Some things just can’t be improved upon. A splodge of extra lippy couldn’t have enhanced Raquel Welch’s performance in one million years BC. Replacement UPVC windows simply wouldn’t be a fitting home improvement for Saint Paul’s Cathedral. And the Lotus Elise is such a top little sports car, surely no one could make it any better? So, in giving us this Elise Sport 135, Lotus has just made it… different. The result is a lower, harder, faster, more raw edged variation on the original Elise theme. Our test car also came fitted with one nod to practicality -  a new hardtop, but we’ll go to that later. First let us tell you what makes the £28,950 Elise Sport 135 so special. And there’s more to it than the fact that a single vehicle approval homologation laws mean that only 50 are going to be made.

Squeezing through the impossibly high sills, we shove into the alterations – bright red, bewinged Corbeau seats. A titchy red suede – clad steering wheel is new too. Turning on the key and the rorty, buzzy note from the competition silencer shouts the fact that we’re about to play something a bit naughty. The alloy top gear lever connected to a low ratio box means business too. Though it’s only when the car is wound up to motorway speeds that the extra low fifth gear makes itself felt. The pay-off for a fair old racket around 70 mph mark is instant acceleration, where a standard Elise would be starting to get breathless. There;s more to this car’s added performance than just a close ratio box. The added poke is achieved via a series of fairly restrained tweaks. Yo won’t find a bolt on loony turbo charger and there’s no rev hungry cam profile either. Just that new exhaust, a free flow air filter and a cylinder head that’s allowed to breath more easily.