Evora GTE Registry

[scotty435]

I would say as much a GTE as any of the factory 20.

[scotty435]

The Stratton GTs are finally for sale, well 4 out of the 5 are advertised,  like to know your thoughts on the cars now that they are complete. My thoughts are the the biggest disappointment is the mishmash of Evora wheels fitted to the cars, Stratton did say to me a some time ago that they had commissioned a wheel company to supply a new wheel for the car, obviously that never happened.

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201907069788752

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

They seem to have re-written history with their description.

[Bruss]

53 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

They seem to have re-written history with their description.

You mean they are lying?

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Where to start? Others like TheKevlarKid have greater knowledge than I but I’ll have a go.

438bhp? TKK had his original Swindon engined car dyno’d at 385bhp. I don’t know if Stratton have uprated theirs, but their figure may be based on old Lotus claims from the Bahar era (eg. 444PS).

All original GTEs were IPS semi-autos? I understood they were a relatively troublesome/problematic automated manual. I think my car now has one of these development units in standard manual form. Isn’t the IPS a torque converter auto?

All original GTEs were LHD. We know of 8 RHD. Even the car The Stig drove for Top Gear back in the day was RHD.

All GTEs were sold before they were built. I doubt that more than a couple, if any, were sold. Most were loaned to Bahar chums etc. Some never left Lotus. Otherwise how come about 25 were back languishing in the Hethel car-park within a year or so of production?

The GTEs were built to GT3 regulations. There was no GT3 category at Le Mans in 2011. The GTE category was based on GT2 regulations.

 

 

[TheKevlarKid]

@LotusLeftLotusRight

Correct, I had my car dyno'd at 385hp with the Swindon engine.

At the time I wasnt checking it for power output, I was checking there was nothing untoward such as knock and the engine wasn't going to lunch itself when I started to use it, it only had 33km on the clock when I got it.

They did approx 10 runs on the dyno back-to-back all showing that power output within a couple of hp from each other. There was no distinguishable drop in performance at all and the dyno guy commented "it could do that all day". The dyno plot showing power and torque at 385 was super sweet, I couldn't have drawn the lines any smoother myself....

The supply of engines from Swindon (I saw them sat in boxes at Lotus brand new) were all marked up as "Swindon 420's" . I spoke to the head man at Swindon at the time, he said with a simple pulley change to a smaller one it would release the full 420hp.

I chose not to go this route. I was really happy with how the engine was performing and an additional 35hp on a 1.5t car is not going to make a massive amount of difference imo (give it a day or two and I'd of been used to it...) and it would just use more fuel, more consumables and generate more heat on the inlet temps and in the engine bay on a 'non-intercooled' engine.

So the Swindon engines are capable of higher output, how well balanced they are at those figures though I don't know and I'm personally not interested in finding out. For me, it's a 'whole package' thing - The looks of the car, the road presence it has, the rarity factor, the noise it makes, the fact people know it's my car when they see it or pictures of it. I'm super happy just as it is with the 385hp!! 

I have no doubts the Stratton cars are running higher outputs as described in the adverts, how they have achieved that I don't know, it could just be a pulley change, it could also be a different ecu tune or ecu altogether...  best calling them and asking.

Okay, so the gearbox on them.

Of the original 30 or so cars made, there were only two true automatic IPS cars (No.s 1+2 on the register above, both in midnight blue) all the others had converted manual gearboxes to 'AMT' (automated manual transmissions) which were never developed properly.

I converted the AMT gearbox in my car back to a regular manual, it wasn't that hard to do. I took out the AMT unit and gubbins and replaced the clutch pedal, gear change mech and cables for std items. I imagine this is what Stratton have also done.

There were 6-8 of the original cars that were RHD from the get-go. All of the rhd cars were reworked by the factory as part of the 20 GT350's, so what's detailed on the register above is correct, non of them were converted from LHD.

When I ordered my silver GT350 from Lotus (No15), I asked Lotus if they would consider changing it to RHD if I paid them, the answer was a firm 'no'!

Like you say, the 2 GTE races cars that ran in LeMans in the GTE class were built to GT2 spec. The GTE road cars we own were not built to any race spec, they were simply modified standard cars for road use only that had only had a token nod to the 2 races cars that Motorsport built.

The only issue I see with the Stratton cars above is the wheels they've put on them. They all have the longer front wishes as used on the GT350's but they've used normal evora wheels with spacers to mount the rear wheels so they fill the arches (front are fine) as there wasn't enough of them to put on all 5, look like they only had 1 set which went on the green car (not advertised as I can see, maybe already sold).

I don't see this as a massive problem, there are loads of aftermarket wheel manufacturers that can make you bespoke wheels to the correct dims that will fit without spacers.

