Article
Courtesy of Motor Trend
Tuner: 2005 Forced Fed Lotus Elise
Turbo power + insane grip = a 1.04g whiz
By John Kiewicz
Photography by the author
Motor Trend, June 2005
Light weight, strong power, and outstanding grip are key
elements for a competitive race car. Lotus's new (for North
America, that is) 190-horse Elise melds those traits with
a license plate and daily-driver reliability. At our test
track, a stock Elise put down some of the strongest performance
figures we've achieved with an OEM-certified street car;
a lot of credit goes to the fact that it weighs just 1945
pounds. But due to its micro size, you'll be staring up
at everything that passes by, Minis included. On the track,
however, few can touch it--except a tuned and turbo'd Elise
from Forced Fed.
Well known for its Mitsubishi Evolution and Subaru WRX/STI
performance packages, Forced Fed now offers a complete forced-induction
setup for the Elise. Opting for the $7995 Sport 275 package
nets 85 more horsepower thanks to 7psi boost, courtesy of
a Garrett GT28R ball-bearing turbocharger. For more repeatable
power, a Spearco intercooler lowers the charge temp before
it's routed into the Elise's I-4. A custom intake manifold,
a host of handmade pipework, oversize fuel injectors, and
proprietary computer-programming team to crank the most out
of the 1.8-liter Toyota engine as it buzzes to 8500 rpm. For
added reliability, a larger-capacity oil pan with internal
baffles and an engine-restraint system have been added. Forced
Fed also adds a mandrel-bent three-inch downpipe that funnels
to a T-304 stainless-steel exhaust system. At idle, this ripped
and fueled Elise is mellow, but once on boost, the whining
turbo tells everyone this is no stocker.
Turbo spool-up is quick with little to no lag, yet the mods
do a lot to heighten the Elise's soft low-to-mid-range torque
curve. While the stock I-4 doesn't generate grins until
6200 rpm (when the variable cams kick in), the Forced Fed
turbo system is charging hard by 3500 rpm. Results? How
about a 12.5-second quarter mile teamed with far better
low-rpm passing power on the street?
A bone-stock Elise delivers Porsche Turbo-beating handling,
but Forced Fed ups that game, too. Ohlins double-adjustable
coil-over shocks ($2400) deliver a smoother ride than stock
yet keep the SSR 17x7.5-inch forged-aluminum wheels ($1600)
and Toyo Proxes R888 ($800) tires tracking better as the
Elise devours the 600-foot slalom with a 73.7-mph speed.
For comparison, a Ferrari Enzo runs the cones at 71.0 mph
and is more knife-edged doing so. Another attractive notion
with the Forced Fed Elise is that--save for the race-issue
wheels/tires--it looks bone stock. Lifting the rear hood
reveals a near-factory-issue-appearing powerplant.
| |
'05 Lotus Elise Touring |
Forced
Fed Elise |
| Power/torque |
190 hp/138
lb-ft |
275 hp/200
lb-ft |
| 0-60
mph |
5.1 sec |
4.0 sec |
| Quarter
mile |
13.5 @
102.9 |
12.5 @ 110.5 |
| Braking,
60-0 mph |
114 ft |
105 ft |
| 600-ft
slalom |
73.2 mph |
73.7 mph |
| Lateral
acceleration |
0.99 g |
1.04 g |
ForcedFed and its products and
services are not in any manner associated with, sponsored
by, or approved by Group Lotus
and installation of ForcedFed products renders the Group Lotus
warranty inapplicable to any Lotus vehicle thus modified.
Article Courtesy of Autoweek
Tuner: ForcedFed LE Sport 275
Cooking with Gas: What could be better
than an Elise? An Elise with 275 hp!
MARK VAUGHN
Published Date: 3/28/05
FORCEDFED LE SPORT 275
POWERTRAIN: 1.8-liter, 275-hp, 200-lb-ft I4; rwd, six-speed
manual
CURB WEIGHT: 1900 lbs
0 to 60 MPH: 4.0 seconds (mfr.)
Brett Payne is a professional chef,
catering fancy dinners and mixing up tasty concoctions for
various celebrities whose names you know. He started cooking
in his native Australia, then moved to England to garner
experience (which, we realize, sounds like moving to Germany
to hone stand-up comic skills). Payne now lives in Northern
California, and the chef stuff is only part time. His full-time
obsession and growing business is cooking up horsepower,
particularly through the use of turbochargers.
Payne's company, Forced Fed (leave it
to a chef to come up with a name like that), has tuned Mitsubishi
Evos, Subaru WRXs and Nissan 350Zs. His latest creation
is the Elise, whose simple 1.8-liter, 190-hp four-cylinder
Toyota engine was just sitting there, all naturally aspirated
and waiting for someone to add boost.
Payne's simple system-a small Garrett
GT28R turbocharger, Spearco intercooler, some plumbing and
an ECU-yields 275 hp, changing the character of this 2005
Elise considerably. Suddenly you go from a car that is superbly
balanced, light, nimble and incredibly fun, to a car that
is all of the above, plus powerful.
The turbo sits inconspicuously under
a stainless tubular exhaust manifold, just upstream of a
stainless three-inch exhaust. The intercooler core sits
behind the driver's left shoulder where the air intake used
to be; the intake is now just behind the passenger's right
shoulder. Other bits and pieces, ranging from 550-cc injectors
to a "Turbo Elise" key chain, round out what Payne calls
the Forced Fed Sport 275 package. Our test car being a prototype,
Payne threw on a load of options, from an ATC heavy-duty
clutch to Ohlins double-adjustable (jounce and rebound)
coilovers.
As luck would have it, our test day
was during a deluge of Biblical proportions that had road
crews diverting traffic around mud-scraping bulldozers on
the tastily twisty Mount Baldy Road, above Claremont just
east of Los Angeles. This route requires first gear to negotiate
the steep hairpins that connect the series of short straights.
A mountain mule would slide off screaming in terror, but
the Lotus never seemed to slip. The optional Cusco limited-slip
differential and Japanese-market Toyo tires surely help-ed,
but the only time we felt any lateral slide was when the
inside rear wheel lifted off the ground in those uphill
hairpins. Even then it was barely perceptible.
The engine pulls strongly from around
3500 rpm to the 8500-rpm redline. Payne said the turbo is
at full boost by 2600 rpm and makes more torque at 3000
revs than the stock engine does at 5000. So there is no
real lag. The bigger Toyota cam lobes come on at 6200 rpm
and really kick in with a thunk, encouraging redline shifts.
We could have driven this thing all day, rain or shine.
Setup on the shocks is so nice that
we felt better at the end of our two-hour drive than other
staffers have after less time in a stock Elise. It didn't
bounce or jar, but at the same time it was neither soft
nor floppy.
The only big irritant was the loud,
wheezing wastegate right behind our heads. That would drive
us nuts if we owned this car. Or maybe not. Payne said there
is nothing you can do about it, so maybe we would just quit
whining and drive.
Overall, the system is very well integrated.
Apart from the whooshing wastegate, it does not give the
impression of something glommed onto the engine by garage
monkeys. The package looks and operates like a fully integrated
part of the whole, making the Elise into a whole 'nother
animal-one we want to take home and keep as a pet.
The ForcedFed LE Sport 275 goes on sale
April 1. If that's not enough, Payne said a ForcedFed LE Race
400 will be available in mid-May with 400 hp. See
forcedfed.com
or call (925) 371-2288.
ForcedFed and its products
and services are not in any manner associated with, sponsored
by, or approved by Group Lotus
and installation of ForcedFed products renders the Group Lotus
warranty inapplicable to any Lotus vehicle thus modified.
