Lotus Design Technology

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#339933" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Lotus Design Technology</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=175 BGCOLOR="#336600" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Lotus Elise</B></div> <div> <B>1995-</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Aluminum</B></div> <div> <B>Monocoque</B></div> <div> <B>Tub</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#00CC66" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>The Elise Chassis</B></div> <bR> <div> Lotus, without Colin Chapman, needed to introduce a new road car that would continue to keep the Marque ahead of every other manufacturer. This car - the Elise - being a Lotus, had to reflect Colin Chapman's philosphy of high performance through light weight and radical design. At the epicenter of this idea has always been a torsionally stiff, lightweight chassis. A stiffness of 10,000 Nm (7400 ft-lb) per degree of twist was established for the Elise chassis which, itself, had to be very light, around 150 lb. Additionally, though the Elise was in essence a race car, the fact that it was to be sold for road use demanded that it have side impact protection as well as a frontal crash structure.This necessitated abandoning the backbone design which had been a Lotus structural feature for 25 years in its road cars. Richard Rackham, the chassis' creator at Lotus, qualifies the Elise chassis as an aluminum monocoque tub. </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="785" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 332 WIDTH="339"><div> The bases of the chassis are straight aluminum tubes of rectangular cross section on each side of the car. These tubes, along with aluminum door beams, are high enough to protect the car's occupants in the event of a side impact. They are joined by an aerodynamic, flat undertray and cross members in the form of torque boxes. The crush box ahead of the chassis provides for energy-dissipative deformation in the event of a frontal crash. A crumple zone is at the rear of the chassis.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="5cfb8460.jpg" border=0 width="440" height="326" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> All chassis components, currently made at Norsk-Hydro's plants in the UK, are of extruded aluminum which are secured with Ejot thread-forming fasteners and then epoxy-bonded. The subframe which holds the engine is made from steel and bolts to the aluminum chassis. The bare chassis weighs 150 lb. With roll bar and body fitted, the chassis stiffness is 8100 ft-lb per degree of twist - an impressive figure for a 1600-lb road car!</div> <bR> <div> The Elise, at $30,000 in basic form, has justly gained a reputation as the world's best handling sports car. Although a bit spartan, with the chassis itself forming part of the interior decor, the Elise is the car for the driver who demands race-car handling and performance.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Epilogue</B></div> <bR> <div> Colin Chapman had achieved many breakthroughs and also suffered through some severe tragedies in his 30-year career as the greatest innovator of race car technology. However, his genius as an innovator was strong enough to enable him to overcome the setbacks in his life. The technology he developed for chassis design has unilaterally advanced the capabilities of race cars to race, or at least to corner, faster around the world's circuits. Other race car builders have been relegated to mostly refining Chapman's ideas. </div> <bR> <div> The Lotus road and race car is an achievement that garners admiration, not only from the fans, drivers, mechanics and others involved in the sport, but from the person who takes pleasure in discovering how humankind has applied science and art to his specific needs. </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id267.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lotus Design Technology"><U>Space Frame</U></A>   <A HREF="id292.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lotus Design Technology"><U>Elite</U></A>   <A HREF="id293.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lotus Design Technology"><U>Backbone</U></A>   <A HREF="id294.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lotus Design Technology"><U>F-I Monocoque</U></A>   <A HREF="id295.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lotus Design Technology"><U>Ground Effect</U></A>  <A HREF="id296.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lotus Design Technology"><U>Double Chassis</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>