Evora GTE Registry

[Babas89]

@C8RKH the Stratton car are original GTE from Lotus, they were not rebuilt as GT350 (I don't know why).

I remember have seen 3 of them (the grey, mat white and chrome who was my choise to buy)

[Bravo73]

@C8RKH Of course that’s what they did. But, because they are the manufacturer, they are allowed to call it what they like, ie the GTE or GT350. 

If anyone else makes one, it’s a copy, a replica or, at best, a ‘homage’. 

[21gg]

Ultimately it's nice that they have all survived at all. All are well documented and Acrobat has been transparent about what his is.  It's just a shame that, hopefully just in the short term, the spares have been used up in the Stratton Gt cars, but financially I can understand why they have done what they've done.

[aerobat]

Yes, thanks for some support.  My car is a conversion.  A replica.  But it’s not “Mansory bits”.  It does have the new wishbones, new suspension and new wheels.  The carbon fibre is one-off custom made based on OEM for the GTE/ GT350.  No GTE’s made it to North America.  I wanted one.  I paid a premium and made one.  It’s not a factory GT350, but it’s damn near identical.  I’m happy, and that’s all that matters to me.

[scotty435]

Sure it's been mentioned before, but what happened to the full Carbon one?

[21gg]

It lives in Scotland 

 

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

We do have a registry for GTEs as per the thread title. There were 20 re-built as GT350 and their fates are documented on here. 1 extra was bought by KevlarKid as a track-only car with Swindon engine and centre-lock wheels and then converted to road use with 5 stud wheels. Therefore 21 cars were sold. The others were supposedly the worst of the litter having been standing idle for about 5 years and were expected to be broken up for spares. I guess we were naive to believe this because those “spares” could have taken several years to convert into cash, so these cars were presumably not broken after all. Stratton then offered to buy them outright and eventually turned them in to what we see today. Yes they were GTEs, but they were the worst condition of the bunch and appear not to have all of the original bespoke parts. Critically they were not re-built from scratch by Lotus Motorsport as per the original 20 numbered cars. Personally I don’t have a problem with them), but I think their time has past, now that we have the 410 and 430 cars to choose from. They must be a hard sell, especially in LHD. If you really want a GTE then surely the documented Lotus Motorsport fettled cars are the ones to buy?

[Ishy]

Yes indeed... I have no issue with “other” GTE’s it’s the fact that Lotus disposed of the remainder of the parts which some of us had been assured would be kept available to repair our cars should they need it.. yes maybe naive to believe Lotus would do as they said but nevertheless a commitment was made. Personally I’m appalled at the way Lotus treats its loyal customers!

[21gg]

Yet we keep coming back! My problem is as bad as some, I'm only on my ninth lotus 😁 

[C8RKH]

Look. Lotus is a small company. It's a flea on the back of the poodle. I'm sure it tries its best but I am also sure in the last 10 years we came perilously close to losing it.

If I was lucky enough to own a GTE the only thing I'd be truly pissed about would be the lack of key spares like the custom wishbones, wheels, etc. I'd expect the factory to keep spares or at least have a plan B.

I can truly understand what people are upset about this but please do get over it and remember what a limited run, special car you have the privilege to own.

As Lotus grows strong, as I believe it will under Geely, I am sure these "issues" will disappear. The current cars are about the best cars Lotus has ever made. The last of a generation. The GTE is up there at the pinnacle of what Lotus could do.

[Ishy]

20 minutes ago, C8RKH said:

Look. Lotus is a small company. It's a flea on the back of the poodle. I'm sure it tries its best but I am also sure in the last 10 years we came perilously close to losing it.

If I was lucky enough to own a GTE the only thing I'd be truly pissed about would be the lack of key spares like the custom wishbones, wheels, etc. I'd expect the factory to keep spares or at least have a plan B.

Exactly that....

[21gg]

C8RKH, its an annoyance on the spares but currently not a 'problem', famous last words! I hope things improve too. Anyway, what are you doing on here, shouldn!t you be out driving your new motor! Oh, and you need to update your avatar! 

[C8RKH]

Looks like No. 08, a very rare RHD in motorsport black is up for sale at Leven's (ex MMC).

[TheKevlarKid]

So are we going to list the extra cars above that are original GTE's but weren't converted by the factory?? I'm thinking for some sort of future reference when everyone has forgot...

 

21. Red/Grey tri-stripe (kevlarkid/ex Beirut car) 2+0/ swindon engine and tune / carbon interior/ recaro sports racer seats/ Gt350 wheels/ Gt350 front wishbones/ originally designated GTE number 12.

22. Green (Stratton GT)/ 2+?/ engine and tune??/ beige interior/ GTE carbon seats/ Gt350 wheels/ Gt350 wishbones/ originally designated GTE number??

23. Chrome Orange (Stratton GT/ex Swiss Beatz car)/ 2+?/ engine and tune??/ interior???/ seats??/ Evora turbine wheels/ Gt350 wishbones/ originally designated GTE number??

24. White/Grey tri-stripe (Stratton GT)/ 2+?/ engine and tune??/ interior???/ seats??/ Evora 400 wheels/ Gt350 wishbones/ originally designated GTE number??

25. Pewter (Stratton GT)/ 2+?/ engine and tune??/ interior???/ seats??/ Evora 400wheels/ Gt350 wishbones/ originally designated GTE number??

 

[21gg]

Im at the factory next week so if I have enough time Im going to pop in strattons for a look.

Gav

[Babas89]

If you can take à lot of pics or the chrome I'll appreciate it. 

