Analogue Automotive SuperSport review

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Lotus Elise S1 owners with a spare six figures are offered the most stratospheric restomod makeover you can think of

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You can understand why it happens. You’ve been developing an extra-special, old-car-made-new restomod sports car, resplendent with engine and suspension componentry exotic enough to salivate over. Countless workshop man hours will be poured into the painstaking renovation of every example.

And then, one day, you realise what you’re going to have to charge for it. The value’s plain to see; but, oily and rubbery bits notwithstanding, how do you make a 25-year-old sports car that can be acquired cheaply enough to be worth ‘restomodding’ in the first place suddenly seem like it’s worth spending a hefty six figure sum on? 

In many cases, the convention is to attach a big industry name to it, bringing instant interest and credibility. Unless, of course, you’re Steffen Dobke, proprietor of West Sussex’s Analogue Automotive - a former service specialist for original ‘S1’ Lotus Elise sports cars, and the recent creator of the Analogue Automotive Supersport.

Never heard of Steffen? Maybe that’s precisely the point. Because his certainly isn’t the kind of car that needs a leg up, or to hang from the coattails of a bigger reputation. If you live in the south of England and have owned S1 Elises, there’s a good chance you will know Analogue. But even if you don’t, it’ll take you mere minutes - one run up through the manic rev band, at most  - to realise just how extensive and wide-ranging a transformation of a 1990s sports car icon the Supersport represents.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Analogue Automotive Supersport Restomod FD 2024 wheel ME 8

The Supersport starts with a ‘donor’ S1 Elise aluminium tub chassis that’s stripped bare, rid of any corrosion, and then fully treated to prevent anything further. The car’s steel rear subframe is then strengthened and powder coated for matching longevity.

At each corner, all-new aluminium wishbones are fitted which widen the S1’s ‘factory’ axle tracks, and give it a particularly naughty-looking stance. New adjustable Nitron coilover struts go on; new aluminium front suspension uprights also; and new firmer bushings and rose joints at front and rear.

The car’s standard unassisted steering rack is replaced with a slightly pacier one, and a Quaife slippy diff becomes just one part of a whole raft of driveline improvements. New lightweight aluminium brake discs are fitted, as well as Pagid performance pads. And around the car’s staggered gloss black five-spoke alloy wheels are wrapped Yokohama Advan Neova sticky trackday tyres.

In standard-package trim, the car weighs 699kg, Analogue says - but with the right options, it can be brought in under 680-. And considering the modifications made to the car’s 1.8-litre Rover K-Series engine (new forged internals; redesigned block and head; new ‘hot’ motorsport cams and hydraulic tappets; independent throttle bodies; and uprated fuel injection and cooling systems), ending up with a car lighter than even the most simple factory car is an achievement in itself.

INTERIOR

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Analogue Automotive Supersport Restomod FD 2024 dash ME 15

You can have your Supersport with either one carbon-shelled bucket seat or two, depending I suppose upon how you intend to use it, and how much weight you want to save.

As standard it retains most of the S1’s original interior and its instrument pack, but carbonfibre interior trim options and a new digital instrument system can be had if you want them. You can also add alcantara or leather to seats for a richer material touch.

I’d be tempted to go for the optional all-digital instruments if they include a fuel gauge that’s easier to decipher at a glance than the standard car’s dim, small, ‘XX-litres left’ one. Driven hard, this can certainly be a fairly thirsty engine; though it’s a small price to pay.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

The car's removable cloth roof is retained, and remains a little fiddly to take on and off, and an easier job for two than one. Access to the driver's seat is a lot easier with the roof off, especially for taller drivers. Moreover, the carbon seats that Analogue has chosen for the car, comfortable and supportive though they are, are fixed in position - so if you plan to share your car with shorter-legged friends on track days, you'll need your spanners.

