Lotus Elise

Dunsfold Wings & Wheels in Surrey, UK is a 2 day event held over the August Bank Holiday weekend and is one of my favourite airshows on the calendar. Its location close to Gatwick air space means that air displays are restricted and as such there is a lot of low level aerobatics and formation flying - coupled with the high sun to the south (until later in the afternoon) means that everything you photograph is brightly lit, unless of course you get typical bank holiday weather. 

However it isn't all about the airshow as Dunsfold (being the home of Top Gear) also include military vehicle displays and a masssive motoring demonstration organised by Brooklands Museum. The demonstration was made up of six displays, comprising a vast range of cars including the Napier-Railton, Avions Voisin, Meteor 27 Litre Special, Ram Cobra SC, Aston Martin DB2/4, BMW M3 Dakar, Jaguar XK-R, Plymouth Cuda, Ford Mustang S550 California Special, Aston Martin DB9, Ferrari 512TR, Ultima GTR, Morris Minor, Ford T - Bucket Street Hot Rod, Ford T - Bucket Street Hot Rod, Radical PR6, #18 ‘Hulk’ NASCAR, Chevrolet Impala SS and the rare Koenigsegg Agera RS. The seventh class was full of motorbikes and combinations including the Yamaha TR2 350cc, Aermacchi Ala D'Oro and Suzuki F1 GSXR 750. 

This photo of a Blue Lotus Elise was my favourite of the day, and was shot using a Canon 7d mkii plus Sigma 150-600c lens at 600mm with an aperture of f7.1 and a fast shutter speed of 1/500 second - panning made easy :). The car was owned and driven by Keith Meredith who has kindly provided me with the information below for those who may want to find out more about this beautiful car: 

Lotus Elise Sport 220 (2017 face lift model) 

1.8 litre supercharged engine 

PERFORMANCE: 

Max power 217 hp at 6800 rpm (220 PS) (162 kW) 

Max torque 184 lbft at 4600 rpm (250 Nm) 

0-60 mph 4.2 seconds 

0-100 km/h 4.6 seconds 

Max speed 145 mph (233 km/h) 

Power to weight ratio: 257 hp/tonne 

Dry weight 877 kg 

Kerb weight 904 kg 

Retaining the elements that have always kept the Elise ahead of rivals, the Elise Sport 220 is built around an extruded and bonded aluminium chassis which is both tremendously strong and torsionally stiff - weighing just 68 kg.