Lotus Elise 111R
Discussion
I finally got the right set of Pagids sorted so threw those in on Friday. No in progress pics but look! Proof!
The old pads had LOADS of meat left, infact they looked almost new. I didn't want to risk taking OEM grade pads on track though, been there before and it's a quick way to waste a day. Still, the OEMs will be kept aside for a rainy day.
Been and done 30miles or so, mercifully the RS42's don't squeal at all. Not really stomped on them yet, will see if I can get another 50miles or so done tomorrow then will give them a few hard stops from a high speed of a round number to make sure they're somewhat bedded in.
Was out early this morning, any excuse for a pic.
The old pads had LOADS of meat left, infact they looked almost new. I didn't want to risk taking OEM grade pads on track though, been there before and it's a quick way to waste a day. Still, the OEMs will be kept aside for a rainy day.
Been and done 30miles or so, mercifully the RS42's don't squeal at all. Not really stomped on them yet, will see if I can get another 50miles or so done tomorrow then will give them a few hard stops from a high speed of a round number to make sure they're somewhat bedded in.
Was out early this morning, any excuse for a pic.
Had my first time on track this week, a CarLimits circuit driver tuition day at Blyton Park.
I'd been really looking forward to it more than I have any track day previously, because finally I'd get to knuckle down and focus on my weak areas (of which I have many).
I woke up stupid early, and had a heart sinking moment when I saw the small river that replaced the road through our village
By the time I left, it had stopped raining but the roads were very wet so a slow drive to Blyton was in order.
Arrived in thick fog, no sign of the rain letting up and could barely see the first corner from the track entrance.
Soon met up with Andy Walsh (instructor for the day) and the other three participants for the day. A lad in an S1 Elise, an M235i thingy and an Evora made up the participation list with me. We'd have the circuit all to ourselves for the day.... if the circuit would ever open.
Finally got on track for 10:30'ish, and started with each of us taking Andy for a handful of "evaluation laps". Probably the worst laps I've ever done around Blyton, not just slow because of the rain but lines all over the place, hand position on the wheel all awkward and generally just a crap 5 minutes on track. It must have been nerves or something, but nontheless Andy made some good observations about my mannerisms in the car and despite the very slow pace he identified issues that I can work on whenever I visit a circuit.
After we'd all done our eval laps, he split us up into different corners of the circuit to do some excercises. I started with a figure eight to get my hand positions right going from lock to lock quickly and accurately while two others did heavy braking on the straights and the final guy went to do oversteer/spin control round bunga bunga.
I soon got the hang of the figure 8 hand positioning, started having a bit of fun kicking the back out on the transition and then got so dizzy and car sick I had to come in!
Next up, heavy braking. Andy set two cones out at an arbitrary distance apart and then instructed me to get to 70mph for the first cone and slam on, see where I stopped in relation to cone #2 and then work from there.
I stopped up about 3 car lengths AFTER cone #2 and then Andy had a go, first time ever in my car and he stopped 2 car lengths before the cone - and not a hint of ABS despite considerable standing water.
He explained the physics, I needed to relax brake pressure when I sensed ABS was about to activate and off I went - sure enough before long was consistently stopping before the cone - probably knocked 30m or so off my initial braking distance.
Back to the pits impressed, then off for lunch.
The rain worsened over lunch and the circuit was borderline lethal at this point. The format of the day was supposed to allow us free reign of the circuit in the afternoon to work on the full track and have Andy help us improve our pace, but we had no chance of that.
Confined to my final excercise of oversteer/spin control on Bunga Bunga. Andy put me on a line through the corner (which you would never take in the dry/normally) to specifically induce a spin at slow speeds - then taught the various approaches to "catching it".
First up, simply letting go of the wheel straightend the car from a near 90degrees angle and left me safely rolling into the runoff zone. Then tried to use my hands to control the slide AND keep it on the track, and that's when the spinning started
A few corners later and I was reliably catching slides and keeping it roughly between the lines. Great fun and felt I was learning lots. What I was struggling to do though was catch the slides which required more than an armful of lock, by using the "correct" hand positioning. By letting go of the wheel a bit and controling it through my hands I did much better... but that's not the proper way! Must improve
I did a few sessions like this, only caught the first on GoPro as I guess one of my spins sent the gopro pointing to the floor at somepoint... but uploaded a few attempts of the corner here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohMraf-R7kc
After a visit to the bathroom, I was eager to get back out but was greeted with this
Looks like I picked up a screw at somepoint and ripped it out presumably whilst going sideways. The tyre would hold zero PSI and as such, had to await an AA man to come temp repair it and get me home! Luckily a chap arrived in a camper for an overnight stay before the Javelin event on the following day, so he invited me in for a cuppa while I waited! Hope you had a good day Martin if you're out there...
Overall, the day was very useful. I wouldn't use the word "humbling" as many do, as I was already pretty aware of how crap I was :lol:. That said, due to the weather the day also felt like a massive wasted opportunity, I would have loved to have settled into my groove around a very familiar track and have a proper driver help me improve, and help me learn the limit of this new car at higher speeds in the dry.
With that in mind, I WILL book another day with Andy, and I'd really recommend that anyone else does the same. He teaches from utter novices to current F1 drivers so he can adapt his sessions from learning hand positions to shaving 10ths off depending on the capability of the participant.
I'm going to get the tyre repaired, it's smack in the middle of the tread and it's a front tyre which doesn't get quite as much abuse in the Lotus. Spoke to a few people who have run repaired tyres on track and nobody seems too scared of it.
Another "almost issue" I had with the car was my battery. It is clamped down in the boot by one of those base clamps that holds the flared base of the battery. The battery had shuffled towards the rear of the car and was about 1/2 inch from coming free of the clamp completely. That would have been a smashed rear clam and a few grand to sort... so need to research more substantial battery clamp options.
I'd been really looking forward to it more than I have any track day previously, because finally I'd get to knuckle down and focus on my weak areas (of which I have many).
I woke up stupid early, and had a heart sinking moment when I saw the small river that replaced the road through our village
By the time I left, it had stopped raining but the roads were very wet so a slow drive to Blyton was in order.Arrived in thick fog, no sign of the rain letting up and could barely see the first corner from the track entrance.
Soon met up with Andy Walsh (instructor for the day) and the other three participants for the day. A lad in an S1 Elise, an M235i thingy and an Evora made up the participation list with me. We'd have the circuit all to ourselves for the day.... if the circuit would ever open.
Finally got on track for 10:30'ish, and started with each of us taking Andy for a handful of "evaluation laps". Probably the worst laps I've ever done around Blyton, not just slow because of the rain but lines all over the place, hand position on the wheel all awkward and generally just a crap 5 minutes on track. It must have been nerves or something, but nontheless Andy made some good observations about my mannerisms in the car and despite the very slow pace he identified issues that I can work on whenever I visit a circuit.
After we'd all done our eval laps, he split us up into different corners of the circuit to do some excercises. I started with a figure eight to get my hand positions right going from lock to lock quickly and accurately while two others did heavy braking on the straights and the final guy went to do oversteer/spin control round bunga bunga.
I soon got the hang of the figure 8 hand positioning, started having a bit of fun kicking the back out on the transition and then got so dizzy and car sick I had to come in!
Next up, heavy braking. Andy set two cones out at an arbitrary distance apart and then instructed me to get to 70mph for the first cone and slam on, see where I stopped in relation to cone #2 and then work from there.
I stopped up about 3 car lengths AFTER cone #2 and then Andy had a go, first time ever in my car and he stopped 2 car lengths before the cone - and not a hint of ABS despite considerable standing water.
He explained the physics, I needed to relax brake pressure when I sensed ABS was about to activate and off I went - sure enough before long was consistently stopping before the cone - probably knocked 30m or so off my initial braking distance.
Back to the pits impressed, then off for lunch.
The rain worsened over lunch and the circuit was borderline lethal at this point. The format of the day was supposed to allow us free reign of the circuit in the afternoon to work on the full track and have Andy help us improve our pace, but we had no chance of that.
Confined to my final excercise of oversteer/spin control on Bunga Bunga. Andy put me on a line through the corner (which you would never take in the dry/normally) to specifically induce a spin at slow speeds - then taught the various approaches to "catching it".
