**Rare Road Cars**
🇬🇧 Lotus Elise GT1
1 of 1 road cars
Purpose:
To compete in the FIA GT1 racing class against top-tier supercars.
Design:
Retained the Elise's lightweight philosophy but with extensive modifications, including a carbon fiber/Kevlar body, wider track, large wings, and splitter for aggressive aerodynamics.
Engine (Race):
Initially a Lotus 3.5L twin-turbo V8 (Type 918), later swapped to a more robust Chevrolet LT5 V8 (from the Corvette ZR-1) due to reliability issues.
Engine (Road): The single road car used the detuned Chevrolet LT5 V8, producing over 500 BHP.
The Lotus Elise GT1 (Type 115) was a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive race car built by Lotus Cars, based on the lightweight Elise platform, designed to compete in the 1997 FIA GT Championship with a powerful Lotus twin-turbo V8 or later a Chevrolet LT5 V8 engine.
Unfortunately it struggled with reliability and performance, leading to Lotus's withdrawal from the series.
Only a single, extremely rare road-legal version was built for homologation making it a legendary but ultimately unsuccessful racing venture and rare road car.
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