When mentioning off-road versions of serial supercars, the first to come to mind are the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato , because they were created by the automakers themselves, and not by third-party studios. Lotus does not have a car of this format yet, but the British company Get Lost Automotive has taken on its creation. Moreover, it is not the currently produced Lotus Emira that is used as a basis, but the already discontinued Lotus Elise, which has already become a cult model and formed the basis of many cars, including the first Tesla.
Get Lost Automotive was founded by automotive photographer George Williams. He based his first creation, Project Safari, on the big-eyed first-generation Lotus Elise, which was produced from 1996 to 2001. The team said they wanted to reimagine the original roadster, giving it rally-inspired features without ruining its iconic look. At the same time, they tried to preserve the practicality of the sports car without turning it into a garage dust collector.
The front part differs from the original with new rectangular LED headlights in the same rounded housings. Additional spotlights are installed on the nose cone. An original air intake appeared above the safety arc, which also improves the sound accompaniment at the intake. The stern has been completely redesigned, a full-size spare wheel is now located above the engine compartment in the manner of racing buggies. The shoe itself stands out with plump off-road tires. The main feature of the interior is the unique “buckets” with a combined leather and tweed trim.
But the key difference from the base Lotus, of course, was the suspension raised by 100 mm. Moreover, the specialists of the Get Lost company claim that they developed and assembled it from scratch, and all the parts have a special Cerakote coating. The new suspension should preserve the exciting handling of the Lotus Elise model, while giving it good off-road potential. In addition, the car has power protection from below. There is no word about the power unit, but judging by the fact that the company calls it “quite powerful and reliable”, we are not talking about the original English Rover 1.8 K-series engine. Judging by the bifurcated air intake, perhaps a V-shaped engine is installed in the base. For example, a Toyota V6 3.5 with a compressor, like the late Lotus Elise sports cars and their varieties.
Get Lost has already announced that it is ready to launch small-scale production of Lotus Elise Project Safari sports cars. Moreover, it is already accepting orders, discussed individually, which the company itself calls “letters of interest.” If there are enough interested parties, the Elise has every chance of getting a second, off-road wind.
