Esprit factory active suspension development car

[Stuart Monument]

The straps were a bit of an after thought as the car was meant to balance on its centre of gravity. The only packers we had were cardboard. Where the lower and upper body's sections meet it is very strong. The lip joint on the rear flaked a little. However on further inspection this had been knocked previous as the 4mm lip was not fibre glass, it was filler. It's not accident damage it is literally the lip. So no great problem. 

 

I don't think the frame was designed to have to weight of the engine in situ when rotating but needs must and all that. 

[The Pits]

Good grief, I thought it was a discussion about the active Esprit, I didn't realise that someone here had bought it! 

I'm so happy that it has been bought by someone who wants to get it running again, doubly so that we'll be able to read all about it here. This is great news that it's not just disappearing into some minted old duffer's collection never to be seen again.

Stuart many congratulations, I too would love to see it one day. I can't even begin to imagine seeing it working again! Thanks for sharing this with us all.

[skiing]

I still cannot believe that the factory has sold off this sort of heritage though - very pleased it is going to someone who will look after it properly but heritage and provenance etc. is surely so important to a car brand?  I would have thought it an important part of differentiating the firm and keeping people coming back to buy etc. I would have thought that one of the key selling points of Lotus is its innovation in the past and technical wizardry and they would therefore want to keep hold of this type of thing... But I also really look forward to seeing this car for real and I fitting my car with the same suspension system... 

[ramjet]

This will be something for the TLF tent at events over there.

I'm surprised Bibs hasn't made a comment yet.

[Stuart Monument]

I would completely agree about the heritage of lotus if they had not sold everything else off years ago. I think it is important to keep it going and that's why I am happy to show people the car and will try and get it to shows once up and running! 

 

Unfortunaltey time is not not my friend , I am sure in the coming 6 months I will be able to make some progress at some point. Thanks again for the positive comments and interest 

[Bazza 907]

Some pictures and commentary on the car here 

http://www.lotusespritworld.co.uk/EOtherstuff/Factory visit 05.html

Stuart - congratulations on the car and this isn't directed at you but..

I feel more than a little disappointed that lotus have sold the car. I remember the outrage thrown in Lotus's direction when they sold the other unique cars that formed a sort of museum in the middle of the factory. Many including lotus employees rightly condemned it at the time as I recall. 

I understand wanting to sell an old desk but that is completely different to selling one of the last truly historic cars left at the factory.

With Lotus rightly trading on its ground breaking history surely selling this car can't be right.

 

 

[Choppa]

2 hours ago, ramjet said:

I'm surprised Bibs hasn't made a comment yet.

Judging by his latest post he's probably recovering from his tour of the English Harbour Distillery in Antigua.

[hopo]

Barrie I disagree.

 

It is a shame that Lotus are selling their heritage I concur with that however what heritage vehicles they do have/have had are left to rot and unloved - didn't SID sit outside in the fields for about 3 years?

The Active suspension car looks fantastic and I for one am delighted that Stuart has the balls to purchase it and try to restore it back to former glory - Lotus would never do this! (They are too busy making waste of time special editions of elises.. Ouch)

 

many congrats Stuart the car looks epic and it will be great to see this project develop.

 

On another note I cannot believe that to remove a car from the office (I assume) a door has to be removed!

[nello]

I can remember going around Hethel in the early '90's before the Proton clearout. OPW and all the others were sat looking entirely unloved in a distant corner of the factory even back then.

None of them were barely covered - there was some talk of a factory 'museum' even at that time but it never happened. 

Although I suppose it could be said that ACBC was only ever interested in the 'latest' thing  in the pipeline so I guess its no surprise historic works were forgotten.

Great to see though and be interested to know how you managed to get hold of it ?

[The Pits]

Totally agree that it's criminal that Lotus don't have a heritage collection I know some at the factory would love nothing more. However, the real crime was selling off what they had when they did and all for relative peanuts. No doubt this active car also went for a token sum (to Lotus). However, aside from the colossal missed marketing opportunity, I also take the view that it's better that these cars find their way into passionate private ownership than being left to rot at Hethel. I guess we have to be grateful it wasn't worse, Enzo destroyed countless racing Ferraris that would be completely priceless today!

As amazing as this car is, not many inside Lotus would be very interested in it these days, nor see any real relevance in it. The same would be true of the wider car enthusiast community, you'd have to be of a certain age to even recognize the term 'active suspension', most nippers would no doubt think that most modern cars have it now anyway. The only people who'd really take care of it and get it working again would be the sort of people that come here on a regular basis. Without Stuart stepping up to get hold of it, I'm sure it would have met a sad end under the current management.

