I was worried I wasn’t going to like the Analogue Automotive Supersport, which is why I left it alone for as long as possible at this year’s big ‘Handling Day’ contest at Cadwell Park.
The S1 Lotus Elise in its original form is quite good, quirks and all, and Analogue’s £100,000 restomod seemed likely to be needlessly hard work and a bit tetchy, so I wasn’t in any rush to try it out.
It turns out my intuition was wrong. Not spectacularly wrong, because I still think an unfettled S1 Elise in good nick is an exceptional thing on the road and just as fun whether you want to mooch along or thrash the thing as hard as possible. But when you’re really in the mood or, even better, have a race track to hand, the Supersport is about as sweet as driving gets.
The car is astonishingly direct and raw but not remotely tiring to drive flat-out. It just flows as an extension of yourself, with lots of grip but without feeling locked down into the track surface.
And that overhauled K-series engine – putting out 210bhp at 7250rpm – is an utter monster.
Fair play to Analogue, because an S1 restmod isn’t the easiest sell on paper, but the reality of driving one really is something you’ll never forget.
