The beginning:
I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. I was born in Bolzano in 1993 and my grandfather at the time just made his life dream come true: he managed to bring Bugatti back to life. While he was producing the incredible Bugatti EB110, that was presented in September 1991, he decided he could use the well respected knowledge of Lotus engineering for a good partnership for the future of both brands. Nevertheless Lotus had to be relaunched as well, and therefore a miracle was needed: This is also called project M111 (Lotus Elise).
The initial idea was to go completely back to Chapman’s principles: simplify, then add lightness.
So radically that it had no doors, no roof and no comfort of any kind. It has to be a pure fun sports car, a true road-going gokart.
During the design process a few necessary comforts were added, nevertheless Colin’s would have been proud of the Elise. In fact the Elise was nominated the world’s most advanced sports car when it was presented in September 1995 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The unveiling:
I was born the same year as the project M111 started. My grandpa thought that to name the car after the the first granddaughter could bring luck in addition I had the right name since he wanted to bring on Colin’s Chapman tradition with the names beginning with the letter E. If you are wondering why not Lotus Elisa, because he wanted to give the car an international character to get as much success as possible. When the car was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show, still no one had seen the car before because Lotus had managed to keep it secret. The appointment was at 10.30AM. The car was placed on a rotary platform covered by a cloth saying: “I am Elise”. I was hidden in the car before all visitors arrived and I was only 2 years old at the time. My family told me we were playing hide and seek and that I had to stand silent until someone uncovered me. I waited very obedient holding onto the steering wheel of the car. I had a T-shirt on that said the same “I am Elise”.
After these years of “celebrity life” I turned very shy and didn’t want to talk at the Lotus meeting and I spent many years behind the scenes. With the 20th anniversary some Lotus Clubs and Dealerships asked me to participate to meetings to celebrate the important date. So I created a Facebook and Instagram page but actually I didn’t expect such an enthusiasm when I started posting.
My big passion is driving, probably the fact that I own an Elise, that is to me the most thrilling driving experience I ever tried, had a big impact on me. The Elise is so sincere and straightforward, that to me all other cars feels too filtered. To share my passion I use the social medias and from the moment that many other petrolheads seems to enjoy my adventures I decided to start organizing roadtrips open to the entire car community: Delightful Driving – roadtrips.