Stratton also had a black with grey strip!

[BatMobile]

What are people’s thoughts on the Stratton GTs?

After a failed 99t 430 enquiry I was happy to stick and upgrade my exige.

however this feed popped up and I have to say the gte is my favourite lotus. Just adore this car.

the £30k premium they go for over list has stopped me from pushing the button on one but this Stratton car.....in white 😍

they are £72k + vat and probably around 3-4 months from being ready. Converting to manual, dvla approval etc

They don’t come with a lotus warranty, gte parts are hard to come by judging by others comments and will this be the very poor cousin with a hole in their shoe.

i guess what I am asking you knowledgeable lot is, will this car be a credible version to buy and whilst not as sought after as an original still viewed affectionately or is it the case if you want one accept no imitations and these are a bit of a gimmick?

They are 430bhp Swindon engines. What are your thoughts on those?

 

[bingoking]

So the White one is a "LeMans GTE China Limited Edition No 7". Presumably the other 3 have similar plaques?

[TheKevlarKid]

On 11/07/2016 at 10:09, TheKevlarKid said:

t

this is what is in my red car

[Bruss]

It's not a gte but don't let that put you off. 80k seems about right for the car if Strattons can give you any warranty, say for 12 mths. It has all the bits that you might want to add to make one yourself. I'd check the engine and ecu back up via Strattons though.

(oh I'd take the stupid plaque out)

[bingoking]

31 minutes ago, TheKevlarKid said:

this is what is in my red car

So who has #12 of 20 Limited Edition GT350/GTE?

 

[21gg]

They are as much gte's as anything, body panels can be got from mansory, it's wheels and more so wishbones which are currently an issue. Lhd puts me off personally hence I got a rhd 2+2. Remember the Gt 350's only came with 6 months warranty.  The engines are meant to be good but as pointed out. I would want to know more about the support Strattons can give. At £72k + vat they don't seem bad value.

[Babas89]

Thanks @21gg to agree on my way!

I'm aware of this just after I've got the #15 (begining of december 2017)

I'm looking to own the chrome one, that was the one I wanted to buy in 2014 when I came to visit the factory (I remember also have sawn the mat white and the grey). Since december I'm waiting to can get that car but I'm in doubt if they want to sell it or not (we were 3 French guy ready to buy one... but today none is ready).

My only request is to get new GT350 wishbones fited to get the right Lotus handling, and this point looks like à problem because of not spare parts (but they've some to can rebuilt)

For me they're the real GTE like the concept shown in 2011 (with full carbon interior), except the engine who are standard Evora S (they want to tune it to 430 / 440hp)

Ps: don't look at the chrome one, I hope it could be mine one day when it will be ready for sale 

[TheKevlarKid]

@Bruss

There were approx 30-32 of the original cars built back in 2011. Along with those there were also about a half dozen or so that were 'in build' but not finished when the program got cancelled.

Of this original batch of cars made, only 2 of them were actually built by Lotus themselves. They were the 2x midnight blue IPS cars which are now numbers 1 + 2 on our official list of cars here.

The other 30 or so that got built back then were all done by Mansory in Germany. Lotus shipped them 25-30 fully assembled Evora S's and they pulled them back apart to do the widebody conversion, the swindon/lotus400 engine work, the AMT gearbox conversion and they added their own design centrelock wheels before all the cars got shipped back to Lotus and then sat in a feild for 4 yrs (picture of them doing just that is at the beginning of this thread iirc). There were a couple of them that didnt sit in the feild/carpark btw and I know which ones those are btw.

All of them, the fully assembled and part completed ones had their individual chassis numbers well noted and documented that they had been assigned to the GTE program. I've personally seen this list of assigned chassis numbers from being sat in their offices with the Lotus Sport guys at the exact time they were deciding which of the cars available to them they were going to pick to rework, it changed 2-3 times in the short space of time i was with them that afternoon for a variety of reasons as they worked their way down the list. 

So, the 20 cars were eventually picked from the pile to be reworked as we know.

However, all that was actually left of the original 'GTE's' after they had been done was the wide bodywork, the main chassis structure, the carbon roof panel, the rear wing and some of the carbon interior trim pieces. Everything else on the car was new and sourced from the S1 Evora which was still in production at the time.

They had new front and rear subframes and all that attaches to them (which is pretty much everything, engine, drivetrain, suspension, hvac, the lot), new wiring looms throughout, complete new interiors minus the bits of carbon trim that got carried over. The only thing that was bespoke to them and had to be made especially was the longer front wishbones, the steering control arm extenders, the front damper mount raiser blocks and a set of custom wheels to fill the bodywork out. Gone was the sportier engine, the fancy gearbox, the extra power, the full carbon interiors and bucket seats, the centre lock wheels (not that they were any good to start with, but thats not the point to those that had previously expressed an interest when first announced .

Certainly from where I'm sitting, every chassis number on the list Ive mentioned above I would consider to be an original lotus GTE, full car or not. They were all part of a factory project that unfortunately never saw the light of day. From the ashes of the GTE's came the 20 reworked GT350's, they are made from parts of the GTE's yes but the true car we were expecting from them they are not, I'm happy they exist rather than not of course as they are truly stunning machines and without doubt the best looking modern lotus they have produced, but its also a glaring reminder to what "could of been" 7 yrs ago. Just imagine what the latest cars would look like now if they had of gone into production all those years ago with the aggressive wide stance of them, something spectacular I can picture.

 

 

 

 

[Bruss]

Thanks Gav. I didn't know the full history.