{"id":5062,"date":"2025-11-11T03:26:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T03:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/?p=5062"},"modified":"2025-11-11T03:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T03:26:01","slug":"c1111009_daniel-crute-on-britain-got-talent-audition_part2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/?p=5062","title":{"rendered":"C1111009_Daniel Crute on Britain Got Talent (Audition)_part2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.pinterest.com\/ext\/embed.html?id=1118722363700689371\" height=\"294\" width=\"345\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" ><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Elan M100: revisiting the first \u2013 and last \u2013 FWD Lotus<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The first &#8211; and last &#8211; front-wheel drive Lotus was technically brilliant &#8211; but just wasn&#8217;t as good as an MX-5<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/images.cdn.autocar.co.uk\/sites\/autocar.co.uk\/files\/styles\/gallery_slide\/public\/images\/car-reviews\/first-drives\/legacy\/_mg_7953-1600x1067-27574947-6821-4ade-af6e-87a87cc35f68.jpg?itok=U32XY19F\" alt=\" MG 7953 1600x1067 27574947 6821 4ade af6e 87a87cc35f68\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.cdn.autocar.co.uk\/sites\/autocar.co.uk\/files\/styles\/square_43x43\/public\/richard-bremner-autocar.jpg?itok=YN9THdPd\" alt=\"Richard Bremner Autocar\" title=\"Richard Bremner Autocar\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">News<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/users\/richard-bremner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Richard Bremner<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4 mins read<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">7 November 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Share<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?app_id=236580861022118&amp;sdk=joey&amp;u=https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-news\/features\/elan-m100-revisiting-first-%E2%80%93-and-last-%E2%80%93-fwd-lotus&amp;display=popup&amp;ref=plugin&amp;src=share_button\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-news\/features\/elan-m100-revisiting-first-%E2%80%93-and-last-%E2%80%93-fwd-lotus&amp;count=horizontal&amp;via=autocar&amp;text=Elan%20M100:%20revisiting%20the%20first%20%E2%80%93%20and%20last%20%E2%80%93%20FWD%20Lotus&amp;counturl=https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-news\/features\/elan-m100-revisiting-first-%E2%80%93-and-last-%E2%80%93-fwd-lotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Elan%20M100:%20revisiting%20the%20first%20%E2%80%93%20and%20last%20%E2%80%93%20FWD%20Lotus&amp;body=https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-news\/features\/elan-m100-revisiting-first-%E2%80%93-and-last-%E2%80%93-fwd-lotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A one-piece, bespoke foam and plastic-skinned dashboard. A quick-fold hood that didn\u2019t leak and which stowed beneath its own lid. Electric windows good for more than five consecutive rises and falls.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back in 1989, all this didn\u2019t sound like a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/lotus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lotus<\/a>. Even more un-Lotus-like was the appearance of a Japanese engine beneath this car\u2019s steeply plunging bonnet and, most jarringly of all, a drive system that sent power to the front wheels. This was the latest Lotus Elan, an all-new confection that, name and entertainment mission apart, bore no more than passing conceptual resemblance to its legendary predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Front-wheel drive was a first for Lotus and, for the moment at least, a last. But the Hethel engineers had their reasons, reckoning that \u201cfor a given vehicle weight, power and tyre size, a front-wheel-drive car was always faster over a given section of road. There were definite advantages in traction and controllability, and drawbacks such as torque steer, bump steer and steering kickback were not insurmountable.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hethel knew all this because its chassis engineers were working on plenty of high-volume front-drive cars via Lotus Engineering, the company\u2019s consultancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There were practical and industrial reasons for wheels that pulled rather than pushed. Lotus had to source its engine and gearbox from outside the company, and back in the late \u201980s nearly all the major car manufacturers were making and developing front-wheel-drive cars.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When development of the M100 began, Lotus was independent and buying components from Toyota. Its plan was to use the company\u2019s superb twin-cam 1600 engine from the Corolla GTI and MR2. But then GM bought Lotus, closing that avenue off.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lotus had to shop from it\u2019s new owner instead \u2013 an unpromising prospect back then, until it discovered the 1.6 twin-cam turbo that Isuzu had under development (Isuzu made cars as as well as trucks back then), complete with five-speed transmission.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GM was also able to properly fund the car, the \u00a335 million it invested granting Hethel vastly greater buying power than it had previously enjoyed. That\u2019s what paid for the high-caliber interior and an extensive prototype test programme carried out not by Lotus buyers but by the company\u2019s engineers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having settled for front-wheel drive, Lotus then set about making the new Elan\u2019s chassis the very best of the breed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the rear were wide-spaced coil sprung double wishbones, a broadly similar arrangement used at the front, but for one vital and ingenious modification. Instead of mounting the wishbones direct to the M100\u2019s backbone chassis, they were bolted to a pair of sub-structures that Lotus called rafts, the bushing and geometry control possibilities these afforded allowing them to exorcise torque-steer and bump-steer and provide the kind of small-bump compliance for which Lotuses are renowned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Latest Reviews<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3\" height=\"2\" src=\"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-48.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5063\" title=\"Toyota Hilix electric review 01\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/toyota\/hilux-electric\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/toyota\/hilux-electric\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Toyota Hilux Electric<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/toyota\/hilux-electric\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Toyota Hilux Electric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3\" height=\"2\" src=\"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-48.