Lotus Elise
The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. The Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chassis that provides a rigid platform for the suspension, while keeping weight and production costs to a minimum. It is capable of speeds up to . The Elise was named after Elisa Artioli, the granddaughter of Romano Artioli who was chairman of Lotus and Bugatti at the time of the car's launch. Production of the Elise, Exige and Evora ended in 2021, to be replaced by a new family of models. Series 1 The 1996 Lotus Elise weighed . Because of this low weight, it was able to accelerate 0- in 5.8 seconds despite its relatively low power output of . Braking and fuel consumption are also improved by the car's reduced weight. Cornering is helped by a low center of gravity height of 470 mm (18½"). Series 1 was designed by Julian Thomson, then ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lotus Elise GT1
The Lotus Elise GT1 (also known as the Lotus GT1 and known internally as Type-115) is a race car developed for grand tourer-style sports car racing starting in 1997. Development Lotus Cars had previously been using the Lotus Esprit GT1 –a racing version of their Lotus Esprit road car– in the BPR Global GT Series since its foundation in 1994, competing in the premiere GT1 class against the likes of the McLaren F1 GTR, Venturi 600LM, Ferrari F40, Ferrari F40 GTE and others. However, in 1997, the series came to be known as the FIA GT Championship and manufacturer involvement was increased with the new international exposure. Porsche was the first to start a new breed of racing cars in 1996, with their purpose-built homologation special known as the Porsche 911 GT1, 911 GT1. This was quickly followed by the announcement that Mercedes-Benz planned to do the same with their Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, CLK GTR for 1997. Thus Lotus decided that in order to remain competitive in the GT1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lotus Cars
Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in Norfolk, England which manufactures sports cars and racing cars noted for their light weight and fine handling characteristics. Lotus was previously involved in Formula One racing, via Team Lotus, winning the Formula One World Championship seven times. Lotus Cars was founded and owned for many years by Colin Chapman. After his death and a period of financial instability, it was bought by General Motors, then Romano Artioli and DRB-HICOM through its subsidiary Proton. It is currently majority owned by Chinese multinational Geely, with Etika Automotive as a minority shareholder. The engineering consultancy firm Lotus Engineering, an offshoot of Lotus Cars, has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States, China, and Malaysia. Notable Lotus cars include the Lotus Seven, the Lotus Esprit and the Lotus Elan. History Early years The company was formed in 1952 as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineers Colin Ch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lotus Evora
The Lotus Evora is a sports car produced by British car manufacturer Lotus. The car, which was developed under the project name ''Project Eagle'', was launched on 22 July 2008 at the British International Motor Show. The Evora S was launched in 2010 with a supercharged 3.5-litre V6. A facelifted and more powerful Evora 400 model was unveiled at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, followed by another more powerful variant, the Evora GT430, which was unveiled in 2017. The Lotus Evora is based on the first all-new vehicle platform from Lotus Cars since the introduction of the Lotus Elise in 1995 (the Exige and the 2006 Europa S are both derivatives of the Elise). The Evora was planned to be the first of three vehicles to be built on the same platform. The sales target was 2,000 cars per year, with prices between £45,000 and just over £50,000, and sales in America scheduled from the beginning of 2010. Overview The Evora is the first product of a five-year plan started in 2006 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rover (car)
The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company that operated from its base in Solihull in Warwickshire. Its lasting reputation for quality and performance was such that its first postwar model reviewed by ''Road & Track'' in 1952 was pronounced finer than any but a Rolls-Royce.". . . and I honestly believe (barring the Rolls-Royce) that there is no finer car built in the world today." Bob Dearborn, Tester Road & Track. Road test no. F-4-52, August 1952. ''The Times'', Thursday, Oct 23, 1952; pg. 5; Issue 52450 Rover also manufactured the Land Rover series from 1948 onwards, which spawned the Range Rover in 1970, and went on to become its most successful and profitable product — with Land Rover eventually becoming a separate company and brand in its own right. Rover was sold to Leyland Motors in 1967, who had already acquired Standard-Triumph seven years earlier. Initially, Rover maintained a level of autonomy within the Leyland conglomerate, but by 1978, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Variable Valve Control
{{Use British English, date=June 2017 VVC (Variable Valve Control) is an automobile variable valve timing technology developed by Rover and applied to some high performance variants of the company's K Series 1800cc engine. About In order to improve the optimisation of the valve timing for differing engine speeds and loads, the system is able to vary the timing and duration of the inlet valve opening. It achieves this by using a complex and finely machined mechanism to drive the inlet camshafts. This mechanism can accelerate and decelerate the rotational speed of the camshaft during different parts of its cycle. e.g. to produce longer opening duration, it slows the rotation during the valve open part of the cycle and speeds it up during the valve closed period. The system has the advantage that it is continuously variable rather than switching in at a set speed. Its disadvantage is the complexity of the system and corresponding price. Other systems will achieve similar results ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vehicle Identification Number
