DPG said:
I looked at both and bought an S1 Elise with Audi 1.8T conversion. I chose the Elise as I was converting it to a road registered race car and thought it could be a reliable car with decent power to weight. Safety Devices have an FIA cage for the Elise only, ruling out the VX220. At the same time I bought my Elise a good friend bought a highly modified 310bhp VX220T. The first trackday was at a wet Snetterton 300 and he spun into the barrier following me. £12k and 12 months later he finished repaired it, used for a few months and sold it. Another friend (in his 60s) owned an S2 SC which I frequently drove on road and track, he sold his after 18 months and returned to Caterham ownership.
I hated mine, it was the worst car I ever owned, made worse by having sold my 3.2 Carrera to fund it and a seasons racing. They sound bland, had worse practicality than the Caterham I owned before, pretty twitchy handling (with the heavy engine), standard brakes were average, fear of wishbone impact which could fatally damage the tub, rusty steel components, poor factory spares support, no lsd on most models, a pita having to remove the clams for maintenance, with stacks of washers needed to get the panel gaps even....my list goes on.
If I had to get one I would buy an early S2 with a K series engine (someone like DVA Power can make the engine reliable and revvy). However, I would either buy a Caterham or something more useable like an S2000, Z4 etc.
Racing video here if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9SeYKMZRLM&t=4s
[youtube]9SeYKMZRLM[/youtube]
Trackday video best showing the twitchy handling here, just after buying it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hi6c1DYpQY
[youtube]1Hi6c1DYpQY[/youtube]
You did well keeping it on the track!
