Pauls Exige 410 Sport
Discussion
Enjoyed reading this thread. I’ve just been watching your YouTube vids, Paul. Great pedaling!
I just joined the Lotus fraternity after a lifetime of the usual German stuff.
Haven’t really used the car much, but I do live next door to Yas Marina GP circuit, so I’ll have to remedy that. Already. I’m looking at some Komo-Tec upgrades. The one thing I hoped for was a tiny bit more shove (I have a motorbike addiction also).
Have you upgraded the performance of your car? Any particular upgrades that you’d recommend?
I just joined the Lotus fraternity after a lifetime of the usual German stuff.
Haven’t really used the car much, but I do live next door to Yas Marina GP circuit, so I’ll have to remedy that. Already. I’m looking at some Komo-Tec upgrades. The one thing I hoped for was a tiny bit more shove (I have a motorbike addiction also).
Have you upgraded the performance of your car? Any particular upgrades that you’d recommend?
Autobantz said:
Enjoyed reading this thread. I’ve just been watching your YouTube vids, Paul. Great pedaling!
I just joined the Lotus fraternity after a lifetime of the usual German stuff.
Haven’t really used the car much, but I do live next door to Yas Marina GP circuit, so I’ll have to remedy that. Already. I’m looking at some Komo-Tec upgrades. The one thing I hoped for was a tiny bit more shove (I have a motorbike addiction also).
Have you upgraded the performance of your car? Any particular upgrades that you’d recommend?
Thanks for the comments. 🙂I just joined the Lotus fraternity after a lifetime of the usual German stuff.
Haven’t really used the car much, but I do live next door to Yas Marina GP circuit, so I’ll have to remedy that. Already. I’m looking at some Komo-Tec upgrades. The one thing I hoped for was a tiny bit more shove (I have a motorbike addiction also).
Have you upgraded the performance of your car? Any particular upgrades that you’d recommend?
No, I haven’t really made any performance upgrades to the car.
The only performance related upgrade I’ve really made is changing the brake pads to the Pagid RS29’s. I found the OEM pads a bit lacking in bite, and the Pagids also last much longer.
I’d certainly recommend getting the suspension alignment tweaked if you’re planning track days. Mainly more camber on the front.
Shnozz said:
Do you know how to go about painting the gear surround and the harness hole inserts in body colour?
I don’t I’m afraid mate. It’s not something that I’ve ever looked into, although I do have a vague recollection of reading that it’s very difficult to remove the harness inserts without breaking them. Paul_M3 said:
I don’t I’m afraid mate. It’s not something that I’ve ever looked into, although I do have a vague recollection of reading that it’s very difficult to remove the harness inserts without breaking them.
Recall a recent post some weeks ago in the Elise/Exige subforum re the removal of the trim around the shifter. That's the easy one. Also recall vaguely that the inserts in the seats are glued and nigh impossible to remove without breaking.DamnKraut said:
Paul_M3 said:
I don’t I’m afraid mate. It’s not something that I’ve ever looked into, although I do have a vague recollection of reading that it’s very difficult to remove the harness inserts without breaking them.
Recall a recent post some weeks ago in the Elise/Exige subforum re the removal of the trim around the shifter. That's the easy one. Also recall vaguely that the inserts in the seats are glued and nigh impossible to remove without breaking.Well spring is here, and therefore it's time to start thinking about car stuff and track days again.
The MOT a couple of week ago showed I've only done 2275 miles in the last 12 months, mainly due to work and being away a lot of last summer. Hopefully it'll be a bit more this year.
I gave the car a bit of love over the last week or so;
Brake fluid change with some fresh Castrol SRF
While the wheels were off I gave the arches a good clean, and cleaned and coated the brake calipers
The wheels also got given a proper deep clean and then a fresh ceramic coating with Gtechniq C5
The next change was quite a significant one. At Snetterton in November I got my first warning for noise there, with me hitting 91.7dB on the drive by against a limit of 92dB. Apparently they check at different locations around the track, and on this day it was obviously very borderline for me even with my DIY silencer. Subsequent to this, I was reading on facebook track pages that people were getting sent home from Donington who had previously passed. When they questioned this, they were told the noise meters had been recalibrated and were now accurate. All of this worried me, as I really don't want to be getting sent home. I considered a Mk2 version of my DIY exhaust, but also had a good look at the official options. That was when I came across a the newest option available from South West Lotus. I messaged James at SWL who was incredibly helpful, and also spoke to Eddie who has got one but hasn't fitted it yet. I felt encouraged, and decided to bite the bullet.
