{"id":271752,"date":"2025-09-17T06:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/?p=271752"},"modified":"2025-09-16T15:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:49:11","slug":"this-ultra-lightweight-lotus-elise-is-a-stripped-down-british-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/rides\/this-ultra-lightweight-lotus-elise-is-a-stripped-down-british-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"This Ultra Light Lotus Elise Is A Stripped-Down British Beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(Lotus) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With a manual transmission, a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine, unassisted rack-and-pinon steering, a spartan interior and a feathery 1,600-pound curb weight, the original Lotus<\/a> Elise was a road-legal go-cart on steroids. A true driver’s delight, but not anything crazy. The U.K.’s Analogue Automotive is bringing the Elise into the bonkers realm with its new VHPK\u2014the name being a “play on the Lotus VHPD (Very High Power Derivative) 1.8 K-Series [engine],” Analogue Automotive founder and CEO Steffen Dobke revealed to CarBuzz.<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(Analogue Automotive) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Essentially, the company is taking the sports car’s lightweight focus to an unmitigated extreme. Based around the Series 1 Elise, the VHPK saves weight in-part by cutting the occupancy to just one driver, employing a full carbon fiber exterior and interior, and equipping carbon ceramic brakes. In total, the vehicle will weigh an almost unbelievably light 1,323 pounds. As for the engine, it will run a higher-displacement version of the first-gen Elise’s Rover K Series inline-four that’s upgraded with bespoke billet and forged internals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes this thing truly crazy is the power-to-weight ratio. While a specific output isn’t offered\u2014the figure is somewhat vaguely quoted as “in excess of 250 horsepower”\u2014Analogue Automotive does promise an absurd 400 hp per ton. That’s more power-to-weight than offered by the 518-hp Porsche 911 GT3 RS, the 565-hp Nissan GT-R, or the 670-hp Chevrolet Corvette Z06. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(Analogue Automotive) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Analogue Automotive announced the VHPK exactly 30 years after the Elise was first unveiled at the 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show. While other details are scant, the company has already forged a stellar reputation with its Supersport, another Elise restomod that weighs around 1,541 pounds and features similarly modern upgrades. In a November 2024 review, the U.K.’s Autocar<\/a><\/em> wrote, “Not every Elise owner would, I suspect, want to turn their car into something so devoted to flat-out, adrenaline-soaked thrill as the Analogue Automotive Supersport. But for those that do, I can\u2019t believe there\u2019s a better way.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(Analogue Automotive) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Analogue Automotive VHPK, limited to just 35 examples, may have something to say about that when it arrives in 2026 with a price tag of around $475,000. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 1,323-pound sports car boasts more power-to-weight than a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Nissan GT-R, or Chevy Corvette Z06.","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":271754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_comments":false,"tpd_coauthor":[],"tpd_feed_delay":{"delay_type":"default"},"is_tpd_lists_single_post":false,"tpd_featured_posts_arr":"","tpd_franchise_content":"","hide_featured_img_single_post":true,"msn_featured_video":[],"_msn_custom_title":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-09-17T10:05:09Z","apple_news_api_id":"eaad2b88-af5b-46c0-9172-740ae428755e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-09-17T10:05:09Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A6q0riK9bRsCRcnQK5Ch1Xg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"tpd_featured_video":[],"tpd_sponsored_post_logo":"","tpd_sponsored_post_logo_link":"","tpd_sponsored_post_logo_width":0,"tpd_sponsored_enable_nofollow":true,"tpd_disable_incontent_ads":false,"tpd_disable_right_rail_ads":false,"tpd_disable_after_content_ads":false,"tpd_disable_header_ads":false,"tpd_disable_sticky_footer_ads":false,"tpd_disable_video_ads":false,"tpd_disable_outbrain":false,"tpd_affiliate_disclaimer":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,75],"tags":[24267,488,496,1143,24266,5,91],"coauthor":[],"feeds":[],"class_list":["post-271752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rides","category-news","tag-analogue-automotive","tag-collectibles","tag-custom-cars","tag-lotus","tag-lotus-elise","tag-news","tag-rides"],"apple_news_notices":[],"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lotus-Elise-Series-1-Promo-428x241.jpg","coauthors":[],"primary_category":{"term_id":85,"name":"Rides","slug":"rides","taxonomy":"category","url":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/rides\/"},"fimg_url_thumb":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lotus-Elise-Series-1-Promo-428x241.jpg","featured_img_medium":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lotus-Elise-Series-1-Promo-788x444.jpg","author_name":"Maxim Staff","author_avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c68fad93dfb24be767f2a0abee844068778c3a24f6a1a2e290ab32d35860a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_link":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/author\/maxim-staff\/","post_categories":["Rides"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271752"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271842,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271752\/revisions\/271842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271752"},{"taxonomy":"coauthor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthor?post=271752"},{"taxonomy":"feeds","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maxim.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feeds?post=271752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}