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Tuning

Lotus Elise VHPK Is Pure Driving Madness

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The Lotus Elise S1 has long been regarded as one of the purest expressions of lightweight sports-car engineering. With a mass of roughly 700 kilograms, the original Elise achieved the kind of agility that modern performance cars can only dream about. Now, British specialist Analogue Automotive has taken that philosophy to an extraordinary extreme with the VHPK, a radically re-engineered, single-seat version of the Series 1 Elise.

Limited to just 35 examples worldwide, the Analogue Automotive VHPK combines a stripped-back carbon-fiber body, a centrally mounted driver’s seat and a naturally aspirated 1.9-liter Rover K-Series engine producing a claimed 253 horsepower. The result is a machine designed around one fundamental principle: remove everything that does not make the driving experience better.

The first customer-built VHPK has now been revealed, finished in the company’s distinctive PK Purple paintwork and complemented by an Alcantara-trimmed cabin and gold exhaust tips.

The Lotus Elise S1, Taken to Another Level

When the original Lotus Elise arrived, its lightweight construction immediately separated it from virtually every other sports car on the market. Rather than relying on enormous power, Lotus focused on minimizing mass, creating a car that could change direction with remarkable immediacy.

Analogue Automotive has taken that philosophy much further.

The VHPK starts with an original Series 1 Lotus Elise, which serves as the donor vehicle, before being extensively re-engineered. The car receives a full carbon-fiber body structure, a central carbon-fiber driver’s seat, lightweight forged wheels and a series of carefully engineered components intended to reduce weight without compromising the car’s essential character.

This isn’t simply a restored Elise with a more powerful engine. It is effectively a bespoke reinterpretation of the lightweight British sports car.

Why Is the Analogue Automotive VHPK Called VHPK?

The unusual VHPK name has its roots in the engine powering the car.

The original Rover K-Series engine used in the Elise was available in a particularly high-performance specification known as the Very High Performance Derivative, or VHPD. Analogue Automotive has adopted the same idea for its heavily modified K-Series powerplant.

Because the engine is now a K-Series unit, the company transformed VHPD into VHPK.

It is a suitably nerdy name for a car aimed squarely at enthusiasts who appreciate the mechanical details as much as the driving experience.

A 1.9-Liter Naturally Aspirated K-Series With 253 HP

At the heart of the VHPK is a heavily reworked Rover K-Series four-cylinder engine.

While the original engine displaced 1.8 liters, Analogue Automotive has increased capacity to 1.9 liters. The twin-cam naturally aspirated engine has been extensively redesigned using lightweight billet components and forged internal parts.

The claimed output is 253 horsepower.

That number might not sound spectacular in an era when even ordinary performance cars can produce more than 400 horsepower, but the VHPK isn’t chasing headline horsepower figures. Its entire philosophy revolves around minimizing weight.

The naturally aspirated engine is paired with a five-speed manual transmission, a limited-slip differential and a complete stainless-steel exhaust system. In other words, there is no attempt to dilute the mechanical experience with unnecessary complexity.

The driver gets a high-revving four-cylinder, a manual gearbox and a lightweight chassis.

One Seat, Right in the Middle

Perhaps the most striking feature of the VHPK is not its engine or carbon bodywork, but what is missing from the cabin: a passenger seat.

Instead, the driver sits alone in the center of the car.

The inspiration comes from Lotus Elise racing cars used in the brand’s championship during the early 2000s. The series ran as a support event alongside the British Touring Car Championship, and the race cars featured a centrally positioned single seat.

Analogue Automotive has brought that concept to the road-going VHPK.

The central seating position gives the driver a symmetrical view of the road and creates an unmistakably race-car-like atmosphere. More importantly, it reinforces the idea that this is a machine designed around the driver rather than passenger practicality.

Carbon Fiber Everywhere

Weight reduction is at the core of the VHPK project, and carbon fiber plays a major role.