The exhaust appears to be very well made, and is very good value for money. The cost was £900 + Postage. Except by sheer luck I saw it on their eBay page and I just happened to have a 10% discount on car parts through eBay at that time. So a brand new track exhaust cost me £810 plus postage.
So it was off with the old....
And this was where I hit a snag. There's a 90 degree bend which needs to be transferred to the new exhaust. The plan was to do this along with the clamp holding it on. Except it turns out that clamp is spot welded to the OEM exhaust. Unfortunately I needed to car to be operable so had to put everything back together. Offending parts...
With the a fresh clamp obtained, the entire job then took less than an hour from start to finish. The new exhaust is noticeably lighter than the OEM one. I got some scales out, and I think there's about a 4kg weight saving, with the new exhaust being around 11kg. The fitment was perfect, and the tips lined up perfectly in the centre of the grill cut out.
After first start up I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't really WANT to fit a quiet track exhaust and I was worried it would sound rubbish. But it still has a nice tone, a burble at low revs and sounds sporty. It was also noticeably quieter than the OEM exhaust at high revs. I decided to do some comparison testing and make a little video of it. (And yes, I know I sound like a farmer....)
https://youtu.be/lBU3ChkaHL8
Since then I've been at Snetterton and got some 'real' noise test results. It was 96dB on the static reading (well below the 105dB limit) and I didn't get any warnings for drive by. Overall I have to say I'm very happy with, and James at South West Lotus has been brilliant to deal with in all respects.
Clean and shiny ready to get on track:
Snetterton was very busy, fully booked up with 80 cars. It was a lovely day though with nice weather, lots of interesting cars and decent driving standards. A couple of obligatory videos below. One rear view only to show the new exhaust noise, and another of a full session with my mate who came along to his first ever track day.
https://youtu.be/8igMCXUqSOQ?si=AxRt_PgEw521JqsL
https://youtu.be/bIabK3dE178?si=JCfcRd5FdReez4O8
The MOT a couple of week ago showed I've only done 2275 miles in the last 12 months, mainly due to work and being away a lot of last summer. Hopefully it'll be a bit more this year.
I gave the car a bit of love over the last week or so;
Brake fluid change with some fresh Castrol SRF
While the wheels were off I gave the arches a good clean, and cleaned and coated the brake calipers
The wheels also got given a proper deep clean and then a fresh ceramic coating with Gtechniq C5
The next change was quite a significant one. At Snetterton in November I got my first warning for noise there, with me hitting 91.7dB on the drive by against a limit of 92dB. Apparently they check at different locations around the track, and on this day it was obviously very borderline for me even with my DIY silencer. Subsequent to this, I was reading on facebook track pages that people were getting sent home from Donington who had previously passed. When they questioned this, they were told the noise meters had been recalibrated and were now accurate. All of this worried me, as I really don't want to be getting sent home. I considered a Mk2 version of my DIY exhaust, but also had a good look at the official options. That was when I came across a the newest option available from South West Lotus. I messaged James at SWL who was incredibly helpful, and also spoke to Eddie who has got one but hasn't fitted it yet. I felt encouraged, and decided to bite the bullet.
The exhaust appears to be very well made, and is very good value for money. The cost was £900 + Postage. Except by sheer luck I saw it on their eBay page and I just happened to have a 10% discount on car parts through eBay at that time. So a brand new track exhaust cost me £810 plus postage.
So it was off with the old....
And this was where I hit a snag. There's a 90 degree bend which needs to be transferred to the new exhaust. The plan was to do this along with the clamp holding it on. Except it turns out that clamp is spot welded to the OEM exhaust. Unfortunately I needed to car to be operable so had to put everything back together. Offending parts...
With the a fresh clamp obtained, the entire job then took less than an hour from start to finish. The new exhaust is noticeably lighter than the OEM one. I got some scales out, and I think there's about a 4kg weight saving, with the new exhaust being around 11kg. The fitment was perfect, and the tips lined up perfectly in the centre of the grill cut out.
