Team Jedi Racing Enjoy Successful First Run in GT Cup Elise

07 March 2004

The Lotus Motorsport Elise of Team Jedi Racing was out on track at Silverstone for the first time at the weekend. It is the first time the car of Rob Horsfield and Frazer Corbyn has run with its new sequential six-speed gearbox after being rebuilt by the students of Weavers School's Lunar Racing project.

The car, similar to the road-going Lotus Exige, was originally built for the one-make series which formed part of the ToCA Tour package. It will run the the GT Cup class of the British GT Championship in 2004. The class specifies a maximum power-to-weight ratio so the lightweight Elise is in a strong position to challenge in its class.

As the first run of the car, Friday's test revealed the obligatory teething troubles with the new gearbox overheating, but nothing which could stop the team turning in exceptional times despite running with an imposed rev-limit. A brief end-of-test run at full revs showed huge potenial for even more competitive lap times, driver Frazer Corbyn confirming, "there's a lot of power with the extra revs and we shouldn't have any trouble taking the extra seconds off the times". Rob Horsfield was also pleased with his car's performance, both drivers agreeing the sequential shift worked "like a dream".

As part of their ongoing Featured Team status, MSport-UK will be following the progress of the Team Jedi Racing Elise throughout the season. The next test of the Lotus, will be held at Silverstone on Friday 16th March. Images from the first test are available here.

See 2004 series calendar for British GT

Related Story 02.03.2004 - Team Jedi Racing Join Lunar Racing and MSportUK