A vehicle identification number (VIN) (also called a chassis number or frame number) is a unique code, including a serial number, used by the automotive industry to identify individual motor vehicles, towed vehicles, motorcycles, scooters and mopeds, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization in ISO 3779 (content and structure) and ISO 4030 (location and attachment). There are vehicle history services in several countries that help potential car owners use VINs to find vehicles that are defective or have been written off. History of the bodywork number VINs were first used in 1954 in the United States. From 1954 to 1981, there was no accepted standard for these numbers, so different manufacturers used different formats. In 1981, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States standardized the format. It required all on-road vehicles sold to contain a 17-character VIN, which does not include the letters O (o), I (i), and Q (q ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Proton (automobile)
Proton Holdings Berhad (PHB; informally Proton) is a Malaysian automotive company and automobile corporation active in automobile design, manufacturing, distribution and sales. Proton was established in 1985 as Malaysia's sole national badged car company until the advent of Perodua in 1993. The company is headquartered in Shah Alam, Selangor, and operates additional facilities at Proton City, Perak. Proton is a Malay acronym for Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional (National Automobile Company). Proton was originally a manufacturer of rebadged versions of Mitsubishi Motors (MMC) products in the 1980s and 1990s. Proton produced its first indigenously designed (though Mitsubishi-engined), non-badge engineered car in the year 2000, and elevated Malaysia as the 11th country in the world with the capability to design cars from the ground up. Since the 2000s, Proton has produced a mix of locally engineered and badge engineered vehicles. Proton cars are currently sold in at least 15 countr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Player Special
John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. In 1901, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company to face competition from US manufacturers. The company also released several series of association football trading cards in the 1930s under the Player's brand. Nowadays the brands "Player" and "John Player Special" are owned and commercialised by Imperial Brands. History In March 1820, William Wright set up a small tobacco factory in Craigshill, Livingston, West Lothian. This business expanded and earned Wright a comfortable fortune. John Player bought the business in 1877. He had the Castle Tobacco Factories built in Radford, Nottingham, just west of the city centre. He had three large factory blocks built, but initially only one was used to process and pack tobacco. The other two blocks were loaned out to lace manufacturers until the business had expanded enough to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Center Of Gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weight function, weighted relative position (vector), position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may be applied to cause a linear acceleration without an angular acceleration. Calculations in mechanics are often simplified when formulated with respect to the center of mass. It is a hypothetical point where the entire mass of an object may be assumed to be concentrated to visualise its motion. In other words, the center of mass is the particle equivalent of a given object for application of Newton's laws of motion. In the case of a single rigid body, the center of mass is fixed in relation to the body, and if the body has uniform density, it will be located at the centroid. The center of mass may be located outside the physical body, as is sometimes the case for wikt:hollow, hollow or open-shaped object ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1998 Lotus Elise S1 (9502308181)
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently shadowed craters near the Moon's poles. * January 11 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria. * January 12 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning. * January 17 – The ''Drudge Report'' breaks the story about U.S. President Bill Clinton's alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky, which will lead to the House of Representatives' impeachment of him. February * February 3 – Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the deaths of 20 people near Trento, Italy, when his low-flying EA-6B Prowler severs the cable of a cable-car. * February 4 – The 5.9 Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong''). With up to 4, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Opel Speedster
The Opel Speedster is a mid-engined, targa-topped, two-seat sports car sold by German automaker Opel and introduced in July 2000. It was built in both RHD and LHD versions at the Lotus Cars plant in Hethel, Norfolk, England. It was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1999 and went into full production the following year. It was sold by Vauxhall as the VX220 in the United Kingdom and shared much in common with the Lotus Elise, although Opel claimed few parts were interchangeable. Design and development Due to changes in European crash safety regulations for the 2000 model year, Lotus needed to replace the original Elise. In October 1999, a deal was made between Lotus and General Motors in order for the former to gain sufficient funds to develop a new Elise. As part of the deal, Lotus agreed to develop and produce the Opel Speedster and Vauxhall VX220 on its new Series 2 Elise chassis. The first Speedster concept car was shown at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. Whilst ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lotus 340R
__NOTOC__ The Lotus 340R is a limited edition sports car manufactured by Lotus Cars in 2000 at their Hethel factory. Overview Originally introduced as a concept car at the 1998 Birmingham Motor Show, the 340R is a special edition of the Lotus Elise. 340 were built, and all were sold before they were manufactured. It uses a custom built bodyshell with no roof or doors. All cars came with a silver and black colour scheme. Special A038R tyres were developed for the 340R in collaboration with Yokohama. While road-legal in the UK and Europe, most of the surviving cars are only used for racing, track use, or demonstrations. Engine The engine is a four-cylinder version of the 1.8L Rover K-Series engine called VHPD (Very High Power Derivative) used in the regular Elise which produces at 7800 rpm and at 6750 rpm as standard, or at 7500 rpm and at 5600 rpm with optional Lotus accessories. The former can accelerate to 60 mph from a standstill in 4.4 seconds and has a top speed of . Sp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |