Lotus Elise GT1 - Bitter GT1

Bitter GT1

Former factory driver Mike Hezemans of the Netherlands, feeling that the Elise GT1's main faults were in its power and aerodynamics, decided that the car should not be abandoned. Buying two former Elise GT1 chassis, Hezemans turned to Bitter Cars of Germany to modify the car. The front end was made longer and smoother in an attempt to increase front downforce. To replace the Elise GT1's Chevrolet V8, Hezemans and Bitter turned to Chrysler, buying Viper GTS-R 8.0L V10s which were being used in their GT2 class racing cars. The new cars were named Bitter GT1s, and promised to compete in the 1998 FIA GT Championship season.

Unfortunately the cars were never able to match even the lackluster performance of the original Elise GT1s. The only race in which they actually competed, Silverstone, saw both Bitters failing to finish. After failing to even get past initial practice at Hockenheimring, the project was cancelled.