The central carbon-fiber bucket seat is surrounded by carbon-fiber components, while the bodywork itself is constructed from carbon fiber. Beneath the lightweight exterior, Analogue Automotive also uses a lightweight fuel tank and a simplified wiring harness.

The result is an Elise that has been subjected to the kind of obsessive weight-saving program normally associated with competition cars.

Buyers can go even further. Analogue Automotive offers carbon-fiber wheels as an alternative to the standard lightweight forged wheels, while visible carbon body panels are also available.

Other options include electric air conditioning and a carbon-fiber hardtop, allowing customers to tailor the car depending on whether they want the ultimate lightweight road car or something with slightly more everyday usability.

Lightweight Suspension and Optional Active Dampers

The VHPK’s chassis can also be upgraded with a wide-track suspension configuration.

This package includes aluminum hubs and steering links, helping reduce unsprung mass while widening the car’s stance. Passive dampers are available for those seeking a more traditional setup, while an active damper system is also offered.

That range of choices means the VHPK can be configured for different priorities, although the basic philosophy remains unchanged: make the car as light, responsive and communicative as possible.

PK Purple Gives the First Customer Car Some Serious Personality

The first customer example provides a good indication of just how bespoke the VHPK program can become.

Finished in the luxurious PK Purple color, the car combines its distinctive exterior with an Alcantara-covered interior. Gold exhaust tips provide an additional visual contrast and give the tiny sports car an appropriately exotic appearance.

Despite its extreme engineering, the VHPK doesn’t look like a conventional track-day special. The familiar silhouette of the Lotus Elise S1 remains, but the carbon bodywork and minimalist details give it a much more serious presence.

Just 35 Analogue Automotive VHPKs Will Be Built

Analogue Automotive plans to produce only 35 examples of the VHPK.

The exclusivity comes with an equally extraordinary price. The car costs £350,000 plus tax, although that figure includes the original Series 1 Lotus Elise donor vehicle.

That makes the VHPK vastly more expensive than even the best original Elise S1 examples. Good used Series 1 Elises can be found from around £20,000, depending on specification, condition and history.

Of course, comparing the two purely on price misses the point.

The VHPK isn’t intended to be a more affordable way of buying an Elise. It is a highly limited, extensively engineered reinterpretation created for collectors and driving enthusiasts who want something that goes considerably further than the original car.

The Ultimate Lightweight Lotus Elise?

There is something wonderfully old-school about the Analogue Automotive VHPK.

At a time when performance cars are becoming increasingly powerful, electronically sophisticated and heavy, the VHPK goes in precisely the opposite direction. It takes an already lightweight Lotus Elise S1 and pushes the concept toward its logical extreme.

A naturally aspirated 1.9-liter four-cylinder produces 253 horsepower. A five-speed manual transmission sends that power through a limited-slip differential. The driver sits alone in the center of the car, surrounded by carbon fiber. There are no rear seats, no unnecessary weight and no attempt to disguise the car’s mechanical nature.

It is an unapologetically focused interpretation of the Elise.

And perhaps that is exactly why the VHPK is so interesting. The original Lotus Elise was built around the famous philosophy of achieving performance by reducing weight rather than simply adding power. Analogue Automotive has taken that principle and applied it with the obsessive attention to detail expected of a modern specialist.

With only 35 examples planned and a £350,000-plus-tax starting price, the VHPK will be far beyond the reach of most enthusiasts.

But for those fortunate enough to secure one, this may be one of the closest things available to a road-legal, centrally seated, carbon-bodied lightweight race car — while retaining the essential DNA of one of Britain’s most celebrated sports cars.

