I think that if you want to add the wing and Nitron dampers, you should. As you say, everything you are doing is reversible, so I see no harm in it. I am taking the same approach with my Sport 240. By the way, I upgraded to the Nitron one-way adjustable dampers last year. The springs are stiffer than stock, damping is reduced, as is the ride height. I gave up some ride comfort, which is now about halfway between the stock car and a V6 Exige. The handling is sharper, more settled and confidence inspiring, and I think the grip in corners on less-than-perfect surfaces is improved.
Thanks for sharing your experience, good to know. Sounds like a great enhancement for a 240. Main torment will be the front wheel arch vents which won't be reversible but I can't see many people wanting to reverse them. Just read in the comments here that one Cup 260 owner actually paid to have the big wing removed so I guess you never know!
The cup is going to look fantastic whatever (carbon roll hoop would finish it beautifully). I’d definitely go back to a052s but keep the silver wheels over the diamond cut. How are the roads around you? For me the ride quality in the cup is significantly worse than a 220/240FE so couldn’t dream of anything with stiffer springs on it unless used for predominantly track use. An addition to the interior that you may consider (money willing) is the carbon instrument binnacle that was present on the 260. I appreciate any content on Elise’s, as there is so little of it about 👍.
Thanks I feel the same, would love to see more content on Elises, only one video on the Cup 260, almost nothing on the 240 FE either a real shame. I'd be interested to see how the 240 compares to the 250 in a straight line, can't be anything in it. 220 has the same torque as both so will be just as fast up to 5000rpm or so.
Roads aren't very good in many places in the UK so I agree about the ride, as I said in my Cup 250 review it's as firm as I'd want an Elise to be for the road. I need to listen to my own advice more! I was hoping the adjustable dampers would make the difference when set soft for the road, no chance to try first though as is usually the case. A052s are great but Yoko don't (quite) do the Cup 260 sizes which do look good and help drop the car. The 260 is so rare I doubt they will ever bother making them. Still, it will be interesting to see how the 10mm extra width more road focused tyre compares with the 5kg lighter, racier, narrower A052s. I will try and set some laptimes on both sets of tyres before I do the aero upgrades.
That’s the plan, I have driven a Cup 250 with the big wing on track and it was great but would be interesting to see if there’s a measurable difference.
Many thanks, whole plan is madness really, but not much sense in buying any sports car in the first place which is all part of what makes it fun! Thanks for watching 👍
Keep as is! If you like to have a 260. Sell the 250 and buy a 260. I have a left hand green S cup. (Press car) will keep it stock, but I run it as a daliy.
A good argument for doing that, it’s a rare and special thing as it is but no 260s for sale they made less than 10 I could be waiting a very long time. I should have got a 260 when they were announced but everyone, including me thought there would be a 270 shortly after and no-one believed it would be the ultimate factory Elise.
From the video does your car have Ohlins? Could you not get them recalibrated to the Nitro spec? Me personally I would rather have Ohio’s over Nitrons.
I share your preference for Ohlins but Nitrons are still a big improvement over the stock, non-adjust Bilsteins so I'll start with those because Cup 260. Spring rates were massively higher so low speed ride will be ruined but when the downforce gets serious springs have to be man enough for the job.
It’s just a stunning stunning car you have Sir. I have a photo of a Cup 260 saved as my screen saver. I’m sure the carbon fiber bodywork and ancillaries are made by prodrive. Like everything in life. You get what you pay for.
@@obsessedcloset2638 yes and Lotus were very uncompromising when it comes to aero, (you could argue disorganised!) so many different wings, endplates all for tiny production runs. 3 different Exige wings, 3 different Elise wings too. They only planned to make 30 Elise Cup 260s, didn’t even sell that many in the end yet it has many unique parts, completely uncommercial but that’s what made Lotus so cool back then.
