# Why the Elise's 6,200 rpm Cam Change Is Made for Hairpins

The Toyota 2ZZ engine in the Elise 111R and Exige S2 switches to a second cam profile at about 6,200 rpm. Here is how to use it on a mountain pass.

Source: https://lotustrails.com/blog/2026-09-29-why-the-2zz-cam-change-suits-hairpins/

Anyone who has driven a Toyota-engined Elise remembers the first time it came on cam. At about 6,200 rpm the engine note hardens, the car surges, and there are still 2,000 rpm to go.

## What is happening

The 2ZZ-GE has two cam profiles for each pair of valves: a mild one for low engine speeds and a second with more lift and longer duration. Toyota's system uses oil pressure to lock a pin in the rocker arm so that the valves follow the taller lobe. Below the changeover the engine is docile and makes modest torque. Above it, it behaves like a racing engine, pulling to a limiter beyond 8,000 rpm.

Lotus wrote its own engine management for the car, which is why the Elise's changeover point and rev limit differ from those of the Toyota Celica that donated the engine.

## Why it works on a pass

On a road like the [Stelvio](/trails/stelvio-pass/) or the [Col de Turini](/trails/col-de-turini/), you spend most of the time between 40 and 90 km/h. In an Elise 111R, second gear covers almost exactly that range, and the top of second sits right in the high-cam zone.

The six-speed gearbox has close ratios, so an upshift at the limiter drops you back to about 6,500 rpm, still on the high cam. Keep it there and the car feels like it has 50 bhp more than it does lower down.

## How to use it

- **Choose the lower gear.** If you are deciding between second and third out of a hairpin, take second.
- **Do not chase it everywhere.** It is loud, and villages do not need to hear it. Short-shift through anything with houses.
- **Watch the oil.** The changeover depends on oil pressure, and the engine uses some oil at high revs. If the cam stops engaging, check the level before anything else.
- **Let it warm up.** The management holds a lower rev limit until the engine is up to temperature.

## At altitude

A naturally aspirated engine loses power as the air thins, around 10 per cent per 1,000 m. At the top of a 2,700 m pass a 189 bhp car is making perhaps 140. Staying on cam matters more the higher you climb. It is one reason supercharged cars are popular for alpine touring.

For more on the engine and the cars it went into, see the [Elise S2](/models/elise-s2/) and [Exige S2](/models/exige-s2/) guides.