one, my grandfather bought it for him and my uncle.

[stratos]

He HAD one, my grandfather bought it for him and my uncle.

ok sorry about the mistake ... i wish that my phater had one stratos

But i'm still young and live is long ... ( i think )