Jimmy Wong’s All Raw Carbon Fiber Lotus Elise

Carbon fiber is commonly used for automotive related parts/products, even though we don’t cover a lot of it. When the truly extraordinary comes by our desk, we have no choice but to share with all of you CF enthusiasts. This time around, we’ve got a 2002 Lotus Elise straight from Hong Kong.

Jimmy Wong carbon fiber Lotus elise

Jimmy Wong’s 02 Type 72 JPS special features a fully custom carbon fiber body, both on the inside and out. Not only is the outside carbon fiber, but the inside features regular carbon fiber in black and silver.

Jimmy Wong carbon fiber Lotus elise interior

The car was custom made by TW Auto Limited, a Lotus special in Hong Kong. The complete build took about six months to finish.

Jimmy Wong carbon fiber Lotus elise

The Lotus Elise is already an extremely lightweight car, so how did all this carbon affect it? Jimmy tells us that it now weighs about 30-40 kg (66-88 lbs) less than the OEM weight. Among all the carbon fiber work, there was some additional aftermarket parts added:

KW Suspension
JP Racing Wheels
Lotus Racing Exhaust
Air filter/larger intake

Jimmy Wong carbon fiber Lotus elise

The amount of horsepower added to the car was not much to the stock 135, but the Elise is normally rated in weight differential, not hp. For example the stage 2 exhaust from Lotus is spec’d for how many lbs less it weighs versus how much horsepower is gained.

For more pictures, check out the Flickr set for the car.

Filed Under: Transportation
Tags: dry carbon, elise, ground, hong kong, jimmy wong, lotus, profile, tw auto

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juan

DAMMMMMMB
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Jay

that is the hottest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.
Kaos

I want one, post apocalypse nuclear car FTW!
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billy bob

jay if this is the hottest thing you have ever seen, you need to get more often and get a life!!!
http://www.e40racer.be Mathias

Looks great, and probably a lot of fun on the track.
Chapster5

Wow the best car in the world judt got better Awsome job, now send me one
M

Very very nice indeed, but the guy is gonna realise he was a bit of a tit spending all that cash if this was just for performance and not for looks…

since he could just have taken out the passenger seat and some of the other rubbish commonly found in the original vehicle such as sound deadening, stereo etc. as saved more than 40KG… hell i have heard on a mark 2 Toyota MR2 (similar in that it is a MR sports car) you can save around 200KG if you go a bit crazy, and crazy does not include swapping all of the panels for carbon fibre
http://www.davepit.com Dave

Not to mention he can still do a carbon fiber steering wheel and Dymag carbon fiber/magnesium wheels
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EliseViv

M….

While I agree the CF panels are probably a bit OTT, you would be hard pressed getting rid of 40KG without dramtic action in an Elise. The Seats are a simple fibregalss shell with the minimum of padding, there IS NO sound deadening. The engine in the 2002 Elise was an all alloy affair specifically chosen because the engine offered acceptable performance and was light weight! Other Items that are light weight as standard include alloy uprights and brake disks! (at least up till 1998) There is NO interi0or trim… Non nada, only the bare alloy surface. The car comes with no guages, except the tacho and speedo. Its how a sports car is supposed to be.

The other areas he may save weight is Alloy fuel tank (say ~ 5 kg), plexiglass side/rear windows (2 or 3 kg), lightweight exhaust…. ummmm and then carbon panels.

Remember this is a car with a base weight of ~900KG, not your 1100kg MR2.

Cheers

Eliseviv
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Uncle B

Now, cram a high tech, three cylinder bio turbo diesel with H2 injection and some Li batteries complete with plug-in into it and mass produce it Post (GRD) great republican depression to Americans as a super commuter, but manufacture it in China so they can afford it! The 1930′s sheet-metal and hydraulic drive U.S. “landcruiser” is almost dead, and O.P.E.C. and the Saudis mean to keep it that way, with higher oil prices, enforced by production cuts. Americans will have no alternative in the near future! The World has spoken, the party is over!
Gogogora

Beautiful women are the hottest things I have seen.
Ego13

Uncle B: No one cares about making a sports car eco-friendly. If it is, cool, but I’d rather have a nice mean sounding exhaust over some silent electric whine any day of the week.
http://www.davepit.com Dave

It looks awesome too…if you happen to like carbon fiber
Jason

id rather have a carbon fiber horse. mooo
Wesley

This is a wet carbon car….. There are 2 Elises with full DRY Carbon Fiber body. One in Japan and one in the USA. The car in the USA was used by Lotus during the NY International Auto Show in 2006 or 2007.
That car is for sale now for $70K.
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Jack Mehoff

All of you people are stupid. Clearly this car is not real. It is an obvious photoshop job. I know this from having extensive experience using PS. I have seen quite a few in my time and to my trained eye there is no question. All of you need to wake up and understand that if you see an awesome photo on the internet IT’S FAKE!!!! Morons.
http://www.dpitmedia.com Dave

You’re telling me this picture is a photoshop job?
J.S.