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5065\" title=\"Hyundai Ioniq 6 N review 2025 01\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/hyundai\/ioniq-6-n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/hyundai\/ioniq-6-n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hyundai Ioniq 6 N<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/hyundai\/ioniq-6-n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hyundai Ioniq 6 N<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3\" height=\"2\" src=\"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-50.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5064\" title=\" P6A1936 1600x1067 e125f67b 0fda 44af 8430 19a0966d861d\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/mitsubishi\/lancer-evolution-vi-1999-2002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/mitsubishi\/lancer-evolution-vi-1999-2002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Used Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 1999-2001 review<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/mitsubishi\/lancer-evolution-vi-1999-2002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Used Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 1999-2001 review<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3\" height=\"2\" src=\"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-49.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5066\" title=\"MG IM6 review 2025 0001\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/mg-motor\/im-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/mg-motor\/im-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MG IM6<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>7<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/mg-motor\/im-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MG IM6<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3\" height=\"2\" src=\"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-51.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5067\" title=\"Honda Super N review 2025 0001\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/honda\/super-n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/honda\/super-n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Honda Super-N<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/honda\/super-n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Honda Super-N<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">View all car reviews<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back to top<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Miles, ex-Formula One racer, engineer and once Autocar road tester, led the development to produce a chassis of extraordinary capabilities. The Elan\u2019s absorbency and resistance to being knocked of line, allied to its chewing gum-to-shoe grip, produced a car that, from A-to-B, was almost uncatchable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And, rather painfully, it also produced a boring car. Well, almost. You\u2019d marvel at the speeds at which you could attack battered B-roads, marvel at the imperturbable roadholding and marvel at the Lotus\u2019s beautifully damped and elastic bump-gobbling, but your marveling would be slightly remote, as if you were only along for the ride. And this despite the Elan\u2019s feelsome steering. So that was a bit of a dampener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, trouble was brewing on the other side of the world, and trouble with a bitterly ironic edge.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/mazda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mazda<\/a>&nbsp;had developed itself a new sports car that owed plenty to the heyday of the breed in the 1960s and, in particular, to the original Lotus Elan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was rear-wheel drive. It was small. It put clean, safe, predictable and entertaining handling above absolute grip, above power and above scoring breathless point-to-point journey times. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.autocar.co.uk\/car-review\/mazda\/mx-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mazda MX-5<\/a>&nbsp;even looked a little like the Lotus, right down to twin cam covers rounded off to look like the covers of the Elan. Truth was, it was more fun than the technically ingenious new Lotus. It looked better, too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was also more keenly priced and would prove to be massively more successful than the new Lotus. Lotus never planned Mazda volumes despite the Elan\u2019s mass-production-grade dashboard, but Hethel certainly banked on more than the 3855 cars it had managed by July 1992, less than three years after launch.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yearly sales of 4500 were the actual target. The car was losing money, as was Lotus, and GM wanted out, production ending well before the car\u2019s intended life had expired. Bizarrely, the company went to Romano Artioli\u2019s Bugatti, to complement the Italian company\u2019s factory in Modena. The new management\u2019s discovery that there were more than 800 unused Isuzu engines at Hethel lead to the Elan S2, this lightly facelifted version produced in a limited series of 800. It wasn\u2019t over then, either, with a deal worthy of an automotive pub quiz question seeing Kia purchase the tooling and rights to the car, which it made in tiny numbers in Korea. And then it really was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back to top<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In so many ways the 1989 Elan was Lotus\u2019s first grown-up car. It was properly funded, properly engineered and properly developed \u2013 these cars are reliable even now. That it launched into a recession was unlucky, as was Mazda\u2019s part-plagiarism of Hethel\u2019s past work, but what the Elan proved was that for sports cars, front-drive is a no-no.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elan M100: revisiting the first \u2013 and last \u2013 FWD Lotus The first &#8211; and last &#8211; front-wheel drive Lotus was technically brilliant &#8211; but just wasn&#8217;t as good as an MX-5 News by&nbsp;Richard Bremner 4 mins read 7 November 2025 Share A one-piece, bespoke foam and plastic-skinned dashboard. A quick-fold hood that didn\u2019t leak [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5069,"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5062\/revisions\/5069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gottanlent.vansonnguyen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}