First up, simply letting go of the wheel straightend the car from a near 90degrees angle and left me safely rolling into the runoff zone. Then tried to use my hands to control the slide AND keep it on the track, and that's when the spinning started
A few corners later and I was reliably catching slides and keeping it roughly between the lines. Great fun and felt I was learning lots. What I was struggling to do though was catch the slides which required more than an armful of lock, by using the "correct" hand positioning. By letting go of the wheel a bit and controling it through my hands I did much better... but that's not the proper way! Must improve
I did a few sessions like this, only caught the first on GoPro as I guess one of my spins sent the gopro pointing to the floor at somepoint... but uploaded a few attempts of the corner here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohMraf-R7kc
After a visit to the bathroom, I was eager to get back out but was greeted with this
Looks like I picked up a screw at somepoint and ripped it out presumably whilst going sideways. The tyre would hold zero PSI and as such, had to await an AA man to come temp repair it and get me home! Luckily a chap arrived in a camper for an overnight stay before the Javelin event on the following day, so he invited me in for a cuppa while I waited! Hope you had a good day Martin if you're out there...
Overall, the day was very useful. I wouldn't use the word "humbling" as many do, as I was already pretty aware of how crap I was :lol:. That said, due to the weather the day also felt like a massive wasted opportunity, I would have loved to have settled into my groove around a very familiar track and have a proper driver help me improve, and help me learn the limit of this new car at higher speeds in the dry.
With that in mind, I WILL book another day with Andy, and I'd really recommend that anyone else does the same. He teaches from utter novices to current F1 drivers so he can adapt his sessions from learning hand positions to shaving 10ths off depending on the capability of the participant.
I'm going to get the tyre repaired, it's smack in the middle of the tread and it's a front tyre which doesn't get quite as much abuse in the Lotus. Spoke to a few people who have run repaired tyres on track and nobody seems too scared of it.
Another "almost issue" I had with the car was my battery. It is clamped down in the boot by one of those base clamps that holds the flared base of the battery. The battery had shuffled towards the rear of the car and was about 1/2 inch from coming free of the clamp completely. That would have been a smashed rear clam and a few grand to sort... so need to research more substantial battery clamp options.
Got tyre repaired last night:
Still undecided whether I'll keep it long term or replace the front tyres completely. It's a £290 swing we're talking about but safety n' that.
Spoke to a few people who have no concerns tracking or even racing with repaired tyres but then others of course that would not risk it.
Also dropped a bit of a clanger with the car, it was so wet on the day and I got soaked, carpets in the car got soaked etc. I left the roof on the car in the garage for a few days and now the interior is a musty fusty mess, and stinks. Will give it a few days of airing out, hopefully no nasty mould or leccy gremlins show up.
Still undecided whether I'll keep it long term or replace the front tyres completely. It's a £290 swing we're talking about but safety n' that.
Spoke to a few people who have no concerns tracking or even racing with repaired tyres but then others of course that would not risk it.
Also dropped a bit of a clanger with the car, it was so wet on the day and I got soaked, carpets in the car got soaked etc. I left the roof on the car in the garage for a few days and now the interior is a musty fusty mess, and stinks. Will give it a few days of airing out, hopefully no nasty mould or leccy gremlins show up.
Good shout, thanks tickle.
I left it in the sun all day yesterday with roof off and carpets out and the Fust seems to have moved on but will look into one for sure.
Got my tyre repaired and fitted, the fitter said it balanced up fine but I've got a wobble at 80mph. Will take it for a second opinion I think.
I left it in the sun all day yesterday with roof off and carpets out and the Fust seems to have moved on but will look into one for sure.
Got my tyre repaired and fitted, the fitter said it balanced up fine but I've got a wobble at 80mph. Will take it for a second opinion I think.
It's been a busy week or so of tinkering on the Lotus. We've had some miserable weather recently so I got the car up on jack stands to address a couple of rattles I had.
I know rattle hunting in one of these is a futile job, but these were new rattles since fitting the toe links so just wanted to make sure everything was still torqued up, though I suspected the heatsheilds that I needed to butcher to fit the kit.
The rattles I found/fixed were as follows:
Both driver and passenger seats had come a bit loose :! Quick nip up and that's sorted, if they come loose again I'll consider some loctite.
Handbrake cable on the undertray, evidence of some scuffing on the undertray:
I had a little foam circle I think used to be a firewall grommet in the Subaru, so stuck it on.