Analogue Automotive VHPK: Key Specifications

  • Engine: 1.9-liter naturally aspirated Rover K-Series four-cylinder
  • Configuration: Twin-cam four-cylinder
  • Power: 253 hp claimed
  • Transmission: Five-speed manual
  • Differential: Limited-slip differential
  • Exhaust: Full stainless-steel system
  • Body: Carbon fiber
  • Driver’s seat: Central carbon-fiber bucket seat
  • Suspension: Wide-track setup available, with passive or active dampers
  • Wheels: Lightweight forged wheels; carbon-fiber wheels optional
  • Production: 35 examples
  • Price: £350,000 plus tax, including Series 1 Lotus Elise donor car

Source: Analogue Automotive

Tuning

Liberty Walk Unveils Extreme Dodge Challenger LB-WORKS Widebody

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Liberty Walk has transformed the Dodge Challenger into an even more intimidating street machine, unveiling a dramatic LB-WORKS widebody build finished in a jet-inspired shade of gray. With massively flared fenders, an ultra-low stance, exposed hardware and aggressive aerodynamic details, this modified Dodge Challenger looks less like a conventional muscle car and more like a fighter jet that somehow found its way onto the road.

The new Liberty Walk Dodge Challenger widebody follows the Japanese tuning company’s unmistakable design philosophy: keep the original identity of the car intact, then push its proportions, stance and visual aggression to the extreme.

And in this case, the formula works exceptionally well.

Liberty Walk Gives the Dodge Challenger a Fighter-Jet Attitude

The Dodge Challenger has never been a subtle automobile. Even in standard form, its long hood, broad shoulders and retro-inspired proportions give it an imposing road presence.

Liberty Walk’s LB-WORKS package takes that familiar silhouette and dramatically increases its visual width.

The centerpiece is a set of enormous front and rear overfenders that extend the Challenger’s bodywork outward. Rather than attempting to make the modifications appear factory-installed, Liberty Walk embraces its trademark exposed-bolt construction. The fenders are visibly riveted to the original body, creating the unmistakable motorsport-inspired appearance that has become one of the company’s signatures.

The result is deliberately raw.

Instead of hiding the modification, Liberty Walk makes it impossible to ignore.

The package also includes a front lip spoiler, hood vents and a distinctive three-piece ducktail rear spoiler. Together with the widened body, these elements give the Challenger an extremely aggressive profile that makes even a standard SRT Hellcat look relatively restrained.

LB-WORKS Dodge Challenger Package Is a Complete Conversion

This isn’t simply a concept rendering or an unfinished project. Liberty Walk lists the LB-WORKS Dodge Challenger package as a complete body conversion designed to dramatically alter the appearance of the American muscle car.

The kit includes:

  • Wide front overfenders
  • Wide rear overfenders
  • Front lip spoiler
  • Hood vents
  • Three-piece ducktail spoiler
  • Liberty Walk’s signature exposed-bolt mounting hardware

The construction method is just as important to the design as the parts themselves.

Rather than cutting away the Challenger’s original structure or extensively reshaping the body, the extended fenders are bolted onto the existing bodywork. That approach allows Liberty Walk to preserve the basic structure of the car while creating a significantly wider visual footprint.

It is a technique the company has used across its extensive range of widebody conversions.

Adjustable Air Suspension Gives the Challenger Its Extreme Stance

The widebody transformation would not be complete without an equally dramatic suspension setup.

This particular Liberty Walk Challenger sits on adjustable air suspension, allowing its ride height to be changed depending on the situation. For photography, shows or parked displays, the car can be dropped dramatically close to the pavement.

For normal driving, the suspension can be raised to provide more practical ground clearance.

That flexibility is particularly important on a car with such an aggressive stance. A fixed suspension setup at this ride height would make everyday driving considerably less convenient, particularly on roads with steep driveways, speed bumps and uneven pavement.

Black Y-spoke wheels tucked underneath the enlarged fenders complete the look. The combination of dark wheels, gray paint, exposed fasteners and exaggerated bodywork gives the Challenger an almost military appearance.

From V6 Muscle Car to 1,025-HP Demon

The Liberty Walk build is based on an early third-generation Dodge Challenger, the generation that first returned the iconic nameplate to Dodge’s lineup for the 2008 model year.

