These people were in a position to influence the concept, design, and development of the Elise.
See also the press release that contains the management biographies .
source of pictures: Sports Car International, Dec/Jan 1996, "Elise We Can Do", Bob Patterson, and attributed.
Project Managers and Leaders
Julian Thomson
Lotus Design Team leader
"The Seven is an icon, just as the Mini is. You can't imitate it, only do something different."
Left Lotus.
chassis
"We were surrounded by an Europa, an Elite, a Lotus 23 and an original Elan. We could go and measure bonnet angles and grille shapes."
And of Peter Collins, "Peter is a great Lotus historian, and he was constantly making suggestions. He was a great help in defining what Lotus really is."
Andy Hill
stylist
Dave Minter
engineer
Of the new brake components, "They've got an ...exaggerated (feel) because the car's got no servo. Deceleration is very easy, and it's easy to modulate the brakes between grip and lockup. Under full braking we're getting 1.1g."
Left Lotus.
Tony Shute
Elise Program Manager and now responsible for car development
"The concept was nimbleness. The one thing this car has got is its lightness, and that's reflected in the way it drives. It's so responsive to steering inputs that if it starts to oversteer you just correct it and it stops, unlike heavier cars which keep going. If we wanted to make a faster version I wouldn't want more power, just less weight."
more from Tony's son, Robin and the Electron
senior development consultant
Brought the Elise to the LA Autoshow and provided an interview on the Elise series 2 for the US.
Roger followed through and brought the Elise to America. See my interviews and various press releases .
designer
Designer of the Series 2 variation of the Elise. Steve is one of the most articulate designers and is exceptional at translating words into design and design into words. (see my description of the LA Auto Show.
head of design
Croft project manager
marketing
vehicle dynamics
Gavan is principal vehicle dynamics engineer for Lotus Cars. His role is to extract the very best out of Lotus cars to make them the fantastic drivers cars that they are world famous for. He was involved in the development of the Mark 2 Elise, VX220 and the Motorsport Elise. Gavan's racing career started at a young age, winning several karting championship titles. He then progressed to stock cars, where he won multiple British championships. More recently, Gavan has been crowned 2003 Lotus Roadsports Series Champion as well as guest drives in a wide variety of sports racing cars
.
Gavan is principal vehicle dynamics engineer for Lotus Cars. His role is to extract the very best out of Lotus cars to make them the fantastic drivers cars that they are world famous for. He was involved in the development of the Mark 2 Elise, VX220 and the Motorsport Elise. Gavan's racing career started at a young age, winning several karting championship titles. He then progressed to stock cars, where he won multiple British championships. More recently, Gavan has been crowned 2003 Lotus Roadsports Series Champion as well as guest drives in a wide variety of sports racing cars.