How does that feel when you're sitting low in a noisy, hard-riding fast car? Like hell when you've got a headache. And like heaven when you're fit. Anyone who's driven a Focus or Mondeo will know that the engine has to be revved high to get the best from it, a characteristic of many modern 16-valve engines. It's the same with this Plus 2, although at least the throttle bodies and fast road camshaft give it extra oomph right through the rev range.
And so you sample the acceleration, revving to about 3500rpm initially and find that the buzzy exhaust makes it sound faster then you actually seem to be travelling. That's not right. Next time, you rev it round to 5000rpm, 6000, maybe close to the 7000rpm redline, and suddenly you're flying, and the exhaust note has gone from buzzy to searing, encouraging you to keep snicking through the tiny gearshift gate, clack, clack, clack, as the steering wheel twitches in you hands and and the scenery just blurs.
You don't have to keep the adrenaline in check for the sake of the engine, because even when the red mist pushes the rev counter to the redline, you know that no harm will come to it - worn Zetecs are virtually unknown, even in high-mileage cars. Better still, you know that all around you the running gear is up to the job.
the heart of it all, in many ways, is the chassis. The original chassis was an ingenious compromise of Colin Chapman's wish to make the Elan a glassfibre monocoque, and project engineer Ron Hickman's worries about the cost, complexity and lack of structural strength about such a body for an open-top car (the fixed-head Elan and Plus 2 variants came later).
Eventually, Chapman conceded that a chassis was needed, but it had to be cheap to produce, and light in weight. Hickman developed it as an elongated X-shape, using sheet metal not tubing. It did the job admirably, but over the years has proved to rust just as efficiently.
By the mid-Seventies, Lotus was struggling to keep up with the demand for chassis to replace the rotten originals. Engineering company Spyder spotted the problem and soon realised that they could re-engineer the chassis to increase the strength and longevity, replacing some of the sheet metal with box section tubing. That was the start of the company's involvement with Lotus (and cars in general). More than 2100 Spyder chassis have since been sold.
More recently Spyder decided to re-evaluate its chassis. With a few minor tweaks, it could be made to accept the original engine and transmission or modern Ford components. Customers can stick with the original Chapman strut suspension, or opt for state-of-the-art coilovers (adjustable rate telescopic dampers and small diameter coil springs, on variable height platforms). And the biggest design fault of the original car, the way that the rear suspension struts are put under excessive strain, causing the dampers to fail quickly and regularly, can be overcome with new lower wishbones attached to the Spyder chassis. Best of all, these new chassis are stove enameled - they'd have to be, because original-spec replacement chassis from Lotus and other specialists have long been available in galvanised form. But anyway, back to the Plus 2 here. Looking round it, there's no way of knowing that there's different running gear under the skin, until you check out the wheels. For one, they're bolt-on. not knock-ons (with central spinners). And secondly, the view through the spokes shows off the new discs. There appears to be a little too much distance between the tyres and the wheelarches too at first, but actually that's how Plus 2s always sit. Spyder has set this car for optimum handling, but the coilovers have several inches of height adjustment left in them. Inside. It's a similar story. Like the steering wheel. The gearlever and handbrake are different but there's nothing else that's had to be changed. The wooden dash still purveys a nearly successful attempt at luxury the switches are still unlabelled but easily learnt. There's room in the footwells for my size nines and the vinyl seats look great and feel almost as good. Two kids will be fine in the back - separated by a bolster.
Classic cars September 2002