Exhaust heatshields, the flat one pinned against the inside of the 'tailgate' had broken free of its mountings so refitted with some oversized washers.
The second one was the snailshell looking one that surrounded the U bend from the cat to the backbox, I had multiple attempts of adjusting it and ended up ripping it off and swapping it for some heatwrap leftovers I had from the Subaru.
The next thing I decided to tackle was my battery. I can't remember if I mentioned it yet, but after my CarLimits day I found my battery was *this* close to breaking loose of its bracket and smashing the f
k out of my rear clam from the inside. I didn't take any photos of my car specifically, but this is what the stock bracket looks like:
My battery had shuffled backwards towards the tail lights and was barely hanging on. My first aim was just to see if I could tighten up the clamp, but that allen bolt was completely seized into my boot floor. I tried grinding flats on to it, cutting the head off (removing the clamp) and then molegripping the stud out. Gallons of penetrating fluid, not budging at all.
It would seem the rear clam would need to come off to access the underside panel (to replace the bolt/fixing) so I planned out an alternative. In line with the OEM battery position are two bolts that hold the clam onto the rear section of the subframe/longeron things. I found a universal battery tray on Amazon and made up a cardboard template to trial fit. The tray would cover the space used by both longeron bolts... so that was my plan.
Few days later, the tray arrived:
...and roughly fitted:
(since tidied up the carpet, cap for the positive terminal and fitted some sticky foam strips to the brackets.
I'm pretty happy with it, Battery seems 10x more secure now. The only chance of it coming loose and bouncing around my boot is if the longeron bolts shear off... hopefully that doesn't happen :| I can also use the bracket for a small lightweight race battery if I decide to go that route.
While the car was on stands, I decided to tidy up the unknown service history. It's got stamps for each year, but nothing to indiciate when the plugs, gearbox oil or coolant has been done - so I'm assuming none of it has been done.
Plus out, I'm no sparkplug forensic expert but they seem OK to me. Gap was a little too narrow actually, would have expected old plugs to have had a wider gap tbh.
Pretty clean up here:
Got the news ones refitted with some dielectric grease on the boots.
Also dropped out the gearbox oil, forgot how bad this stuff stinks. Vile hateful stuff.
Used 2.5 of these, this stuff stinks too.
I got the Redline stuff as it apparently helps to quieten down the racket that the Toyota gearbox makes when fitted to the Lotus. I think it's something to do with the cable linkage vs the mechanical one it was supposed to have - but on overrun at certain rev ranges you get some nasty sound effects coming into the cabin. This oil has made it a bit quieter tbf, but it's still there if you listen for it.
Oil and filter was done a few weeks ago with new sump, so left that alone. Coolant I'll do later too, I think I'll need to swap my rad/fan out soon so will do it then.
Finally the car was ready to come down on its wheels, I fitted the OEM gypo wheels and tyres until my trackday. The rear A048s on the TDs are no longer legal, so will ferry them to Blyton in a couple of weeks and finish them off there before buying new ones.
Car was looking pretty sorry for itself after a week or so in the garage, covered in dust and greasy handprints so it got a proper wash this weekend. I gave the Megs DA kit a glowing review a few weeks ago but I've since decided that it DOES need an additional LSP as the finishing polish/wax in the kit just isn't offering much longevity.
I'm a Collinite virgin, so thought it was about time I gave it a try.
Also got some C4 for the large amounts of crappy black plastic on the Elise to blacken them up a bit. This stuff is great, lasts at least a year and is worth spending out on rather than re-applying back to black every two weeks...
The TD wheels got done too, a good polish and new coat of Poorboys. Looking good!
Ready to go, really does look naff on these wheels/tyres now though!
I know rattle hunting in one of these is a futile job, but these were new rattles since fitting the toe links so just wanted to make sure everything was still torqued up, though I suspected the heatsheilds that I needed to butcher to fit the kit.
The rattles I found/fixed were as follows:
Both driver and passenger seats had come a bit loose :! Quick nip up and that's sorted, if they come loose again I'll consider some loctite.
Handbrake cable on the undertray, evidence of some scuffing on the undertray:
I had a little foam circle I think used to be a firewall grommet in the Subaru, so stuck it on.
Exhaust heatshields, the flat one pinned against the inside of the 'tailgate' had broken free of its mountings so refitted with some oversized washers.
