Follow that Lotus

The Lotus is back!

2007-11-28T13:17:00.000Z

After a hectic few months, our Dream Machines Lotus has now retruned to its home base at Dream machines, Heathfield.

The project has been a great success, bringing the issues of speeding and bad driving to the attention of a number of communities in the county.

This Blog will not be updated any more - but thanks for visiting and taking the time to read it.

If you'd like more information about Dream machines, please visit the website.

If you'd like more information about Sussex Police, please visit the website.

The new Supercharged Elise SC

2007-11-14T05:15:00.000Z

Lotus has announced that the new Supercharged Elise SC will begin production in November.

Despite the inevitable comparisons with the Exige S, this uprated Elise benefits from more than a mere engine swap - this is an all-new, non-intercooled installation applied to the current Elise's 1.8-litre 2-ZZ VVTL-i engine.

The Lotus-designed, Magnuson-produced supercharger uses a smaller Eaton rotor pack than that of the current Exige S and is married to the intake manifold plenum as part of a single-piece casting. Combined with the absence of an intercooler and its associated pipework, this integrated supercharger/intake assembly contributes to an 8kg reduction in engine weight compared with the Exige S.

The Elise SC has been designed to have very different driving characteristics to the Exige S. In keeping with its role as a supremely fast road car rather than extreme track machine, throttle response is very progressive but also very direct, resulting in a measured, refined driving experience.

As the statistics suggest, the performance of the Elise SC is electrifying:

Max Power - 218bhp (163kW)
Acceleration 0-60mph - circa 4.4secs
Acceleration 0-100mph - circa 10.7 secs
Max Speed - 150 mph (240km/h)

Visually the new Elise SC is easily identified by its unique rear spoiler and bespoke wheel design. The wheels have increased half an inch in width, to give even better grip performance from the standard Lotus specific Yokohama AD07 LTD 225/45 R17 tyres.

To secure your order on this fantastic vehicle, to book a test drive or for further information, contact Dream Machines today.

Fame at last!!

2007-10-24T20:07:00.000+01:00

Whilst our Dream Machines Lotus has been criss-crossing the county, we've tried to follow it's progress.

This week we were joined by the Daily Mail who reported:

"Police Sergeant Paul Masterson is looking pleased after getting his hands on Britain's fastest Panda car - a 140mph Lotus. The £35,000 Lotus Exige complete with Sussex Police livery can accelerate to 60mph in just 4.1 seconds - and was road tested by officers in Hastings.

The 220 brake horsepower motor has a top speed of just under 150 mph and is being used to tackle boy racers.

The Lotus, which is marked like a normal police car is only driven by police class 1 drivers who have gone through months of driver training courses.

Sergeant Masterson, who works on the force's casualty reduction team, said the Lotus was the fastest police car that he knew of though standard police cars can reach similar speeds.
"As far as I know it probably is the fastest quoted speed of any police car I know of - certainly in the South East region," he said.

"Its top speed is just shy of 150 mph which is what most of our patrol cars can do anyway."
Sergeant Masterson described the car as impressive but said that it sounded like a normal police car with a standard exhaust on it.

A self-confessed car enthusiast Sergeant Masterson said that he now drives a people carrier off-duty but used to have a taste for sporty Fords.

He added the car was not not an operational police car and unable to get involved in high speed chases: "The idea is that drivers will come to us and have a chat," he said.

"We generally turn up at events where youngsters hang out.

"With this vehicle they actually come over and want to talk to us. Then we introduce the road safety message."

Round and round she goes!

2007-10-07T07:50:00.001+01:00

Our Dream Machines Lotus has been on a whirlwind tour of the county over the last two weeks.

It made an appearance in Hastings this week at a public meeting to address anti social driving - and the Meridian TV cameras were there to record the occasion.

The car will be in the north of the county around Crawley and Horsham this weekend in support of an operation to tackle anti social driving in the town centres. The Lotus is supporting a young driver initiative around both towns and will be returning to Horsham on the 16th for the Sussex Lotus owners meeting following a similar event for Kent Lotus owners on the 13th at Brenzett before, a week later, attending another street meeting with young drivers on the 19th in Horsham.

Why not make an effort to look us up - and perhaps have your photo taken?

Eastbourne Motor Show

2007-10-07T07:47:00.000+01:00

Once again, our Lotus was a real star of the show at the recent Eastbourne Motor Show - doesn't she look great??!!