That generation remained in production through the 2024 model year and was offered with everything from relatively modest V6 power to some of the most outrageous V8 performance ever installed in a production muscle car.

At the top of the Challenger hierarchy sat the legendary SRT Demon 170.

With more than 1,000 horsepower available, the Demon 170 could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in approximately 1.66 seconds and complete the quarter-mile in just 8.91 seconds under the appropriate conditions.

The SRT Hellcat family was also capable of producing more than 700 hp, giving Dodge Challenger buyers an extraordinary range of performance options.

But Liberty Walk’s demonstration car isn’t attempting to compete with the Demon 170 in a straight line.

Instead, its mission is primarily visual.

Liberty Walk Challenger Focuses on Style Rather Than Maximum Power

Underneath the aggressive exterior, the Liberty Walk Challenger remains much closer to a street-oriented muscle car than an all-out drag racing machine.

Rather than attempting to extract Demon-level horsepower from the engine, the build focuses on creating a distinctive combination of appearance, stance and sound.

A custom variable-valve exhaust system adds another layer to the transformation. The system allows the car’s exhaust character to be adjusted, giving the Challenger the ability to sound more aggressive when desired without making every drive unnecessarily loud.

That approach makes sense for a car designed to attract attention on the street rather than dominate a drag strip.

After all, the Challenger already has enough performance credibility.

Liberty Walk’s job here is to make sure nobody mistakes it for an ordinary one.

Why Liberty Walk’s Exposed-Bolt Design Still Works

One of the most recognizable characteristics of Liberty Walk vehicles is the decision to leave the fasteners exposed.

Traditional body modifications often attempt to make wide fender extensions appear seamless. The additional panels are blended into the original bodywork, painted and smoothed until the car can look as though it left the factory that way.

Liberty Walk takes the opposite approach.

The bolts are part of the design.

The visible hardware creates a deliberately mechanical appearance and emphasizes the fact that the car has been extensively modified. On the Challenger, the effect works particularly well because the original car already has a muscular, industrial character.

The result isn’t intended to look like a factory Dodge.

It is supposed to look modified.

And that distinction is central to the LB-WORKS philosophy.

Does a Liberty Walk Widebody Increase a Car’s Value?

One interesting question surrounding heavily modified cars is whether an expensive widebody conversion can increase resale value.

The answer is complicated.

A professionally executed Liberty Walk build can dramatically increase a car’s visual appeal and potentially make it more desirable to the right enthusiast. A rare or particularly well-known build may even command a premium among collectors or tuning fans.

However, modification costs do not automatically translate into equivalent increases in resale value.

A buyer looking for an original Dodge Challenger may actually prefer a factory-standard example, while another enthusiast could consider the Liberty Walk conversion the most desirable version available.

That means the financial impact of a widebody conversion depends heavily on the quality of the work, the parts used, the underlying vehicle, documentation and, perhaps most importantly, the preferences of the eventual buyer.

In other words, a $20,000 modification doesn’t necessarily make a $50,000 car worth $70,000.

Sometimes it simply makes the car more interesting.

The Dodge Challenger Looks Right at Home With the LB-WORKS Treatment

The Dodge Challenger’s basic proportions make it particularly well suited to a Liberty Walk transformation.

Its long hood, short rear deck, broad body and squared-off styling provide plenty of visual mass for the enlarged fenders and aggressive aerodynamic components. Unlike some sports cars, the Challenger doesn’t need delicate bodywork to create an exotic appearance.

Liberty Walk instead amplifies what is already there.

The result is a Challenger that looks wider, lower and considerably more aggressive than the standard car. The jet-inspired gray paint reinforces the theme, while the black wheels and exposed hardware provide enough contrast to make the widebody components stand out.

It is an exaggerated interpretation of the American muscle car, but that exaggeration is precisely the point.