After first start up I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't really WANT to fit a quiet track exhaust and I was worried it would sound rubbish. But it still has a nice tone, a burble at low revs and sounds sporty. It was also noticeably quieter than the OEM exhaust at high revs. I decided to do some comparison testing and make a little video of it. (And yes, I know I sound like a farmer....)
https://youtu.be/lBU3ChkaHL8
Since then I've been at Snetterton and got some 'real' noise test results. It was 96dB on the static reading (well below the 105dB limit) and I didn't get any warnings for drive by. Overall I have to say I'm very happy with, and James at South West Lotus has been brilliant to deal with in all respects.
Clean and shiny ready to get on track:
Snetterton was very busy, fully booked up with 80 cars. It was a lovely day though with nice weather, lots of interesting cars and decent driving standards. A couple of obligatory videos below. One rear view only to show the new exhaust noise, and another of a full session with my mate who came along to his first ever track day.
https://youtu.be/8igMCXUqSOQ?si=AxRt_PgEw521JqsL
https://youtu.be/bIabK3dE178?si=JCfcRd5FdReez4O8
One other thing I forgot to mention in case any one was thinking it (as I was), was whether the new exhaust resulted in any loss of power.
I looked at my AIM data from when I was there in November with the OEM exhaust, and yesterday with the SWL one. This shows the acceleration / speed down the main back straight in 3rd, 4th and 5th gear. Green is November, Brown is yesterday. You can see the 4th gear traces perfectly align, and although my gear change was different, 5th gear traces follow the same curve. I think this gives a pretty good indication that there is no loss of power.
I looked at my AIM data from when I was there in November with the OEM exhaust, and yesterday with the SWL one. This shows the acceleration / speed down the main back straight in 3rd, 4th and 5th gear. Green is November, Brown is yesterday. You can see the 4th gear traces perfectly align, and although my gear change was different, 5th gear traces follow the same curve. I think this gives a pretty good indication that there is no loss of power.
Thought I'd just do a little update to this...
After Snetterton I decided to book a track day at Bedford Autodrome. I'd been there once previously in the Exige, but had to keep lifting off past the noise meters even with my old track silencer add-on fitted.
I thought I'd give it another try, although to be honest I was still partially expecting to trip at least one of the noise meters as they are so strict there.
It was a nice day weather wise, and there were a few other Exiges there.
I started off short shifting past the worst noise meter, and gradually increased the revs each time I went past to find the 'limit' of what I'd be able to do. I was pleased to discover that I could go fully revs and full throttle past every noise meter with the SWL exhaust which makes it more enjoyable. A lot of people don't like Bedford, but I think it has a nice mixture of corners and enough run off to let you push harder than at some other circuits.
It's a long circuit to learn and try and perfect, but I was starting to get there by the end of the day. I definitely want to go back and try to improve further now I know I have no noise concerns.
I also ended up giving a fellow Exige owner a lift home after he had a coming together with a BMW.....
A couple of clear laps from the day:
https://youtu.be/OdMQtsWLozI?si=pdAj7PA2548OHJJD
Next on the agenda was Cadwell Park, one of my favourite circuits. Complete opposite of Bedford, with lots of undulations and plenty of armco barriers in close proximity.
This ended up being one of the least enjoyable track days I've had for a while unfortunately.
Firstly, the day was incredibly busy. I've never really needed to queue up waiting to get out on circuit before, but I certainly did on this day. That aspect wasn't helped by the second issue....red flags. Lots and lots of them. And it was for all sorts. Cars breaking down, spinning on their own oil after a leak, a Mini caught fire, a BMW had a wheel come off, and finally a Clio t-boned a Toyota Corolla after the Corolla spun. I haven't seen car to car contact in 15 years of track days, and then it happened on two consecutive events!