Happy Birthday Lotus

2007-09-16T10:55:00.000+01:00

Lotus fans from all around the world have been invited to celebrate the Ruby Milestone of 40 years of manufacturing at the Lotus Headquarters at Hethel, Norfolk next Sunday (23rd September).

Much of the Lotus factory will be open including the assembly halls, where all the award winning Lotus cars are built, special areas of Lotus Engineering’s world class high technology facilities, and of course the test track where there will be exciting driving activities. The Open Day will be opened by Hazel Chapman (the wife of the founder Colin Chapman who built the first Lotus car in 1948). Lotus is also delighted that Classic Team Lotus, run by Colin and Hazel’s son, Clive, will also be providing invaluable support to the event.

There will also be a display of examples of all the cars manufactured at Hethel over the last 40 years, fun activities for children, including a fun fair, retail stores for local produce as well as opportunities to purchase official Lotus and Classic Team Lotus merchandise. Several Lotus clubs will have their own stands and exhibits of clubs owners’ cherished Lotus cars.

All visitors will get a free Lotus “Goodie-Bag” which includes an exclusive 40th pin badge.

The tight and twisty South Circuit will be open for visitors to have high speed rides in current Lotus sportscars.

Lotus Engineering is the world leading, high technology consultancy division of Group Lotus, and is very rarely open the public. Visitors have the opportunity to have a behind the scenes look at the world class research, design and engineering facilities where future Lotus Cars and indeed cars of Lotus Engineering’s many customers around the world are designed, developed and tested.

Other Activities include:

A collection of classic Lotus road cars such as the 1960s legends, the Elan and Europa, the iconic 1970s Elite and Esprit, the 1980s Excel and Elan (M100) and from the 1990s the Esprit V8 and the Elise S1 derivatives.

Classic Team Lotus will also display some of its collection of Lotus Formula One racing cars such as the Type 32B, the world championship winning Types 49B and 72 and from the Ayrton Senna era the Lotus Types 97T and 99T.

There will also be a “Wheel Changing” competition, the latest range of Lotus Merchandise, a funfair with Laser Tagging competition, children’s’treasure hunt & face painting, Formula One and Racing Simulators, a farmers market, jazz band and full refreshments.

Gates Open at 10am and finishes at 5pm. Admission Price: £15 per car (up to 4 adults, £5 per additional adult) and admission for children under 16 is free.

Tickets must be purchased in advance via http://www.lotuscarswebstore.co.uk/ or by contacting the Lotus Open Day Hotline on: 01953 608190, 608626, 608461 or 608348.

Our Dream Machines Lotus Exige will, of course, be there, to show itself off to the huge number of Lotus afficionados and VIPs who are expected to descend upon the village of Hethel.

Continuing to impress

2007-09-16T10:38:00.000+01:00

The Sussex Police Dream Machines Lotus has been flying the county's flag in some rather far-off places of late! In fact the car has just returned from some missionary work in Llanelli in South Wales where it was the star attraction at a Road Safety Display targeting young drivers.

The car has also been in Brighton over the last couple of weeks on Marine Parade and, in partiulcar. at the Brighton Festival of Speed.

Last week it joined once again with the Fire Brigade for an event in Brighton, where a group of youths from the Whitehawk estate in Brighton were presented with certificates of achievemnt in relation to motorcycle projects. This weekend the car has been at the Shoreham Airshow.

Next week our very special Lotus Exige sets off for another out of county appearance. This one really is is rather special though as the Exige will be returning to the Lotus factory in Norfolk to show off it's livery.

But the car isn't just booked for special apprances - in fact, keep your eyes peeled this week because you never know where it will turn up! The car will be driving through many different locations in the county - so if you do see the car, make sure you say 'hello'!

More photos from on the road

2007-09-11T05:21:00.001+01:00

Our Dream Machines Lotus continues its journey around Sussex helping to promote its road safety and 'Speed Kills' message.

Keep an eye out for the car at an event close to you.

Lotus - the pride of Sussex

2007-08-19T12:00:00.000+01:00

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Brighton to celebrate Pride 2007.

Around 120,000 visitors to Brightonwatched the parade before moving to Preston Park where festivities continued.

In Preston Park, the Sussex Police stand showcased the Sussex Police high-tech Lotus Exige sports car fully marked up and kitted out with everything a standard Sussex Police car would have. There was also the Sussex Police Harley Davidson on display.

Look out - you never know who's watching!!

2007-08-02T07:50:00.000+01:00

So, you're travelling along the A27 in Sussex - and maybe you're just a touch over the speed limit ....