@@DrPittenstein Great project!!! Have same wheels (on my 220 S CR) with A052 and blast thru France, Pyrenees & Spain last summer. Together with the Nitrons Fast Roads fitted, what an inmense upgrade. Endless grip and reassurance thru all corners, whatever the road surfaces. The low speed ride became firmer but middle / high speed supple control of the full travel is unbelieveable. During that trip, swapped also with other Elises (a '09 SC and a 2020 S3 220 Sport, both stock) and both ride and control is so much better with the light wheels, tyres and Nitrons fitted. This season I will fit the AD08Rs as well as an alternative, just to compare. Whether one opts for Fast Road Nitrons or Club Sport / 46 Race Nitrons depends on the amount of Track / Road travel. I am happy with 90% road travel with the Fast Roads. Best upgrade done so far -:) Thanks for your great informative no fuss videos, greetings from NL
Ha! Yes easy way to add lightness! I will be weighing the car before and after the 260 parts but already adding 5kg from the wider tyres, I was surprised it was that much. Might need to fit carbon roll bar cover (-0.8kg) and remove carbon barge boards (maybe 1.5 kilo each?) hopefully Nitrons are lighter, big wing feels very light not much more than stock wing.
Can't go wrong with either spoiler imo, now you've bought it though you surely have to atleast fit the 260 wing once to see how it looks. Can't wait to see the 260 build progress.
Thanks, me too! I will be weighing the car before and after and comparing laptimes, need to set a base time with the stock car first, a bit wet today but will book something up soon.
@@Hysteria135 sorry not yet, I want to set some laptimes with the car completely standard first but everything was booked up last time I tried. Will try again soon. Thanks for your interest. Cheers!
Great job! Can you tell me how good are the new Yoko AD08 RS that you put on in place of AO52? I heard they are not good and worse than the old AD08R. How are in terms of steering feeling? I'm wondering whether taking AD08RS or Toyo R888R..
Sorry I can't compare to the AD08R as I haven't driven anything with it. The original factory Elise Cup 260 did have them of course. I can compare with the A052 and that tyre is definitely softer and more grippy, being lighter too as you can see in the video I think it's the best for ultimate track laptimes but I hope to find that out myself and share the results on the channel. Compared to A052 the AD08RS seems more like a road tyre, it's harder compound and lower profile but still felt good in terms of steering feel and response, just not A052 good. I think most would go for Toyo R888R over AD08RS but I haven't tried that tyre yet either.
Watching with interest. Go for it !!! i too have watched the Henry video countless times. As commented on your last video I have yellow Elise S 2014 and created a bit of a frankestein homage to the 260 and called it a 270 Cup as have stage 2 powerkit, nitrons, bump tow arms, forged alloys with larger wheels. done the front louvres, front splitter and have the exige wing recognising Im never going to be able to create the full 260 cup look. If you want to go the whole way presume you need to add Louvres and remove the side barge boards.
Yes going all-in requires taking off the carbon barge boards which is a bit crazy but can’t argue with how the final thing looks. I spoke to Gavan Kershaw in person and he said the louvres are worth 6kg of downforce at the front but bigger benefit is improved aero balance. Did you get yours cut in? I have seen some Elises with vented front clams and in most cases they had damaged theirs and replaced with vented version. I think the truth is there isn’t a seperate mould, never worth it for 30 cars, if you order a vented clam from Lotus they take a dremel to it! Enjoy the 270 Cup sounds amazing 👍
Yep i got mine cut in. I have a write up on thelotusforums site of the changes and the different louvre options I looked at. for some reason UA-cam will not let me paste it in here but if you search on 270 cup you will find it. I have some pictures as well.
@@chrisdan2651 thanks I’ll take a look vents will probably be the last thing I do, I’ll try and live with it without them first but I know they will nag me but they are the only thing that’s not reversible so won’t rush into it but yes cutting them in is the most likely.
If you want to spend the money and it is reversible, I would say: "Go for it!" By the way, nice to see that picture with both the orange 250 & 260, I made that picture at Spa Lotus on Track 🙂 So far I have seen 5 or 6 of these Elise Cup 260 in real life, Belgium had a few of these.