Once you're in, the Elise's driving environment is enriched via a lovely lightweight, alcantara-rimmed Sparco steering wheel; has shed some of its less appealing switchgear; but remains a singularly simple environment dedicated to the business of driving. It's more spacious and sheltered, marginally, than Caterham Seven style cars, and accommodates taller drivers a little more comfortably - but still not really with space to spare.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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Analogue Automotive Supersport Restomod FD 2024 front corner ME 19

Thanks not least to those ‘ITBs’, the Supersport's 1.8-litre engine has the most wonderfully unfiltered combustion growl even at low revs, transforming in an instant the character of an Elise S1 from something delicate and playful but quite lightweight of spirit into something a little bit menacing. The action of the respecified five-speed manual gearbox is heavier than standard, though still slick and now much better-defined. Both accelerator and steering feel heavier than you’re expecting also, the right-hand pedal needing that telltale connected-feeling, determined squeeze that only throttle bodies tend to impart.

With the K-Series engine’s particular quirks in mind, you warm it dutifully (although after Analogue’s modifications, reliability concerns obviously hardly need figure at all), and bide your time before summoning all 210bhp. When you do, the way the engine’s growl hardens and becomes an angry hammering warcry at revs is something else entirely. Something you’ll probably experience through gritted teeth the first time, but grow to delight in once you’re used to the buzzing savagery of it - especially after those hot cams wake up beyond 5000rpm.

Analogue clearly could have grafted in a more powerful motor here, but preferred to retain the authenticity of the original S1's mechanical concept. While the resulting car won't blow a modern performance car driver's mind for outright accelerative potency, it's got loads of drama and angry soul, and plenty of pace if you're prepared to work for it.

And that level of driver engagement is a key consideration. The Supersport's speed isn't supposed to come too easy. This is an engine to drive hard, in the confidence created by Analogue's attention to detail under the bonnet - and to get more enjoyment out of by putting more effort in.

RIDE & HANDLING

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Analogue Automotive Supersport Restomod FD 2024 pan ME 21

So complete and effective is Analogue’s overhaul of this car’s chassis, however, that the Supersport could easily handle double the power that K-Series can produce. But wringing out every drop of power from that engine - marvelling at the sheer appetite for speed that the chassis has, with its sharp but tactile and trustworthy turn in, newly adhesive front axle, effortless handling poise and body control, powerful brakes, and an outright mechanical grip level which, on a dry track at least and once the tyres are warm, it takes little short of heroic commitment to exceed - is the keystone around which the dynamic appeal of this car built. 

It’s quite a different appeal than that of the standard S1 - a lot more about fun at high revs, -speeds and -effort levels, and a little less about on-road fluency and delicacy of motive charm at more ordinary speeds. The Supersport feels by no means overly firm for the road, and isn’t demanding to drive - aside, perhaps, from the need to do it in earplugs. But it’s just so dynamically capable and purposeful, and so ready to carry huge cornering speeds, that it cries out to be appreciated on a racetrack attacked with lots of commitment.

At normal road speeds, when its huge grip levels aren't so apparent, the car's steering feedback is probably its greatest asset. It rides with some suppleness, however, and with a striking feeling of all-of-a-piece integrity coming in place of the rattles and squeaks you expect of an old sports car.

VERDICT

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Analogue Automotive Supersport Restomod FD 2024 rear corner ME 2

Not every Elise owner would, I suspect, want to turn their car into something so devoted to flat-out, adrenaline-soaked thrill as the Analogue Automotive Supersport. But for those that do, I can’t believe there’s a better way.

This car has a sense of uncompromising 'route one' purpose about it that at once allows it to dazzle when driven really quickly on circuit, but which also makes it an at-times slightly menacing, less versatile road car than a standard Elise S1. It feels impatient and untaxed at normal road speeds and cruising revs; while supple enough over an interesting B-road, a little unengaged and underutilised by it, unless you're going fast enough to attract unwanted attention.

The car's appeal builds to stunning heights, however, when you let its K-Series engine rev beyond 6000rpm; when you put some heat and load, respectively, through its tyres and suspension; and when you learn just how hard it's prepared to tackle track driving, and how much it will excite and give back in the process.

The Lotus Elise was always a beguiling multi-disciplinarian of a sports car, and always should remain so - but the Analogue Automotive Supersport shows just what it could have been, and done, with a bigger budget and a more unwavering performance focus. Awesome just about covers it.

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.