Since its arrival on the scene in 1996, the Lotus Elise has been hailed as the ultimate affordable sports car. To some, it is untouchable - regardless of price - in terms of its purity of design and the way it delivers driving enjoyment regardless of the driver's talent. Times change and the game moves on; the Elise was never bettered but in order to put clean air between the Elise and its rivals Lotus launched the S2.

The Series 2 Elise has been around since the British Motorshow of 2000. At the time of its launch, the popularity of trackdays had not yet exploded to the level it is at now, so the Elise was designed as a usable, capable sportscar, with all the ups and downs of the public road to contend with. More options were added to make the Elise a more viable day-to-day proposition; some critics felt that this made the car too soft and too compromised for the hardcore enthusiast. The 135R tested here is Lotus' answer to the question posed by the more demanding driver.

The Elise was handed over to Lotus Sport and Performance to come up with an even more focussed version of the lithe two-seater than the sublime 111S. The result you see in front of you - the 135R. The colour of the test car is 'Silver Mica' and it really is eye-catching. The only other colour available is 'Blue Mica', which is a pity as we think that black would suit the aggressive shape and lower stance of the 135R. Despite the fairly subtle modifications to the car the 135R looks so much more purposeful than the standard Elise. The Lotus Sport decals help the look but the main ingredient is the achingly-beautiful 16-spoke O.Z. alloys, fitted with Yokahama AO48 tyres - a no compromises trackday tyre, which makes driving on a wet and greasy road shall we say "challenging".

The interior is typical Elise; functional but minimalist, with blue Alcantara on the seats, door linings, dash and seats. Some may find this a little garish but we loved it. The steering wheel in particular is a joy to hold and, as before, the pedals and gearshift are perfectly weighted and positioned.

As you would expect from Lotus, the tyres and wheels are not just for cosmetic purposes. The only dimension change is to the front wheel - the width had been increased from 5.5 inches to 6.5 inches to give more positive turn-in on track. Rest assured that the lower stance is just as functional. As well as re-calibrating the dampers with stiffer bump and rebound, Lotus has fitted adjustable spring platforms and an adjustable anti-roll bar. I am not a chassis set-up expert and only had one day at a track so I declined from changing the settings. My esteemed coach (see separate story) pronounced the set-up nigh on perfect, and who am I to argue?

I certainly cannot blame the car for the number of spins I "performed"! At Bruntingthorpe, in the dry, the Elise was sensational. The grip offered up by the semi-slick rubber is simply phenomenal, though breakaway is not quite as progressive as it would be on a more normal road tyre. The car's balance is apparent in high-speed corners, and the communication through the steering wheel lets you know at all times how much or how little grip is still available to exploit. Getting the absolute maximum from the 135R around a "track" marked out by cones was a little trickier. Pile into a tight corner with too much speed and the car will tend to understeer until you realise what you are doing wrong. It is easy to adjust your driving to induce oversteer, and hero-like opposite lock is quite accessible - even on a dry track.

Though the 135R Elise has been set up for the track, it must still function as a road car. My initial feeling was that the suspension is too hard for regular road use. As you'd expect with a track set up and a light car, the Elise feels skittish at low speed; you feel every bump and ripple in the road. The ride improves with speed but around town some may find it too uncomfortable, the seats in particular feel hard in this context. The picture is significantly brighter on the open road, where the Elise comes to life. It's hard to think of an appropriate analogy to convey just how much grip the car has, in the dry at least. Cornering speeds are determined more by courage than the chassis' capability; a complete recalibration of the mind is necessary to comprehend just how rapidly you can travel from A to B.

Roundabouts are more a question of the boundaries of your social conscience than a function of the radius and one has to be wary of the speed differential between you and other traffic. On smooth dry tarmac no other road car we can think of corners as quickly as the Elise (we've not driven a Radical yet). We continuously found ourselves exiting corners wishing we'd attacked so much harder due to how much the Elise still had in the tank. On the rare occasions where you do carry a little too much speed into the corner a lift of the throttle simply tightens the line, never threatening to oversteer in the way the S1 used to. At the same time you can steer the car on the throttle nicely and controllable four-wheel drifts are available at your time of choosing.

All the while the Elise remains one of the great communicators. The car is constantly talking to you via every sensory input, in particular feel through the steering is incredible; you can actually feel the tyres working on the rim and are able to pilot the car that bit more comfortably and confidently as a result. The brakes too are full of feel but due to the lack of servo assistance can catch you unawares, particularly when cold, and necessitate a harder shove than you anticipated. On the track they were magnificent with no sign of fade.

The K-series engine remains a weak link in that it sounds very uninspiring, the performance provided is certainly adequate though as 135 bhp in 700 kg will always feel comparatively quick. Acceleration tails of markedly above 90 mph, but by this point you feel like you're doing far in excess of that in any case due to the proximity of your backside to the tarmac and the flow of information being transmitted to the brain. The benefits of lightweight are reflected again by fuel consumption in the 30+ mpg range; there aren't many other cars that will do 0-60 in 5.5 seconds and sip so little fuel in the process.

All in all, the Lotus is a joy. As a track car for road use it's near perfect, but due to the compromises made (particularly the tyres) it's too extreme to consider as a daily road car for all but the most committed. The line between enthusiast and masochist is a blurry one, but for us, we would settle on an 111S as a daily tool, especially if it was to be an only car.

Saying that, the 111R has now been launched, complete with Toyota's excellent VVTL-i engine and six-speed gearbox. Surely that is the ultimate Elise to date? The Car Enthusiast will bring you that review later in the year.