Thanks for watching and taking the pic 👍 I think they made fewer than 10 Elise 260s. Everyone was outraged at the price in the UK and only one car was ordered, however the top spec final editions like mine ended up costing even more, would have saved me money to buy a 260 at the time! No-one believed it would be the ‘ultimate’ Elise, everyone was expecting a 270 to come out soon after!
@@DrPittenstein The ones I know of are: 1 Gold (LHD) Carfection (Press car?) 1 Red (RHD) sold in the UK 1 Gold (LHD) sold in Belgium, but with cut off switches 1 Red (LHD) sold in Belgium 1 Orange (LHD) sold in Belgium 1 White (LHD) sold in Germany 1 BRG (LHD) sold in Spain There were rumours of a few cars being sold in Japan, but so far I haven't found any of those.
@@SportsCars_TE great info thanks. I always meant to ask people at Lotus what happened to the gold press car but I believe it was converted back into a Cup 250 and sold in Europe, it was LHD obvs from the video, I have seen pics of a gold 250 with the same UK numberplate on it, it’s a mystery!
I believe the car in Spain is actually Motorsport Green (metallic), I have seen a video of a darker green and orange one being delivered in Belgium I’ll post a link.
It's actually from your channel! ua-cam.com/video/lmrmL2s2Euw/v-deo.html but the point is, it's a different car to the one spotted on autogespot in Spain.
More like £5,500 to buy now if you can get one at all, Lotus seem to be putting the already crazy prices up every week. The endplate decals are £175 to buy from Lotus, just for the decals, I kid you not!
Like all car manufacturers. If you want the special parts you pay a premium. E46 CSL for example. And as I’ve already said. I’m sure the cabin parts are made by Prodrive. Enough said.
@@DrPittenstein Obviously you are going for a 260 Cup replica, so you want the exact OEM parts from the 260 Cup, which is clearly a more expensive route to go down. But out of interest, if that wasn't your goal, how much would lightweight aftermarket wheels and an aftermarket carbon fibre wing (that would fit) cost new? If it was me, I personally would have kept the 250 Final Edition standard and left it alone, and instead, modify the Evora Cup 430. Go for the EX 460 package from Komotec with a nice aftermarket titanium exhaust and so on. I say this because the final edition models will be worth more when Lotus turn to the dark side and only produce big heavy electric only cars. Just my take on it anyway. Albeit what you are doing is reversible.
@@johnmitchell2269 Lotus 2.0 already gone to the dark side, they will never do anything so uncommercial like the Elise Cup 260 ever again. Farce really but company pride at that time meant you paid for your best suspension and aero engineers to come up with bespoke properly developed parts for a run of 30 cars! Nobody makes lighter wheels for the Elise than Rimstock who made the wheels, used to sell them as aftermarket, unbranded versions too but Rimstock have gone out of business. Someone else's carbon wing won't have been developed just for this car. Not even Komotec has their own test track to dial in parts. With the factory wing I can take advantage of the developement $ spent by Lotus as the optimised ride height and geometry settings are all available. Plus factory stuff looks better to me anyway. I know someone planning to mod an Evora 430 with Jubu and he's planning to go large with it. Hopefully I'll get to drive his first and can stick on some GoPros.
I think that if you want to add the wing and Nitron dampers, you should. As you say, everything you are doing is reversible, so I see no harm in it. I am taking the same approach with my Sport 240. By the way, I upgraded to the Nitron one-way adjustable dampers last year. The springs are stiffer than stock, damping is reduced, as is the ride height. I gave up some ride comfort, which is now about halfway between the stock car and a V6 Exige. The handling is sharper, more settled and confidence inspiring, and I think the grip in corners on less-than-perfect surfaces is improved.
Thanks for sharing your experience, good to know. Sounds like a great enhancement for a 240. Main torment will be the front wheel arch vents which won't be reversible but I can't see many people wanting to reverse them. Just read in the comments here that one Cup 260 owner actually paid to have the big wing removed so I guess you never know!
The cup is going to look fantastic whatever (carbon roll hoop would finish it beautifully). I’d definitely go back to a052s but keep the silver wheels over the diamond cut.
