1997 Lotus Elise GT1 racing again! - OnBoard, Accelerations, Warm Up & Sound at Circuit Paul Ricard!

It is with great pleasure that I share this video about a 1997 Lotus Elise GT1 with you and which I recorded last weekend during the 2023 Dix Mille Tours by Peter Auto at Circuit Paul Ricard. It was managed by Team Hezemans and Hendriks Motorsport and it was driven by its former works driver, Mike Hezemans, and his brother Loris Hezemans (who is behind the wheel during the on board footage) in the Endurance Racing Legends series, which aims to bring together GTs and prototypes from the 1990s and 2000s.

The Lotus Elise GT1, or simply Lotus GT1, was built in 1997 as a replacement for the Esprit GT1 which the previous year was fielded in the BPR Global GT Series with little success. During 1996 the rules concerning homologation requirements were changed in an attempt to alter the emphasis of the series from sports to racing cars and giving automakers new opportunities to use either relatively close-to-production sports cars or absolutely radical concepts. Indeed, only a single production car needed to be manufactured. Lotus took the opportunity to showcase their recently launched Elise, based on the concept that Porsche had already presented in the last few races of the 1996 season with their new 911 GT1.

Lotus developed a radical mid-engined racing car, which shares only the glued aluminium chassis around the cockpit with the base Elise, but with various modifications and reinforcements. Above, a tight-fitting carbon bodywork sits and gives some minor reminiscents of the first Elise generation, ending up to be about 70 centimeters longer than its street legal cousin. So there was room for the engine. Lotus initially planned to use the 3.5-liter, twin-turbo V8 engine from the Esprit GT1, but quickly discovered that it didn't meet expectations.

During the season the two factory cars (out of a total of 7 chassis) were fitted with a naturally-aspirated Chevrolet V8 from the Corvette ZR-1 of those years, a 5.7-liter engine that was developed by Lotus in their period as a part of General Motors. The engine, called LT5, was enlarged to six liters of displacement for the Elise GT1 and, fitted with the mandatory intake restrictors, it was able to produce over 600 hp.

After the 1997 season, the Elise GT1 program was curtailed not only because the cars were lacking in pace in comparison to Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and the older McLarens, but that they also extremely expensive. Mike Hezemans, however, was nevertheless not quite done with the Elise as he was convinced that the chassis had more potential than displayed during the 1997 season and he convinced his father Toine Hezemans to provide financial help in his project. The pair bought two former Elise GT1 chassis abandoned by the factory along with their inventory of parts.

One of the chassis was extensively reworked. The front end was made longer and smoother in an attempt to increase front downforce. To replace the Elise GT1's Chevrolet V8, Hezemans turned to Chrysler, buying a pair of 8.0L V10 engines which were being used in Chrysler's GT2 Vipers. The new cars were promised to compete in the 1998 FIA GT Championship season under the name 'Bitter GT1'. The cars never matched even the lackluster performance of the original Elise GT1s due to torque problems which were continually destroying the various gearboxes used. One Bitter GT1 has survived to this day, which is still currently in the ownership of the Hezemans family.

Huge thanks to Loris and Mike Hezemans and the whole Hendriks Motorsport team for their amazing availability in being able to record their Elise GT1!

0:00 Preview
0:47 Details & Warm Up
2:54 Pit Exit
3:22 Mix Out Lap OnBoard + External Scenes
5:20 Best Lap OnBoard - 1'53''760
7:16 OnBoard laps with traffic
10:12 External Scenes

#LotusEliseGT1 #EliseGT1 #LotusGT1
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I have to thank my friend and youtuber ‪@Italiansupercarvideo‬ for the great collaboration done during some of these events. Don't forget to subscribe to his channel!!

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Camcorder: Canon Legria GX10 & HF G30 + Canon DM-100 Microphone & Zoom H5, GoPro Hero 7 Black
Event: Dix Mille Tours 2023
Where: Circuit Paul Ricard, France

Link To My Channel:    / 19bozzy92  

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