Momentum Elise R
Our little Lotus is the longest standing member of the Momentum Fleet, originally being purchased in 1.8l Rover K-Series guise it has gone through countless changes during its action filled life. Beginning with an ITB conversion which provided some true aural delights but not quite the supercar humbling performance the magic chassis was always capable of delivering.
The next big change came with the installation of the brilliant Honda K-Series powerplant. Opting to create our own rear subframe rather than one of the existing K-Series conversion kits available allowed us to place the new Japanese heart further forward and lower down than any other conversion we have come across. Managed by a Hydra Nemesis ECU and fitted with Gaz Gold coilover suspension all round, the performance was nothing short of silly in the sub 800kg Elise.
Unfortunately Andrew is not the sort to be easily contented with what can only be described as ‘bloody scary’ performance. To Andrew the only logical step was to add some more power….. a lot more power. The solution came from a top mounted Rotrex Supercharger and a reworked exhaust system. With the new additions the performance level went through the roof, and amusingly allowed Andrew to simply drive to the track, run rings around the ‘Dedicated’ Race-Cars and then drive home again, all on road tyres and with a tax disc!
Just over year later the itch again returned and some more changes were quickly afoot. With the Lotus offering the perfect test bed for the then new Quaife QKE8J 5-Speed sequential gearbox, it would have been rude not to! But we didn’t simply stop there, to complement the new ‘box we also added a completely new electronics package from Pectel including an SQ6M ECU, Omega ICD digital dash and Membrane Switch Panel along with a new wiring loom allowing for faultless clutchless shifting both up and down, with upshifts measured at under 40 milliseconds! To complete the new round of upgrades we also added a set of beautiful Nitron R3 coilovers and a pair of featherweight Reverie Mulsanne Carbon Fibre fixed bucket seats and an in house manufactured adjustable pedal box.
Our first real test of the new specification came at Ten of The Best 2013. The results left us all speechless… We knew it was going to be quick, but no one expected 10.7 1/4 mile times on road tyres, and unprepared track! To put that in perspective, its faster than a Ferrari Enzo with a professional driver on a perfect surface!
Who knows just how fast the little Elise will be in the future, but the one thing we are sure of is, we look forward to finding out!
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