Lotus Elise gets a race car makeover

The Lotus Elise is a wonderful car, but it's not one we'd put first in line for a hardcore makeover. Lotus, however, couldn't agree less, and it's taken the Elise - a hallmark for lightweight fun for nearly two decades now - and given it some race car vibes.

The Elise S Cup is essentially a road-biased version of Lotus's Elise S Cup R racer. As such, there's a rather unsubtle bodykit, and an aerodynamically effective one at that.

The S Cup's combination of front splitter, winglets, side skirts, rear diffuser and wing result in 66kg of downforce at 100mph; to give that some context, the standard Elise S generates a measly 5kg of push at the same speed. At the Elise's 140mph top speed, the gap is even greater, the S Cup producing 125kg of downforce to the regular roadster's 8kg.

Another key factor in the improved aero is the fitting of a fixed hard top to the Elise. This used to be the mark of an Exige, but that has now taken on a V6-powered life of its own, and comes with its own Cup and Cup R variants.

At the Elise S Cup's heart is a less potent four-cylinder engine, though it is supercharged. And with 217bhp and 185lb ft of torque to hustle along just 932kg, the little Toyota-sourced 1.8-litre is more than punchy enough; 0-60mph takes 4.2sec, which shames an Aston DB9.

It may be based on a racing car, but there are plenty of concessions to comfort, with electric windows, a heater and even twin airbags as standard, though the latter can be removed as a no-cost option if you're particularly keen to save weight (or hard of face).

A rollover hoop is standard while FIA-approved race seats, a lightweight battery and a fire extinguisher system are among the options list highlights if you're looking to rack up trackday miles in your Elise.

And it would be a waste not to. Before options, you're looking at around £45,000 for a Cup, which is close to £9000 more than a standard Elise S and the flexibility of its (admittedly fiddly) convertible roof. But then it looks nowhere near as hard as the Cup, either...