So, you think you can outrun this one?!!!

The Dream Machines Lotus Exige parked up on the main Sussex coast road - and had an instant effect on speeds!

If you want to catch the Dream Machines Lotus, check the diary of public appearances on the right.

A real head turner!!

2007-08-02T07:43:00.000+01:00

Our Dream Machines Lotus really is becoming a head turner - as these photographs from this week's Q & A session in Worthing Town Centre prove.

The car dropped into the West Sussex seaside town to hammer home the road safety/speed kills message.

How much???

2007-07-28T08:07:00.000+01:00

We know that cars are not cheap. And, to be fair, Lotus cars tend to be in the higher rather than lower price bracket.

But at an auction of historic cars at Kempton Park yesterday a Lotus 72 Grand prix car fetched a staggering £286,000!

The 72 is widely regarded as one of the prettiest Grand Prix cars of all time and was the model that carried Austrian Jochen Rindt to his posthumous victory in the 1970 World Drivers’ Championship. The example on offer was the sister Works car of John Miles, that was later raced by Graham Hill before passing through the hands of such other Grand Prix greats as Jo Siffert and Emerson Fittipaldi.

Now ripe for restoration, the single-seater was sold to a European collector who fully intends to return it to the track.

Nice to see you Mr Rolls ....

2007-07-25T10:40:00.001+01:00

Our Dream Machines-supplied Lotus made a very special appearance in West Sussex at the weekend.

Invited along with other Emergency Services vehicles to give a demonstation, our Exige was priveleged to be at the UK launch of the new Rolls Royce Drophead Coupe at the firm's Goodwood plant.

The all-new Coupé is a two-door, four-seat soft-top convertible built on an all-aluminium chassis, and is powered by a massive 6.75-litre V-12 engine.

And the new car is one of the few that will give our Lotus a run for its money - the 453-bhp engine will propel the car from a standstill to 60 mph in 5.7 sec.

The new Rolls-Royce will be produced alongside the Rolls Royce Sedan at the Goodwood factory.

Catch me if you can

2007-07-21T15:11:00.000+01:00

Our Lotus made a successful debut at last weekend's Eastbourne Motor Show and received admiring glances from the thousands of visitors to the show. The car will now be touring the county to hammer home the road safety message that speed kills.

Those who looked at the car were surprised at the size of the vehicle. Much smaller in height than the average family car, it weighs in at a modest 935 kg (2057 lbs). Powered by a supercharged engine which produces 218bhp, the Exige can accelerate to 60mph in just 4.1 seconds and it has a top speed of 148mph.

So, very little would outrun this vehicle if it were a fully operational patrol car!

The car was supplied by Dream Machines, main dealer for Lotus in East Sussex.

Supercharged police car educates boy racers

2007-07-16T03:13:00.000+01:00

The journey has begun for our Lotus Exige Sports and the car has already made its debut on the streets of East Sussex.

The new 'star' of the Roads Policing Unit in Hastings wouldn't look out of place on the set of the latest Batman movie.

The unit has been loaned a Lotus Exige sports car - fully decorated with the Sussex Police insignia and complete with flashing blue lights. Powered by a supercharged engine and capable of accelerating to sixty miles per hour in 4.1 seconds the car will, however, purely be used for demonstration purposes as it tours Sussex over a six month period.

The aim of the iniative is to use the vehicle as an educational tool to engage with 'boy racers' and hammer home the message that dangerous driving wrecks lives.

Sergeant Paul Masterton explains: "Many places in Sussex have a problem with youths speeding around, with their stereos blaring, making a general nuisance of themselves."We get calls about it every weekend, but when we turn up they usually speed off in the opposite direction as soon as they see us. It means we can never engage directly with these young people, and tell them about the dangers they're causing."When we pull up in this Lotus, however, it's a completely different story. In fact, it's usually them that are approaching us to have a look at the car!"

The interest young people show in the car provides officers with an ideal opportunity to explain the horrifying statistics of deaths on the road caused by inconsiderate driving.

Sergeant Masterson said: "A huge number of 17 to 25-year-olds die or cause other deaths on the roads each year, and even more suffer serious injury. Any initiative that can help reduce these numbers must be welcomed with open arms."

The Lotus car has been loaned to Sussex Police by 'Dream Machines' of Heathfield.

Following its debut in Hastings, the car moved on to the Eastbourne Motor Show over the weekend of 14th/15th July.

Where next for our 4 wheeled hero?

Follow its progress right here!