How are the roads around you? For me the ride quality in the cup is significantly worse than a 220/240FE so couldn’t dream of anything with stiffer springs on it unless used for predominantly track use.
An addition to the interior that you may consider (money willing) is the carbon instrument binnacle that was present on the 260.
I appreciate any content on Elise’s, as there is so little of it about 👍.
Thanks I feel the same, would love to see more content on Elises, only one video on the Cup 260, almost nothing on the 240 FE either a real shame. I'd be interested to see how the 240 compares to the 250 in a straight line, can't be anything in it. 220 has the same torque as both so will be just as fast up to 5000rpm or so.
Roads aren't very good in many places in the UK so I agree about the ride, as I said in my Cup 250 review it's as firm as I'd want an Elise to be for the road. I need to listen to my own advice more! I was hoping the adjustable dampers would make the difference when set soft for the road, no chance to try first though as is usually the case. A052s are great but Yoko don't (quite) do the Cup 260 sizes which do look good and help drop the car. The 260 is so rare I doubt they will ever bother making them. Still, it will be interesting to see how the 10mm extra width more road focused tyre compares with the 5kg lighter, racier, narrower A052s. I will try and set some laptimes on both sets of tyres before I do the aero upgrades.
Put it on and let us know if it makes any noticeable improvement on track 😀 and yes, go for the Nitrons
That’s the plan, I have driven a Cup 250 with the big wing on track and it was great but would be interesting to see if there’s a measurable difference.
Everyone needs a project and yours is 👌🏼 always enjoyed your content and this is no exception. Go for it I’d say sir! As you said it’s all reversible
Many thanks, whole plan is madness really, but not much sense in buying any sports car in the first place which is all part of what makes it fun! Thanks for watching 👍
Wonderful car and project! You make me want to take a chainsaw to my Evora GT and take the roof off, lol
Ha! Can’t recommend that but understand where you’re coming from! Cheers 🍻
Keep as is! If you like to have a 260. Sell the 250 and buy a 260. I have a left hand green S cup. (Press car) will keep it stock, but I run it as a daliy.
A good argument for doing that, it’s a rare and special thing as it is but no 260s for sale they made less than 10 I could be waiting a very long time. I should have got a 260 when they were announced but everyone, including me thought there would be a 270 shortly after and no-one believed it would be the ultimate factory Elise.
From the video does your car have Ohlins? Could you not get them recalibrated to the Nitro spec? Me personally I would rather have Ohio’s over Nitrons.
I share your preference for Ohlins but Nitrons are still a big improvement over the stock, non-adjust Bilsteins so I'll start with those because Cup 260. Spring rates were massively higher so low speed ride will be ruined but when the downforce gets serious springs have to be man enough for the job.
It’s just a stunning stunning car you have Sir. I have a photo of a Cup 260 saved as my screen saver. I’m sure the carbon fiber bodywork and ancillaries are made by prodrive. Like everything in life. You get what you pay for.
@@obsessedcloset2638 yes and Lotus were very uncompromising when it comes to aero, (you could argue disorganised!) so many different wings, endplates all for tiny production runs. 3 different Exige wings, 3 different Elise wings too. They only planned to make 30 Elise Cup 260s, didn’t even sell that many in the end yet it has many unique parts, completely uncommercial but that’s what made Lotus so cool back then.
If the wing was £5500 what is the cost of the carbon roof?
@@DrPittenstein Great project!!! Have same wheels (on my 220 S CR) with A052 and blast thru France, Pyrenees & Spain last summer. Together with the Nitrons Fast Roads fitted, what an inmense upgrade. Endless grip and reassurance thru all corners, whatever the road surfaces. The low speed ride became firmer but middle / high speed supple control of the full travel is unbelieveable. During that trip, swapped also with other Elises (a '09 SC and a 2020 S3 220 Sport, both stock) and both ride and control is so much better with the light wheels, tyres and Nitrons fitted. This season I will fit the AD08Rs as well as an alternative, just to compare. Whether one opts for Fast Road Nitrons or Club Sport / 46 Race Nitrons depends on the amount of Track / Road travel. I am happy with 90% road travel with the Fast Roads. Best upgrade done so far -:) Thanks for your great informative no fuss videos, greetings from NL
Yes go for it!!
