Lotus Elise vs Caterham 7 Supersport - Sports car
Follow your instinct. If, like me, with the onset of summer, sun and blue skies, you want to go back to basics, to tough and clean cars, then follow my advice: trust your instincts.
Having spent the whole day trying to Caterham 7 Supersport and from Lotus Elise Club Racer for the sole purpose of discovering the limits of grip, I again plunged into the spiral of addiction to these machines, brought to the bone, like a former smoker who managed to take a puff after months of abstinence.
This category of cars has never been so exciting. With this small engine under the hood, power is rarely the dominant factor. Their main gift is dynamics. To be like this читать they drink like a bird and the tiny brakes and tires are so durable you don't have to empty your wallet every time you drive to the store. Even price he's tiny, so your heart doesn't cry too much to lock them in the garage for the winter as it would with their larger, more muscular, and most of all, expensive cousins.
Caterham Supersport price is 22.500 euro if you don't care about the paint and are willing to apply it yourself. If, on the other hand, you want the machine to be identical to our test machine, you need to add others. 3.000 euro... Even so, it still costs much, much less than the Superlight R500. Don't get me wrong: this XNUMX is minimalistic at best, something like a skate on wheels, without a roof no windshield, no doors, just two flying doors. You get on board more or less like a racing car: you stand in the seat and then put your feet under the steering wheel until you touch the tiny pedals. This requires a fairly tight pair of shoes, and if you don't want to end up with a handful of insects in your mouth or risk getting hit by a bee at 100 km / h, it's best to wear a helmet as well.
After connecting four point belt all you can move is ankles, wrists and forearms; the rest of the body is so well wedged into the seat, without padding, between the transmission tunnel and the bead that you literally become part of the car. It's the perfect place to hear everything that's going on outside.
What you experience in Supersport is a pure, unfiltered experience. Everything that was not part of the driving experience was simply removed. It is strange that the dials on the dashboard have not been removed yet ... Supersport almost does not touch. 520 kg and it could weigh even less considering the options include a carbon fiber dash, nose and mudguards. But even if they are beautiful to look at, they unnecessarily increase the price, since it is a matter of saving a few grams. If you skip breakfast and dress lightly, you will probably get the same effect.
Eliza went on a similar diet. To earn a new name Club racer got rid of the radio, central locking, air conditioning, floor mats and soundproof panels, and got a smaller battery and slightly padded seats. The cumulative effect (to use Chapman's words) is to add 24kg of lightness, which may seem insignificant, especially when you consider that Elise weighs 860 kg, but we've eliminated things the base Elise never needed by saving weight and money (€3.000 is a lot). So Club Racer can be yours 34.891 euro.
Climbing Eliza is very different from climbing Caterham. First, there are doors, and, fasten your seat belts, they are much less restrictive. It seems a little odd at first to have this whole room to move around. The ergonomics are perfect: the steering wheel, gear lever and pedals are in the correct position, and with the reduced seat upholstery, you can get more detailed feedback. Inside, the Lotus looks like a race car, so even though it is a road car, the name suits it perfectly.
He moves the same toyota 1.6 Elise comes standard, which means it only has 136 CV e 172 Nm torque, but this engine is a sweet pepper and loves to be hacked. And luckily it needs to be compressed well because the gears are too far apart. This is especially noticeable between the second and third, when the speed drops from 7.000 to 4.500, and the ideal idle speed for this engine is 5.000 rpm. A real shame, because the drivetrain itself is light and pleasant, and at this little power, revving is key, especially when a phosphorescent Caterham orange is blowing up your neck.
Il sound Eliza hoarse, with harsh exhaust and much lower volume than Caterham. With a 340 kg weight reduction, we are not too surprised that Duratec 1.6 da 140 CV e 162 Nm of torque hidden under a thin layer of aluminum in the Caterham bonnet is rougher. Close relationships also help. IN Speed a five gears it is as fast and accurate as a shot, an effect that is only achieved when the lever is directly over the gears.
Both cars were designed to be accidentally led into the back streets of England, where they curve and change direction at the speed of a hare pursued by dogs, and are so attractive that they immediately catch the eye. They both hit the target, but in completely different ways. Caterham is very tough, with it you feel the slightest disconnection on the road. When it passes over the hole, it feels like you have your fingers stuck in an electrical outlet, and if you are not well connected, you risk being thrown into really bumpy areas. It is so rigid that the rear axle can lift off the ground for a few moments as the grade changes. And with the front wheels always glued to the asphalt, the Supersport looks like a bike that's rolled over. It doesn't seem like the best, though, but it's just a leap that keeps your attention from falling asleep.
On the same stretch of road it seems as if Eliza is floating. He is always and in any case connected with the road and conveys all the shortcomings, but more smoothly, less angularly. The same holes in the Lotus are kind of rounded. Its ride is easier, with fewer distractions, but with the same amount of detail: beautiful stunt, trademarked Lotus.
Both cars are great when braking. Surprise is the right word given their tiny records. They are so small it's almost funny. The Caterham has 13 rims and the front Elise has 16, but both are enough to make the respective brake rims look very small. However, appearances are deceiving, and despite their small size, they are very effective and very sensitive. Indeed, on the Caterham, you just have to take your foot off the gas a bit to slow down, and that says a lot about the aerodynamics of the XNUMXs.
Now we get to the heart of the matter: curves. On the Lotus, as on the Caterham, a little more firmness when entering corners wouldn't hurt. In the case of the Caterham, simply adjust the camber to correct the position (lowering the nose in relation to the rear), but once the car is in there are a few possibilities: my favorite is to open the throttle and let the diff work. With that little torque, the crossbeams shrink—often you don't even have to lift your foot to put it in place, the friction takes care of it—but it's a very smooth ride.
In Club Racer, you don't open the throttle to change trajectory, but brake in the middle of a turn or raise your foot very little. As with the Caterham Supersport, the steering provides all the feedback you need, but the Elise is softer and less responsive to small movements. If you step on the gas pedal, the Elise clings to the tarmac and regains balance and traction.
So which of the two cars is better? To answer, you must choose which drug you like best. The Caterham Supersport is more aggressive and will entertain the bully in you with oversteer, wheel spin and skid whenever you want. This is the perfect car if you like short and breathtaking shots. But if the Supersport is the automotive epitome of espresso, the Elise Club Racer is sweetened with cream, deeper and richer in detail. This is the ideal car for long trips and more regular use. But whatever you choose, it will be like a drug: you can’t do without it.