I had a good look over the tri-fuel S2 Exige at Brands in August. It was great to see it up close and being used. Such a great idea, a real shame they didn't pursue it, a bit like Active Suspension. I'm glad it's not in some state of disrepair up at Hethel. I do remember at the time the rumour about active suspension was that it was too revolutionary for the road. Lotus were worried about releasing a car with irresponsibly high cornering limits. Many modern cars claim to have sophisticated electrically adjustable dampers now, McLaren's hydraulically connected system appears to be the most radical of them all yet no-one is complaining about dangerously high cornering limits. I wonder what's changed?

[Choppa]

I enjoyed watching that YouTube clip of the original TG report and (sadly) remember if being transmitted as it aired just a few weeks after I sold my S1. I was particularly struck how quick and flat it was through the corners and how quickly it "picked itself up" and started moving at the end of the clip

[Bibs]

22 hours ago, ramjet said:

I'm surprised Bibs hasn't made a comment yet.

Bibs has just arrived home from a week on holiday.

My comment would be 'wonderful to see it in the hands of a proper enthusiast'.

The car has been sat at the foot of the stairs in the old Proton building for a few years now. I'd asked to use it in the past for some events but was always told no as it would be hard to move, now I can see why! 

20 hours ago, Choppa said:

Judging by his latest post he's probably recovering from his tour of the English Harbour Distillery in Antigua.

 

 

Went there twice

[ramjet]

Knew you were away m'lord, but thought you may have dropped in occasionally.

[The Pits]

Don't what what you were up to last night Stuart but you really should have made it to the TLF Christmas dinner if at all possible. I asked Mike Kimberley about the active car and wished I had recorded what he was saying about it. Fascinating stuff. I thought I'd share a bit about what I remember.

It was a stunningly sophisticated system, I'm sure it will be an enormous challenge to get it working again and fear it won't be economically possible. It has taken until the McLaren MP412C for a road car to offer anything like what Lotus had working in the 80s. Truly astonishing. It sounds like the Lotus system went a stage further too, it really was the tech they had in F1 at the time, they could make the car do anything. It could corner totally flat of course, but it could also be made to lean into corners like a motorbike if you wanted and could even be programmed to turn left when you turned the steering wheel to the right! The main reason it didn't end up in a production car was cost. However he said that all the car manufacturers apart from two bought the system from Lotus Engineering. Even Volvo had a car running with the system in it but no-one figured out how to make it work commercially. Amazing stuff and I hope it helps you to appreciate how important your car was and will be again if you can get it working!

[Stuart Monument]

Thanks for the info that's really kind and very interesting.  I would have loved to have been there but my daughter is currently very ill and awaiting an operation so all hands on deck. 

I too didn't think it would be viable to get it working again, however the guys at classic team lotus are still in contact with the guy who did the original computer work and have said they can reproduce the computer at sensible money. The rest of the tech is there . Until the cam belts and basics have been done then its not worth going much further with the suspension side of thing. If I could get it to lift up and down so it could be shown then that would be remarkable. To get it working as in period will be down to cost and expertise out there. I have had a few messages from TfLers who said they can help which is great. 

I hope you had a cracking night. Mike is always very interesting to speak to.

more pics of the car as it is. The interior requires a bit of work but instruments will improve it enormously 

 

 

 

[Stuart Monument]

[TAR]

This is an awesome project and I really hope you get the help you need to get it going again. Well done for saving such an important piece of Lotus history.

 

[Barrykearley]

Still jealous 

[cbclotus]

And me Barry .But what a car to own preserve for all us to see Mike

[ramjet]

I must admit that I find it hard to believe that a company , such as Lotus, could come up with something that is so far ahead of the game and then not to keep it intact?

Looking at the pictures of the front, what have all the bits been taken for?

All the best for it Stuart to get it going again. Would be something to own in the long run.

[Stuart Monument]

Looking at the connectors in the front I believe it's the computers that go here. 

I think they went into the f1 development cars. The car was registered to team lotus 

long journey ahead !!!?

[Barrykearley]

Got one of them old fashioned computery things in the loft if it's any use

not sure where the plugs go though

[Stuart Monument]

Barry your a legend. I think if you want to lean it into a corner you push all the beads to that side !?

[ramjet]

But doesn't centrifugal force just slip them all to the outside again?

[Stuart Monument]

Now that would be lateral thinking !