Everyone who has one of the 20 factory cars is in the same boat if you knacker one, there are no replacements available (Stratton may have a couple of front wheels, definitely no rears) and you'll be having to look to the aftermarket to resolve the problem. I've considered getting a set of different wheels for mine and boxing the originals up...

If I were looking at one of the Stratton cars I'd be pushing for a little discount to put towards a bespoke set of wheels (you'll be looking at least 4-5k for some) Other than that, I'd have no concerns.

HTH

Regards, Gav

 

[acchan]

hi everyone, I’m an ex lotus owner (elise exige and evora). after the lotus experience I’ve  bought a nissan gtr... so I love sport cars but, I felt in love with the gte at the first sight... Now I’d like to ask you, ehat do you think about gte, how is the car. is it different compared to an evora s?

at last, the mandory kit costs over 50.000€, if I buy it I’ll do a fake gte?

[tim_marra]

There is at least 1 GTE for sale in the UK. If you bought the one at Hofmann's and got them to fit the CC TVS1900 before collection you would have one very epic car.

[bingoking]

Sorry for being dim, but what is CC TVS 1900?

My GTE is for sale here https://www.georgemackay.co.uk/used-cars/lotus-evora-3-5-vvt-i-v6-s-20-coupe-2dr-edinburgh-201902235229603 and although not mentioned in the advert, it has the Komo-tec upgrade to 430bhp

[tim_marra]

It is a Harrop developed supercharger and charge cooler for the exige and evora v6. Made with input from ssc - a aussie Lotus dealer. A fantastic upgrade, i had my non cc version installed by Hofmanns. Love it!

[Bravo73]

1 hour ago, bingoking said:

Sorry for being dim, but what is CC TVS 1900?

 

[acchan]

thanks for the answers! what I'd like to understand is if you hear a difference between an evora s and a gt350 at driving level. the gt350 is wider with revised suspension, do you feel the difference? the mansory kit is the same aesthetically but has spacers and does not change the suspension ... will it have a worse guide?

[Bravo73]

@TheKevlarKid is the man to ask. His GTE is tracked regularly. 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Andrea, weren’t you originally going to buy what became my #4 back in 2015? I’ve still got it.

[acchan]

@bravo thank you, I’ll ask to him!

@LotusLeftLotusRight yes, it was the #4...It was a terrible mistake... I didn’t buy it because it was to expansive...😭😭😭

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

How about a Stratton one? LHD too.

[acchan]

1 hour ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

How about a Stratton one? LHD too.

interesting but I live in Italy and therefore I am worried about engine maintenance ... then they should be 2 + 0 and I would prefer 2 + 2 for children ...
very beautiful in any case !!! even the interiors ... I think they are pre 2012 and I did not understand if the suspension is changed ...

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

As you can see from the Registry, there were only four 2+2 cars. 2 RHD and 2 LHD including mine. The other one was sold to Switzerland, so you could try and track that one down.

The 2+2 is very useful. I have just spent a family weekend away, with our 11 and 13 year-old kids squashed in the back.

[acchan]

29 minutes ago, LotusLeftLotusRight said:

As you can see from the Registry, there were only four 2+2 cars. 2 RHD and 2 LHD including mine. The other one was sold to Switzerland, so you could try and track that one down.

The 2+2 is very useful. I have just spent a family weekend away, with our 11 and 13 year-old kids squashed in the back.

I have two children of 6 and 5 years so 2 + 2 is almost mandatory ... I consider you really lucky, also because I practically had it but then I changed my mind ... a curiosity, how are the interiors? I only have the photos of the car before they were rebuilt ... the interior was all white

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

They changed it to black sports racer interior prior to completion.

[treborcccp]

R20GTE up and running at the Wheels Classic car show in Wadebridge  Cornwall .

Many hanks to the Cornwall Lotus drivers club.

[Sizona]

Am selling an original Mansory GTE alloy if of interest to anyone, came from my one before it was rebuilt at Lotus.

https://www.lotusforsale.com/ads/original-lotus-evora-gte-mansory-20-alloy-wheel-for-sale/

Thanks

Simon 

[21gg]

So have I got the highest milage GTE yet? 

😁

 

[jep]

On 15/09/2019 at 19:00, 21gg said:

So have I got the highest milage GTE yet? 

😁

 

I saw your stunning GTE at the Bicester Heritage Scramble yesterday. Fab that you use it so much and it was one of the stand-out cars on show, if not the stand-out. Not that many there knew what it was. 

Justin

[21gg]

Cheers Justin, what were you in? Its funny, a lot people don't know what it is, even some die hard lotus fans. With the Bicester trip and getting it serviced its now got 500 miles more!