- Get Lost, a new London-based company, has revealed what it calls “Project Safari,” an off-road-ready Lotus Elise S1.
- This safari-style Elise restomod offers ultra-lightweight motoring and can hit jumps. What’s not to love?
- Powertrain and pricing details haven’t yet been announced, but the builds are set to start this year.
Launched in 1996, the first-generation Lotus Elise was never officially sold in the United States, but it’s now available for import under the 25-year DOT rule. Tipping the scales at a feathery 1600 pounds, it provides one of the most elemental driving experiences out there, exceeded only by its ancestral Lotus Seven. This is as close to motorcycling as cars get, so perhaps it’s not entirely a surprise that someone has decided to turn an Elise S1 into a dirt bike, essentially.Meet the Get Lost: Project Safari, an off-road-ready reimagining of the Elise complete with long-travel suspension and rally-style auxiliary lights. The Elise always offered an exemplary fun-per-pound ratio, but this is on an entirely new plane, as in ultra-lightweight open-topped motoring with the ability to do some sweet jumps. Lucky!Get Lost is a new U.K.-based company that’s the brainchild of automotive photographer George Williams, who has shot everything from the latest Bugatti to the upcoming Zenvo Aurora. In the announcement for this project, he said, “The idea of taking an Elise off-road might sound ridiculous, and that’s exactly why we leaned into it.”Beyond the sort of glorious images you expect from a pro automotive shooter, there aren’t too many actual mechanical details on the Project Safari Elise. The LED headlights and auxiliary lamps look good, and the roof scoop is a nice touch (it’s functional too). The integrated rear spare tire is well executed, and building out a fresh interior with an upscale feel shouldn’t be too hard to pull off. The original was about as luxurious as a church pew.But apart from mentioning the car’s bespoke suspension for handling broken terrain, a limited-slip differential, and a hydraulic handbrake, there are no details about the powertrain. In the U.S. market, the S1 Elise was brought in without its original Rover 1.8-liter four-cylinder. Instead, an independent company called Sun International used the 1.8-liter engine out of the Integra Type R. Only a tiny number of these cars were made, but obviously, a screaming Honda motor plus a 1600-pound curb weight is a match made in heaven.The second-gen Elise S2 that the U.S. did get used Toyota power, as did the Evora, so a workhorse Japanese four-cylinder is probably the most obvious solution here. Having said that, Get Lost’s whole deal seems to be about committing to the least obvious thing to do, so maybe it’ll slap a rotary engine in there.The company’s stated plans are to begin building cars in 2025, with a high level of customization available. There are currently quite a lot of restomods on the market, from seven-figure air-cooled Porsche 911s to diesel-powered Isuzu pickups. But this thing looks like an absolute hoot, 10 pounds of fun in a five-pound bag. Surely, there’s no better way to escape than getting lost in an off-road-ready Lotus.Related StoriesBrendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.
Source: caranddriver.com