I think it’s carbon fibre look alike stick on. Look under the right hand lights, that’s all rumpled. Just like stick on might look if it’s coming loose.

I agree, it doesn’t look real. Too many shadings.
EliseViv

This one is no Photo shop! And I want one!

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zkrTutP3P2s
Chenit

Why Photoshop or fake it? There are plenty of manufacturers who will now do carbon fibre parts for the elise, including the full clamshells… ok the parts used on this car include some bits from other people besides TW Auto’s probably but the car looks awesome! As it was wet-lay then this was mainly a cosmetic mod rather than a weight saver but the individuality certainly can’t be mistaken and respect for it! Stunning car!
kyle

what an idiot, whoever built this did a terrible job if its only 30-40kgs lighter, thats nothing compared to what he should have saved, the ripples are because its a wet process that they did and not have an autoclave to make it a dry process (dry carbon hase higher strength to weight and looks better) you can tell by the wrinkles all over it, waste of time and money and its in raw carbon so itl get all messed up from uv damage, looks cool but a total waste, what he shoulda done is have a real car builder engineer lightness and strength into the structure and upgrade the motor so it has more power than the weak n/a yota motor thats in it now and get a higher redline and maby make the 240 horse that the exige s 240 makes
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G-Man

If you want to make a statement, do like it like that. Nothing says performance, sleek style, gorgeous, like carbon fiber.
Awesome friggin ride !
Chenit

Kyle, the 2002 model had the rover K series in it. It’s not all about power.
Obviously the wet lay isn’t as strong or lightweight as pre-preg but the cost difference would have been huge(3-4x ?) and the chap almost certainly was doing this as a cosmetic mod. The elise is a beautiful motor anyway but this has just made it even more stunning… although I would be slightly concerned with the uv as you said over time!
It’s great to be individual and this is a great example of that! It wont be to everyone’s taste but fair play and certain to turn even more heads.
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http://www.howsellcars.com/selling-your-car-online Selling your car online

I’m curious about the cost of such modifications

let’s digg this!
Chenit

The lowest priced examples I’d found were from revozport in Hong Kong with front and rear clams for USD2100 each (parts only of course). They also do various other parts as well in wet lay. Their quality is ok(ish) but personally I’d want to spend more in the future to ensure the quality was fantastic rather than just settling for this.
I have bought parts from them though and their service is fantastic but now I’ll be buying the rest of the bits from UK again instead as the finish does not require any tidying up or the use of a dremmel.
Certain parts, such as the full doors seem much harder to find with Japan and Italy seeming to be the only places to get these. With the same being the case for the sills, these don’t seem to be readily available (especially with these being bonded to the chasis extra caution is needed here)
http://carbonfibergear.com NayNay

OMFG…SEXY
Delta4s

Actually, I find that the “not too perfect” weave alignments give the panels some sense of character and proves that it was hand made, not some “perfect-faux-paint-up” carbon-look work. Even the most carefully made carbon parts will have very small amounts of “cosmetic imperfections” whether you see them or not due to material handling in the manufacture.

Regarding Ego13′s comment:
“Uncle B: No one cares about making a sports car eco-friendly. If it is, cool, but I’d rather have a nice mean sounding exhaust over some silent electric whine any day of the week.”

With the way the world is going, the days of the “traditional” gas-guzzling sports car is numbered… Even the top manufacturers have signified a move to being “greener” if they are to survive in the long-term future. As an example, BMW have signified development of smaller displacement engines, but with forced induction. They have massive R&D in diesel engines as do Audi and Mercedes. F1 have long-term regulation plans regarding alternative energy (or high-efficiency engines, alternative fuels, etc.) as do other well known GT series like Le Mans, where turbo-diesels have dominated recently… so on and so forth.. after all these are at the fore-front of technology… and the proper use of technology, with the right amount of initiative, will save us all…

They do care… and so should all of us.

Peace and happy motoring (“,
loco

sick ride but whats the price tag at with all that carbon fiber
justin

great car. great look. waste of money. sorry but for something thatll go a second faster thats a waste of money.
sexi

jajajja all of u get a life
charlie

ack….ahh….ugh…. I die in peace now that I have seen this ride.
http://facebook antony artega

price for the entire bk clamshell exige carbon fiber or non cf asap
LOTUS

This is the best, greatest and coolest car ever.
Keith

DAMMMMNN learn how to spell
diana

cool
http://ran-the-monkey.livejournal.com ran

Very cool, now lets see a video on a race track.
james

thats a lot of extra effort to lose 88lbs. why bother.
Anon

Looks photoshopped to me. I can tell because i’ve seen alot of ‘shops in my day and the pixels just don’t match up.
http://www.davepit.com Dave

Anon – I too have seen a lot of “chops”, and this is not one of them.

For example here’s a super high resolution up close picture of the gas tank area:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wza/2639692687/sizes/o/in/set-72157605999564621/

And another of the entire car:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wza/2639666871/sizes/o/in/set-72157605999564621/

If you simply look at the Flickr set for the entire gallery of pictures of this car, in each picture you can see the high resolution version of it. It’s definitely legit.

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