Which Nitron dampers are you considering to get?
Cup 260 dampers were essentially one-way adjustable NTR Club Sport but spring rates were much higher than standard springs Nitron offer with this kit.
Either wing look fab. Best of both worlds.
Wow Doc! 👍🏻👍🏻 car's looking great!
But you're making it more heavy...
I did remove that ugly Airbag sticker and made it a bit lighter 😉
Ha! Yes easy way to add lightness! I will be weighing the car before and after the 260 parts but already adding 5kg from the wider tyres, I was surprised it was that much. Might need to fit carbon roll bar cover (-0.8kg) and remove carbon barge boards (maybe 1.5 kilo each?) hopefully Nitrons are lighter, big wing feels very light not much more than stock wing.
A shirt and adidas track suit bottoms????? The car is epic but my god man.
😁lightweight with racing stripes!
😂
No mention of the front arch vents Doc? Go big or go home 😁
Trying to kick that very expensive can down the road! Prob best to get them cut in but I couldn’t be there to watch!
Can't go wrong with either spoiler imo, now you've bought it though you surely have to atleast fit the 260 wing once to see how it looks.
Can't wait to see the 260 build progress.
Thanks, me too! I will be weighing the car before and after and comparing laptimes, need to set a base time with the stock car first, a bit wet today but will book something up soon.
Any updates DrP? have been looking forward to seeing your progress.
@@Hysteria135 sorry not yet, I want to set some laptimes with the car completely standard first but everything was booked up last time I tried. Will try again soon. Thanks for your interest. Cheers!
Great job! Can you tell me how good are the new Yoko AD08 RS that you put on in place of AO52? I heard they are not good and worse than the old AD08R. How are in terms of steering feeling? I'm wondering whether taking AD08RS or Toyo R888R..
Sorry I can't compare to the AD08R as I haven't driven anything with it. The original factory Elise Cup 260 did have them of course. I can compare with the A052 and that tyre is definitely softer and more grippy, being lighter too as you can see in the video I think it's the best for ultimate track laptimes but I hope to find that out myself and share the results on the channel. Compared to A052 the AD08RS seems more like a road tyre, it's harder compound and lower profile but still felt good in terms of steering feel and response, just not A052 good. I think most would go for Toyo R888R over AD08RS but I haven't tried that tyre yet either.
Thank you. It seems that r888r are not available anymore in 225/45 17
Stop this madness Pittenstein
Not ready for a Fiesta ST yet, one day hopefully 🤞
Awesome 🤩
Thanks!
DrP. I was going to ask. On the 260 does the front clam have the vents over the front wheels?
Yes unfortunately big cost to achieve but in for a penny… I happen to know they are worth only 6kg of downforce but overall balance is improved.
Watching with interest. Go for it !!! i too have watched the Henry video countless times. As commented on your last video I have yellow Elise S 2014 and created a bit of a frankestein homage to the 260 and called it a 270 Cup as have stage 2 powerkit, nitrons, bump tow arms, forged alloys with larger wheels. done the front louvres, front splitter and have the exige wing recognising Im never going to be able to create the full 260 cup look. If you want to go the whole way presume you need to add Louvres and remove the side barge boards.
Yes going all-in requires taking off the carbon barge boards which is a bit crazy but can’t argue with how the final thing looks. I spoke to Gavan Kershaw in person and he said the louvres are worth 6kg of downforce at the front but bigger benefit is improved aero balance. Did you get yours cut in? I have seen some Elises with vented front clams and in most cases they had damaged theirs and replaced with vented version. I think the truth is there isn’t a seperate mould, never worth it for 30 cars, if you order a vented clam from Lotus they take a dremel to it! Enjoy the 270 Cup sounds amazing 👍
Yep i got mine cut in. I have a write up on thelotusforums site of the changes and the different louvre options I looked at. for some reason UA-cam will not let me paste it in here but if you search on 270 cup you will find it. I have some pictures as well.