Liberty Walk’s Dodge Challenger Is About Presence

The final product isn’t necessarily the fastest Dodge Challenger ever built. It doesn’t need to be.

The Demon 170 will remain the benchmark when the conversation turns to quarter-mile acceleration and outright factory performance. The Hellcat family will continue to represent one of the most recognizable high-horsepower muscle car formulas of the modern era.

The Liberty Walk Challenger is playing a different game.

It is about presence.

The huge fenders, low ride height, exposed bolts, black wheels, ducktail spoiler and custom exhaust transform a familiar American muscle car into something far more theatrical.

And that may be the most impressive part of the build.

Liberty Walk hasn’t tried to erase the Challenger’s identity. Instead, it has taken everything people recognize about the car and turned the volume all the way up.

For enthusiasts who believe a muscle car should be impossible to overlook, the LB-WORKS Dodge Challenger widebody might be one of the most convincing interpretations of that philosophy yet.

Source: Liberty Walk

Tuning

Angelelli Project 754 Turns the Porsche 911 Into an 800-HP Carbon-Fiber Weapon

Some companies modify Porsches. Others restore them. Then there’s Angelelli Automobili, an Italian engineering firm that’s taking the 911 in a direction even Porsche itself has rarely dared to explore. Its latest creation, Project 754, is a limited-production reinterpretation of the iconic sports car that promises up to 800 horsepower, extensive use of carbon fiber and titanium, and—perhaps most intriguingly—a choice between traditional rear-engine or race-inspired mid-engine layouts.

Only 50 examples will be built, split evenly between two distinct versions based on donor cars from the 991- and 992-generation Porsche 911. While the project borrows its foundation from Stuttgart’s finest, Angelelli makes it clear that the venture is entirely independent, with no technical or commercial partnership with Porsche.

The name Project 754 isn’t random, either. It’s a nod to Porsche’s largely forgotten Project 754 T7, the early-1960s development program that eventually evolved into the first production 911. In that sense, Angelelli isn’t just building another restomod—it’s attempting to rewrite a chapter of the 911’s history.

The lineup begins with the 754 R, a machine that stays faithful to the 911’s signature rear-engine configuration while dialing up grip, acceleration, and outright performance. But it’s the 754 M that steals the spotlight. Borrowing inspiration from the Porsche 911 RSR-19 race car, it relocates the flat-six ahead of the rear axle in a true mid-engine arrangement, a configuration designed to improve weight distribution and deliver sharper, more predictable handling at the limit.

Power comes from a heavily reworked 4.2-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six, producing as much as 800 horsepower in its most potent specification. Buyers looking for something slightly less outrageous can opt for a 700-hp version, though “entry-level” feels like an inappropriate description for a car with numbers like those.

Weight reduction is just as important as power. Angelelli says widespread use of carbon fiber and titanium will make Project 754 significantly lighter than the standard 911s on which it’s based. Combined with the dramatic increase in output, the result should be performance worthy of the world’s fastest road-going machines.

Inside, the cabin leaves little doubt about the car’s intentions. Racing-inspired seats, driver-focused controls, and motorsport details suggest Project 754 will feel most at home clipping apexes on a circuit, even though it remains fully road legal.

As expected from a boutique manufacturer, exclusivity extends beyond production numbers. Customers will be able to tailor nearly every aspect of their cars, from exterior finishes and interior materials to suspension settings and mechanical specifications. With such an extensive personalization program, no two examples are likely to leave the workshop exactly alike.

Project 754 represents something increasingly rare in today’s automotive landscape: a machine built not to chase mass-market success or electrified efficiency targets, but to satisfy enthusiasts who still believe driving should be visceral, mechanical, and unapologetically exciting. Whether buyers choose the classic rear-engine formula or the radical mid-engine alternative, Angelelli’s interpretation of the 911 is shaping up to be one of the boldest Porsche-based creations in recent memory.

Source: Angelelli Automobili