A SPECIAL CUSTOMER – It has the color of the samples, the last one Lotus Elise exit from the gates of Hethel’s factory. Waiting for her with open arms, with her heart in her throat, Elisa Artioli. Twenty-eight years from Bolzano (but for study and work she also lived in England, Austria and Spain), Elisa, passionate about sports cars and a lover of beautiful driving, is not just any customer: you know the two and a half year old girl who at 1995 Frankfurt Motor Show came out from under the tarp that hid the new Lotus, clinging to the steering wheel with a smile and a white and yellow t-shirt that read “I am Elise”?
SILVER AND GOLD, THE COLORS OF A LIFE TOGETHER – After giving her the name – romantic idea of Romano Artiolivery much in love with his granddaughter and architect of the rebirth of Lotus, who had taken over on the verge of bankruptcy by General Motors in 1993, Elisa’s life changed forever. For a few years, as a child, she lived in Hethel with her grandfather, who, once her production started, thought it best to take a silver metallic specimen for her from the assembly line, waiting for it to reach her age to be able to drive it. Since then, Elisa and her Elise her, soon renamed “Eli”, like a twin sister, have become like bread and butter: inseparable. “With her I learned to drive and it is still the car on which I feel most at ease “, he tells us by phone from England, where he has just collected the keys to his shiny Final Edition in Championship Gold livery. A color that takes up the golden tones of the Lotus Elise 260 Cup and is linked to the black-gold hues of the John Player Special branded Lotus Formula 1. “It is perfect next to the silver of my S1”, observes Elisa, who can’t wait to get behind the wheel, “even if first I will have to get to know it well, because while keeping the purity of the classic model and having already driven it on the track in a driving course with the Lotus Driver Academy, it has double the horsepower, and everyone can feel it on the straight ”.
A LIGHTNESS THAT IS EXCITING – Won’t use it as an everyday car e will treat it “like a jewel“, Her new gold-colored Elise, swears Elisa, but the presence of air conditioning, absent on her S1, leaves no excuse even for the hottest and sunniest summer tours that the 28-year-old from Bolzano organizes, carrying out the project with enthusiasm and energy. Delightful Driving, a young company specialized in the organization of events, tours, slalom and days on the track for enthusiasts. Apart from air conditioning, what hasn’t changed one iota are the sensations one feels when lying down (other than sitting …) in the driver’s seat. “It’s all one matter of lightness, undoubtedly the greatest legacy of the original model – explains Elisa -. The Lotus Elise is proof that you don’t necessarily need a lot of horsepower to have fun and get excited behind the wheel of a car ”.
NEW DREAMS TO FOLLOW – Colin Chapman, from up there, will surely approve with a grin while the Lotus, with the Elise, Exige and Evora chapters closed, it is ready to dive headlong into the challenge of ecological transition, preparing for the most radical change in its history. In short, times change and so do cars, but the emotions, in the Artioli house, remain those of the past, very strong and impregnated with petrol. “I learned from my grandfather that we have to chase our dreams, and I owe this to him”, Elisa romantically writes in letter open dedicated to the Lotus Elise. A machine that, for her, will forever remain something very difficult to explain, because “it is an important part of my family and of my life, and everything I am and do today is also due to her”.
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