Lotus’s series one Elise is a minimal sports car, with all that you need and absolutely nothing more. The very eptiome of Colin Chapman’s famous dictum to “simplify and then add lightness”. But that’s not what they thought at Get Lost, a new British motoring startup keen to explore the unfeasible. And unfeasible is exactly what you see here: a Lotus Elise S1 reborn as a throaty off-roader, ready to leap over the jumps on your nearest rally stage.
Project Safari is the name of this Lotus restomod and the looks will grab everyone's attention. Four rally style headlamps mounted on the bonnet to light the way. Rectangular LEDs adding a unique light signature to the main headlamps. A huge new air intake lurking over the cockpit to cool the mid-mounted engine on excursions to places that no Elise has been before. Try looking at Project Safari without grinning from ear to ear. There. Told you it wasn’t possible.
So is Project Safari just about the unlikely? In a way, says Get Lost’s founder George Williams: “The idea of taking an Elise off-road might sound ridiculous, and that’s exactly why we leaned into it.” You’ve got to say it looks the part. But Project Safari is no show pony. Instead, according to its makers, it’s a fully engineered off-roader aimed at eventually being on sale.
Let’s start with the obvious, the jacked-up look of what was a very low lightweight sports car. “This is not a modified Elise; it’s our interpretation of what the platform had to offer,” says Williams, who’s put aside his career as an automotive photographer to create something on the other side of the lens.
Project Safari: Off-road ready
Bespoke suspension raises the ride height by a full 100mm, giving it a ground clearance standard Elise drivers wouldn’t recognise. "The suspension’s been designed,” say its designers, "to soak up the worst roads and still keep the feedback.” Chunky all-terrain Nanking tyres offer protection against inconvenient rocks, which will also have to contend with a reinforced undertray. Flared wheel arches aren’t just for show, though they add to the take-no-prisoners look of Project Safari, but to accommodate the wider, taller rubber.
Standard Elise S1 powerplant was a Rover-derived 1.8-litre engine. Get Lost haven't said what they’ll replace it with, other than to say that the powerplant will “bring the performance and reliability you actually want in a car like this”. Honda and Ford units are both said to be on the shopping list.
Get Lost has an odd sales pitch for Project Safari: "This car,” they say, "invites you to make bad decisions in beautiful places. And that, really, is the point.” The restomod market is crowded with over-priced oddities and over-luxurious trinkets. Odd Project Safari certainly is. No prices yet. But if it’s even a tenth as much fun as its makers say it is, then Get Lost may be on to a niche winner. Sign us up for a drive, please.
Next up: The rise and rise of the restomod.