After lunch I was hoping to actually get a decent amount of laps in. On my second afternoon session I pulled out of the pit area and then everything suddenly got very loud in terms of exhaust noise. I cruised back round to the pits, and began to investigate. This is what I found:
I was relieved to find that the exhaust pieces had just separated at the clamp. At this point I was hopeful to be back on track shortly. Unfortunately, although I managed to get the clamp back in position ok, as I was tightening the clamp back up one of the bolts seized. Subsequent removal has shown that the thread had picked up on the bolt and made a mess of itself. So unfortunately I didn't want to risk going back out on track. That meant an early pack up and a careful drive home. The Javelin photographer did manage to get a few nice shots though:
And a video of one of the sessions:
https://youtu.be/jcN0kJIFDWg?si=gpCTFZo_tdQ18Nvt
Yesterday I intended to fix the exhaust but the discovery of the stripped thread on the clamp bolt initially put a delay on that. (It seems to be an M11 x 1.75 bolt. Stupid size, nobody has those)
However, whilst have a general poke around under there I also spotted this:
The bracket has snapped off the y-pipe section. I don't know if the extra movement now possible contributed to the pieces pulling out of the clamp or not, but I need to get it sorted.
Other than that, the car hasn't missed a beat. I've currently got two more track days booked. One at the Lotus test track at Hethel, and the second at Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. I'm really looking forward to Brands. I love the GP circuit but had a few issues there last time (including failing the drive by noise meter). Fingers crossed this time will be better!
After Snetterton I decided to book a track day at Bedford Autodrome. I'd been there once previously in the Exige, but had to keep lifting off past the noise meters even with my old track silencer add-on fitted.
I thought I'd give it another try, although to be honest I was still partially expecting to trip at least one of the noise meters as they are so strict there.
It was a nice day weather wise, and there were a few other Exiges there.
I started off short shifting past the worst noise meter, and gradually increased the revs each time I went past to find the 'limit' of what I'd be able to do. I was pleased to discover that I could go fully revs and full throttle past every noise meter with the SWL exhaust which makes it more enjoyable. A lot of people don't like Bedford, but I think it has a nice mixture of corners and enough run off to let you push harder than at some other circuits.
It's a long circuit to learn and try and perfect, but I was starting to get there by the end of the day. I definitely want to go back and try to improve further now I know I have no noise concerns.
I also ended up giving a fellow Exige owner a lift home after he had a coming together with a BMW.....
A couple of clear laps from the day:
https://youtu.be/OdMQtsWLozI?si=pdAj7PA2548OHJJD
Next on the agenda was Cadwell Park, one of my favourite circuits. Complete opposite of Bedford, with lots of undulations and plenty of armco barriers in close proximity.
This ended up being one of the least enjoyable track days I've had for a while unfortunately.
Firstly, the day was incredibly busy. I've never really needed to queue up waiting to get out on circuit before, but I certainly did on this day. That aspect wasn't helped by the second issue....red flags. Lots and lots of them. And it was for all sorts. Cars breaking down, spinning on their own oil after a leak, a Mini caught fire, a BMW had a wheel come off, and finally a Clio t-boned a Toyota Corolla after the Corolla spun. I haven't seen car to car contact in 15 years of track days, and then it happened on two consecutive events!
After lunch I was hoping to actually get a decent amount of laps in. On my second afternoon session I pulled out of the pit area and then everything suddenly got very loud in terms of exhaust noise. I cruised back round to the pits, and began to investigate. This is what I found:
I was relieved to find that the exhaust pieces had just separated at the clamp. At this point I was hopeful to be back on track shortly. Unfortunately, although I managed to get the clamp back in position ok, as I was tightening the clamp back up one of the bolts seized. Subsequent removal has shown that the thread had picked up on the bolt and made a mess of itself. So unfortunately I didn't want to risk going back out on track. That meant an early pack up and a careful drive home. The Javelin photographer did manage to get a few nice shots though:
And a video of one of the sessions:
https://youtu.be/jcN0kJIFDWg?si=gpCTFZo_tdQ18Nvt
Yesterday I intended to fix the exhaust but the discovery of the stripped thread on the clamp bolt initially put a delay on that. (It seems to be an M11 x 1.75 bolt. Stupid size, nobody has those)
However, whilst have a general poke around under there I also spotted this:
The bracket has snapped off the y-pipe section. I don't know if the extra movement now possible contributed to the pieces pulling out of the clamp or not, but I need to get it sorted.
Other than that, the car hasn't missed a beat. I've currently got two more track days booked. One at the Lotus test track at Hethel, and the second at Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. I'm really looking forward to Brands. I love the GP circuit but had a few issues there last time (including failing the drive by noise meter). Fingers crossed this time will be better!
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