RE: [DML] Re: Yet another attempt at gullwings....

["Mike Griese" <mike.griese@xxxx>]

>From your analysis, I don't think you have seen an Elise
in person. The Elise is an open top car. Always has been, 
always will be. More of a targa top than a true convertible,
as there is a removable rear window in the roll hoop behind
the passenger compartment.

The car normally comes with a soft top, hard tops are
available. The "gullwings" here aren't doors in the same
sense as a DeLorean. The standard Elise doors (front
hinged, just like most other cars) would still be used.
Instead, these panels are a modification of the hardtop. 
The panels open up to allow more headroom for getting in 
and out of the car.

I don't quite understand how users would pinch their fingers 
on the front of the glass. Closing the hatches should be no
more difficult than rolling down the side glass and reaching up
to pull the panel closed. I would expect a hand grip on the
inside of the panel to assist in closing the panels, even with
the side glass fully up. Water removal is no different than 
a DeLorean, a channel guides water from the center of the car
out to the sides. The difference is that unlike the DeLorean,
the water can be exited over the side glass instead of 
keeping it inside the door opening - no need to redesign 
any sills or seals. Stainless hardware doesn't rust and 
pressure washing shouldn't be a problem at all, or at 
least no more of a problem than the standard soft or hard 
tops.

Since the Elise is a normally open car, scuttle shake is 
unaffected by the panels. The Elise is HUGELY stiff.
It has about 12 times the torsional rigidity of the 
DeLorean. I have never driven a stiffer road car,
and this includes coupes. The front windshield is a 
roll structure, so leaning on it won't cause problems
with broken windshields in spite of the lack of a 
permanent top. The Elise is also very SMALL - it's 3" 
taller in height than the DeLorean,
(44.88" for the DeLorean, 47.3" for the Elise), but
20" shorter in overall length (168" DeLorean, 146.7" Elise), 
4" shorter in wheelbase (94.8" vs. 90.6") and 
about 5" shorter in front and rear track. The Elise 
weighs about half as much (2,750 lbs vs 1,485 lbs). 
Even with standard engine packages in the Elise 
(111hp to 135hp from a natually-aspirated Rover 1.8L I-4,
depending on options, a 190hp version is available for
track use), it is much quicker than a DeLorean - the Elise 
does a legitimate 5.9s 0-60. The Elise is mid-engined and
will outhandle and outbrake a DeLorean.

Here are a couple of links to learn more 
about the Elise...

This site has photos of all the various colors
the Series II Elise is available in...

http://www.kirschmann.ch/lotus/page_01.htm

This is the homepage for Lotus Cars in England

http://www.lotuscars.co.uk/template.cfm?name=lotcars

This is the hompage for Lotus Cars USA

http://www.lotuscars.com/

Also, an excellent book detailing the development of the
Elise is Lotus Elise - The Complete Story by John Tipler.
Note that the Elise is not yet available in the US for road use.
You can purchase a couple of different versions for track use. It
is generally expected that a road-going version of the car will be
on-sale here in the 3rd quarter of 2003. I really hope so, as
I have deposit #2 in Minnesota...

Mike



-----Original Message-----
From: therealdmcvegas [mailto:DMCVegas@xxxx]
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2002 1:25 AM
To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [DML] Re: Yet another attempt at gullwings....


According to the article, it's a design that should make ingress, 
and egress of the vehicle much easier.