Stratton Evora GTs

[The Pits]

Gavin you forgot to mention how much you dislike the GT430's cut away front A-panels, or have they grown on you by now? 

I was still interested in how the Swindon approach to 430bhp compares with the factory one and if anyone had ever weighed a GTE or seen a figure for the claimed downforce.

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

I don’t know if there was a claimed downforce figure for the GTE. I think I remember TBD saying that at Autobahn speeds, the rear wing would be so compressed that it would push out the base of the uprights so much that they would rub against the paintwork of the rear wings, where there should normally be a few mm boot lid panel gap. Obviously we UK owners wouldn’t have the same issue with our speed limits. I once spotted an ex motorsport engineer poring over the rear wing of my car and being delighted with the near vertical Gurney Flap: apparently this is what makes a rear wing really effective.

[The Pits]

Unusual to have two such strong contenders for the 'ultimate Evora' tag. Naturally GTE owners and GT430 owners will tend to back their own cars but how will we ever settle it? Not seriously bothered of course, they are both epic drivers cars, it's just good pub banter.

I really enjoyed the GTE I drove and have to say it felt faster than I was expecting given the IPS and stock 345bhp engine but it was hard not to conclude that it deserved some more power to match the exotic styling and presence. It looks like a 500bhp+ car standing still. It didn't feel particularly heavy but it certainly took up more space on the road. Felt supercar wide. Cool in many ways, great sense of occasion but there are also advantages of the standard body too, particularly on UK B-roads.

What we need is a TLF sourced road and track video with a panel of (non GTE and GT430) Evora owners. Ideally with varied track driving experience (trackday rookie, regular trackdayer, racer) who can score the cars across a range of different aspects to come up with a TLF score to add to objective numbers such as weight, 0-100mph, 40-100mph and laptimes. Shame stuff like that is so expensive and time consuming to realise.

Who knows, maybe the Stratton GT is the best of both worlds?!

[TheKevlarKid]

1 hour ago, C8RKH said:

The GT430 carbon bootlid has extra internal reinforcement over the standard carbon ducktail and I am sure the spoiler and supports add a lot of weight too. The same carbon ducktail (without the spoiler etc) on my Evora 410 sport is very light.

I keep looking at that blue GT430 at £85k but think there must be an issue with it at that price. However the green/yellow gte AT £70K...... OMG.....

The guy who's owns the one I drove is looking to sell his at 85k. Has all the boxes ticked. Pm me and I can pass is details, he is in Dundee.

[TheKevlarKid]

Pits, still not convinced with the front cutout panels no. However, the new front and backend are very nicely done. Car looked menacing in my rear view as he followed me to track (painted in Carlton green- empire is it?) . Cabin space is nice, I like how they've raised the door cards to hide the bit of window that doesn't retract all the way in (one of my bugs of the S1).  Gear change felt very positive, better the the older set up of the gte. Sparco seats were comfy for me and looked great with the carbon backs and leather design on them.

I know I'm bias but it has to be the GTE everytime simply down to the rarity factor and road presence it has over other evoras. Like you say, it looks 700hp standing still. You are right though, the extra width does have disadvantages on narrower roads.

 

 

 

 

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

On 12/11/2019 at 16:16, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

 Apart from their own website, they could have perhaps made a more widespread marketing drive, so that more people know they exist. For example get them featured on Pistonheads, in magazines, post a video, lend one to a youTuber or something.

Looks like they've finally taken my advice to get these publicised a bit better.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1844895

It doesn't say how long they've already been looking for a buyer though!

 

[Bruss]

Strikes me that they're still trying to flog a dead horse.

Bitsa, nice bitsa but still a bitsa.

[electro_boy]

Article says the Straton GTE's drop 100kg from the standard Evora.   Sorry if its been done before but can someone in the know, briefly explain how the weight was lost?

[Colin P]

Carbon body panels

[Bravo73]

Are you sure? Even the ‘carbon (look)’ GTE only had a few actual carbon bits. The front and rear clams were still GRP (with carbon skin). 

[C8RKH]

Are you sure about this Jonny as you throw it out there every time this car is mentioned.

Even our own Lotus Forum referred to it, at launch, as "a full carbon fibre body" and Motor1 did too adding in the weight saving.

So definitively, who is correct and is it carbon "dipped/skinned" or carbon fibre bodied?

Time we got a definitive answer to this and put it to bed as it seems to be a bug bear for both of us, with you in one corner and me in the other.

I have no skin in the game, just a desire for the facts.

[Bravo73]

Rather than drift this thread too far, you have a PM. 

[scotty435]

Like C8RKH I would like to know the answer to the Carbon question, can not believe that lotus would carbon dip/ skin the panels, sure the TheKevlarkid (Gavin)could shine some light on this subject.

[The Pits]

You’d hope Lotus wouldn’t have gone for purely cosmetic, weight adding carbon skins to grp panels but it’s certainly not beyond Mansory!

[Bravo73]

Er, has everyone forgotten the ‘carbon’ Evora 4X0 wing mirror covers already?

[scotty435]

Well let’s hope someone can come along and shed some light on this subject, there might very well be some future customers of the Stratton GTs on this forum would be nice for them to know the answer to this question.

[The Pits]

56 minutes ago, Bravo73 said:

Er, has everyone forgotten the ‘carbon’ Evora 4X0 wing mirror covers already?

They don’t actually add weight at least and you won’t find any on my car either. Hate fake carbon with a passion so yes have done my best to forget all about that lapse of taste and judgement!

[21gg]

Going off the build details from the guy in canada where he bought the mansory panels, the rear clam wasnt a complete clam. Its was a 'top' panel without the boot structure underneath. They had to separate the old clam and bond the new one on. So the 'outer' panel is carbon with the boot box in fg. The front clam again is carbon with any appendages underneath in fg etc but did come as a complete unit as it would ftom the factory. They are not a layer of carbon skinned over a gf panel.

[aerobat]

..... what Gavin said.   Yup, that was me .....

[Stratton Motor Company]

Hi everyone,

Its interesting to see everyone's views on our Stratton GT's and my apologies we haven't been involved in these discussions.

We have been going through a shake up on the social media front and internet front recently and are now at the point where we will hopefully be getting more involved in as many of these forum discussions as possible.

Please feel free to ask questions and we will try to answer as much as we can on these amazing Stratton GT's.

Regards,

Marc @ Norfolk Lotus (Stratton Motor Company)

[Stratton Motor Company]

Afternoon,

Please feel free to check out our YouTube channel to see some videos of the Stratton GT's

Only a quick video of each car but nice to see.

Regards,

Marc @ Norfolk Lotus (Stratton Motor Company)

[The Pits]

I own a GT430 and have driven the factory GTE, I would happily put together a video if you were interested. Bibs here is also a pro drone pilot too...

[Stratton Motor Company]

You could be onto something, what would you suggest?

[The Pits]

Might be time to take it to private mail but everyone is welcome to contribute to what they’d find interesting. Certainly a fascinating car for the Lotus community. I am sure it would compare favourably to the factory GTE and we might be able to organise a meet up with a few of those in the spring of 2020. Who knows, one or two might be persuaded to switch over!

[Stratton Motor Company]

I agree that these are a fascinating thing. We haven't really pushed them enough but I think now is the time to really showcase what these are all about.

Please feel free to contact me on marc@strattonmotorcompany.com so we can discuss further.

Best wishes,

Marc