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If you have some Esprit News, email us at news@lotusespritworld.com
July 2005
10% off Carbon Fibre Door Sills for ClubLEW Members
Get 10% of in our E-Shop. Just send your membership number and request 10% off when you order.–––––––––––––––
Esprit Driver Training
Just got back from the Driver Training day in a very wet Oxford. A very interesting day. An article with pictures (and hopefully vid clips) will be on the site this week. Look out for it.–––––––––––––––
New 2005 Lotus Suspension
Lotus' Spring & Damper Programme was started in mid 2005 and will cover Esprits from 1987 to 2004. Lotus will test and set-up each Esprit model (turbo, SE, S4, S4s, GT3 & V8) with new springs and dampers and do a baseline appraisal on the current parts before they begin the development exercise.Lotus Ride & Handling Engineers will then fit special springs and dampers for development. Lotus are looking at creating new specifications based on the old set-up, but refining it. With the advancement in modern materials and design, they can develop a suspension package for the Esprit models of the past using today's know how.
Lotus will create new spings & damper specs for each model retaining the 'feel' of each model, but improving the ride & handling without making all the models feel the same. Lotus are taking this project seriously and are investing a lot of money in it's development. The development is being done on both track and road and covers many different types of road surface, including motorway, A-roads, B-roads and the varying surfaces these can have. As you should know, Lotus one of the leading companies in Ride & Handling and have years of experience in setting up road and track cars.
Once the programme has finished (late August) and Lotus have all the data for the springs and dampers, they will decide on how many kits need to be produced to cover the models. S4 and GT3 are likely to share that same kit, as are the V8 Esprits. Dampers will be manufactured by Bilstein and are planned to have dual platforms, so the ride height can be lowered 10mm from standard. Adjustables would work out too expensive and with all the work done by Lotus, you won't need to adjust them.
Springs will be from Eibach and will fit both the Bilstein dampers and the standard Lotus dampers. Meaning you'll be able to fit just the springs to your Esprit or the whole package. Lotus are working on fitting them to 1983-1985 Esprits as well. So nearly all models will be covered.
LEW has been helping with the development of the suspension and has been impress by the amount of work being done for what is basically an out-of-production vehicle. Our view is this is going to be the best upgrade you can buy for your Esprit. Developed by Lotus, in a field they are renound for worldwide, for their own cars and using the lastest materials and technology. The Esprit is hard on it's suspension so many older cars with average mileage will be running on original suspension, which is probably well worn. Upgrading to the new spec, would not only give the improvement of fitting new standard kit, but with the newly developed spec you should see a massive change in ride and handling. We know, we've tested it!
More information will be posted here as it's released. The price should be reasonable on it's release, which we hope to be well before the years end. So start saving, as you'll want a set of these.
A very exciting development for Hethel.
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LEW visits Hethel
Lotus Esprit World spent yesterday (21st) at Hethel and have plenty of info to share (and some I can't!). Will be updates on the site soon. So keep an eye out.–––––––––––––––
Lotus Micra
not exactly Esprit, but we thought you may like to know we have the latest of our Lotusbits/ Ultimate Performance LTD special engine fitted and ready to go in our latest rally car, a Lotus Micra! The car is based around an Excel chassis and runs a heavily modified 1973cc fuel injection 912 engine (yes, a 2 litre 912!). First track trials have proved very encouraging and the rolling road sessions we have made indicate power in excess of 230bhp. The Micra will further prove the durability and performance of our special engines that have been developed in partnership with Ultimate Performance. They will also give us valuable experience of custom fuel injection systems that could of course be very much at home in classic Esprit’s seeking a power upgrade while wanting to maintain the original 1973cc capacity.
We will keep you posted with progress and performance following the rally outings to come, but for now, an overview of the car and its engine can be seen at www.lotusbits.com–––––––––––––––
Esprit Driver Training
The Esprit Driver Training day is this Sunday 24th July with Motor Sport Events. They organise a "Driver Training Academy" at the Ex-USAF base at Upper Heyford just outside Oxford, which is on the Oxford Meeting run route.–––––––––––––––
LEW visits Hethel
Lotus Esprit World will be paying a visit to Lotus Cars & Lotus Engineering at Hethel on 21st July 2005. It's been a while since our last visit. We are hoping to pick up plenty of information for Esprit owners and enthusiast, which of course will appear on the site. Should be a very interesting and useful visit. More later.–––––––––––––––
New Lotus Dealer – Cardiff
There's a new lotus dealer called Stratstone Lotus in Cardiff. This is a major issue for any Lotus owner in South Wales Area. A fantastic Show Room where you can watch your car being serviced while you have a coffee etc. Joint with Aston Martin they share the facility with Lotus in the larger show room. Tel: 02920 695700 officially opens very soon...is up and running now though.–––––––––––––––
Breaking 84 Turbo Esprit
Complete car breaking for spares. All parts available at reasonable prices. Car has had rear end impact, so back body parts may not be available. Engine is yet to be tested, but is complete. Everything else is there and is available for sale.
Please ring Mike on 07866 255614 or e-mail lotusbits@hotmail.com. Take a look at the web site www.lotusbits.com for other Lotus parts, but note the turbo Esprit parts are not yet listed.–––––––––––––––
Forum Added to Updates page
As the Lotus Esprit Forum is gathering pace and becoming a great resource for all Esprit owners and Enthusiasts. LEW has added the latest posts from the forum to it's updates page. So now you can see what's going on on the forum at the same time as seeing what's new on LEW!Note: if the page looks funny, empty your cashe and start your browser again.
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Exhaust Discount
Larini who produce super car and sports car exhaust systems are offering Southrun members discount on a group-buy on any Lotus system that they do. The catalogue is available on www.larinisystems.com and the discounts are listed in the Southrun members area. Esprit owners can sign-up or login if already a member at www.southrun.co.uk/member-login.php–––––––––––––––
LEW in middle of London Bombs
Currently kato is stuck in the middle of London near Liverpool Street and Old Street, but is safe (for the moment).–––––––––––––––
LOTUS Esprit Eprit Turbo Cabrio Cabriolet
This Esprit is for sale on a European website (click image to be taken to website). We've not seen one like this before!
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Hampshire Pageant of Motoring
Broadlands Romsey Hants, Bank Holiday Sunday 28th & Monday 29th August 2005
Open 10am - 5pm. Admission: adults £7, concessions £6, children £1The Largest Motoring Event on the South Coast. Thousands of classic cars - veteran vehicles - commercial classics and buses - military vehicles. car clubs - custom cars, sport cars and much, much more...
Celebrating 65th Anniversary of Battle of Britain. Parachute display team - Battle of Britain flypast - Military re-enactments
Arena attractions throughout the day. Fun fair - children's rides - huge craft marquees - trade marquee - massive auto jumble - 100's of trade stands, licensed bar & catering - free car parking.Find out more here: www.hampshirepageantofmotoring.co.uk
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Esprit Gearshift
LEW are currently looking into the Esprit's legendary 'notchy' gearshift. Lotus currently have LEW's SE at hethel and are examining the gearshift. Although we have found it 'OK', Lotus have described it as horrid! Apparently the only think not wrong with it is the fact we can select all the gears!It seems the gearshift needs tender loving care and some regular maintenance to keep it as it should be. As the action becomes slowly worse it is un-noticed by the driver. This can lead to a poor shift and if not repair can lead to further more expensive failures. We reckon that a high percentage of Esprit owners (especially pre V8's) are driving with a gearshift that needs some attention, we where.
From what Lotus tell us, is you can't change gear with one finger, then you're gearshift needs at least adjusting. LEW is working with Lotus to supply details of regular maintenance that can be carried out, settings for adjusting, plus parts that can be purchased to replace worn out parts. A kit is being put together now for the gearshift and the Translator parts can be bought as they are needed. More news on this as we get it.
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Esprit Website Updated
Graham Elliot's Esprit Website has been updated with some text about his engine out job with some pictures on the Lotus Esprit SE page or you can look at the site update page. Worth a look!
Graham Elliot's 1990 website
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