@@chrisdan2651 thanks I’ll take a look vents will probably be the last thing I do, I’ll try and live with it without them first but I know they will nag me but they are the only thing that’s not reversible so won’t rush into it but yes cutting them in is the most likely.
If you want to spend the money and it is reversible, I would say: "Go for it!"
By the way, nice to see that picture with both the orange 250 & 260, I made that picture at Spa Lotus on Track 🙂
So far I have seen 5 or 6 of these Elise Cup 260 in real life, Belgium had a few of these.
Thanks for watching and taking the pic 👍 I think they made fewer than 10 Elise 260s. Everyone was outraged at the price in the UK and only one car was ordered, however the top spec final editions like mine ended up costing even more, would have saved me money to buy a 260 at the time! No-one believed it would be the ‘ultimate’ Elise, everyone was expecting a 270 to come out soon after!
@@DrPittenstein The ones I know of are:
1 Gold (LHD) Carfection (Press car?)
1 Red (RHD) sold in the UK
1 Gold (LHD) sold in Belgium, but with cut off switches
1 Red (LHD) sold in Belgium
1 Orange (LHD) sold in Belgium
1 White (LHD) sold in Germany
1 BRG (LHD) sold in Spain
There were rumours of a few cars being sold in Japan, but so far I haven't found any of those.
@@SportsCars_TE great info thanks. I always meant to ask people at Lotus what happened to the gold press car but I believe it was converted back into a Cup 250 and sold in Europe, it was LHD obvs from the video, I have seen pics of a gold 250 with the same UK numberplate on it, it’s a mystery!
I believe the car in Spain is actually Motorsport Green (metallic), I have seen a video of a darker green and orange one being delivered in Belgium I’ll post a link.
It's actually from your channel! ua-cam.com/video/lmrmL2s2Euw/v-deo.html but the point is, it's a different car to the one spotted on autogespot in Spain.
Five grand for a wing!!??? Whaaaaaat?! Someone has made a huge profit selling you that.
More like £5,500 to buy now if you can get one at all, Lotus seem to be putting the already crazy prices up every week. The endplate decals are £175 to buy from Lotus, just for the decals, I kid you not!
Like all car manufacturers. If you want the special parts you pay a premium. E46 CSL for example. And as I’ve already said. I’m sure the cabin parts are made by Prodrive. Enough said.
@@DrPittenstein Obviously you are going for a 260 Cup replica, so you want the exact OEM parts from the 260 Cup, which is clearly a more expensive route to go down. But out of interest, if that wasn't your goal, how much would lightweight aftermarket wheels and an aftermarket carbon fibre wing (that would fit) cost new?
If it was me, I personally would have kept the 250 Final Edition standard and left it alone, and instead, modify the Evora Cup 430. Go for the EX 460 package from Komotec with a nice aftermarket titanium exhaust and so on. I say this because the final edition models will be worth more when Lotus turn to the dark side and only produce big heavy electric only cars.
Just my take on it anyway. Albeit what you are doing is reversible.
@@johnmitchell2269 Lotus 2.0 already gone to the dark side, they will never do anything so uncommercial like the Elise Cup 260 ever again. Farce really but company pride at that time meant you paid for your best suspension and aero engineers to come up with bespoke properly developed parts for a run of 30 cars! Nobody makes lighter wheels for the Elise than Rimstock who made the wheels, used to sell them as aftermarket, unbranded versions too but Rimstock have gone out of business. Someone else's carbon wing won't have been developed just for this car. Not even Komotec has their own test track to dial in parts. With the factory wing I can take advantage of the developement $ spent by Lotus as the optimised ride height and geometry settings are all available. Plus factory stuff looks better to me anyway. I know someone planning to mod an Evora 430 with Jubu and he's planning to go large with it. Hopefully I'll get to drive his first and can stick on some GoPros.