The second one was the snailshell looking one that surrounded the U bend from the cat to the backbox, I had multiple attempts of adjusting it and ended up ripping it off and swapping it for some heatwrap leftovers I had from the Subaru.
The next thing I decided to tackle was my battery. I can't remember if I mentioned it yet, but after my CarLimits day I found my battery was *this* close to breaking loose of its bracket and smashing the f
k out of my rear clam from the inside. I didn't take any photos of my car specifically, but this is what the stock bracket looks like:My battery had shuffled backwards towards the tail lights and was barely hanging on. My first aim was just to see if I could tighten up the clamp, but that allen bolt was completely seized into my boot floor. I tried grinding flats on to it, cutting the head off (removing the clamp) and then molegripping the stud out. Gallons of penetrating fluid, not budging at all.
It would seem the rear clam would need to come off to access the underside panel (to replace the bolt/fixing) so I planned out an alternative. In line with the OEM battery position are two bolts that hold the clam onto the rear section of the subframe/longeron things. I found a universal battery tray on Amazon and made up a cardboard template to trial fit. The tray would cover the space used by both longeron bolts... so that was my plan.
Few days later, the tray arrived:
...and roughly fitted:
(since tidied up the carpet, cap for the positive terminal and fitted some sticky foam strips to the brackets.
I'm pretty happy with it, Battery seems 10x more secure now. The only chance of it coming loose and bouncing around my boot is if the longeron bolts shear off... hopefully that doesn't happen :| I can also use the bracket for a small lightweight race battery if I decide to go that route.
While the car was on stands, I decided to tidy up the unknown service history. It's got stamps for each year, but nothing to indiciate when the plugs, gearbox oil or coolant has been done - so I'm assuming none of it has been done.
Plus out, I'm no sparkplug forensic expert but they seem OK to me. Gap was a little too narrow actually, would have expected old plugs to have had a wider gap tbh.
Pretty clean up here:
Got the news ones refitted with some dielectric grease on the boots.
Also dropped out the gearbox oil, forgot how bad this stuff stinks. Vile hateful stuff.
Used 2.5 of these, this stuff stinks too.
I got the Redline stuff as it apparently helps to quieten down the racket that the Toyota gearbox makes when fitted to the Lotus. I think it's something to do with the cable linkage vs the mechanical one it was supposed to have - but on overrun at certain rev ranges you get some nasty sound effects coming into the cabin. This oil has made it a bit quieter tbf, but it's still there if you listen for it.
Oil and filter was done a few weeks ago with new sump, so left that alone. Coolant I'll do later too, I think I'll need to swap my rad/fan out soon so will do it then.
Finally the car was ready to come down on its wheels, I fitted the OEM gypo wheels and tyres until my trackday. The rear A048s on the TDs are no longer legal, so will ferry them to Blyton in a couple of weeks and finish them off there before buying new ones.
Car was looking pretty sorry for itself after a week or so in the garage, covered in dust and greasy handprints so it got a proper wash this weekend. I gave the Megs DA kit a glowing review a few weeks ago but I've since decided that it DOES need an additional LSP as the finishing polish/wax in the kit just isn't offering much longevity.
I'm a Collinite virgin, so thought it was about time I gave it a try.
Also got some C4 for the large amounts of crappy black plastic on the Elise to blacken them up a bit. This stuff is great, lasts at least a year and is worth spending out on rather than re-applying back to black every two weeks...
The TD wheels got done too, a good polish and new coat of Poorboys. Looking good!
Ready to go, really does look naff on these wheels/tyres now though!
Woo finally done a track day, and it was sunny all day!
The trackday was organised by Lotus on Track and was at my local favourite... Blyton Park.
LoT run the day much like Javelin etc, except it's cheaper, exclusively Lotus/VX/Porsche attendees and they invite about half as many cars as Javelin.
I'd be driving on my standard wheels and mahogany bridgestones, with my brother in law kindly coming along in his Clio 197 support vehicle with my TDs and no-longer-road-legal A048s.
We met up and drove down with some work colleagues in an S1 111S, VX220 turbo and an S1 Exige who would also be attending. Arrived in good time and got the fancy wheels fitted.
Got the briefing done, then out for sighting laps. I was very nervous, weirdly. I remember having bad nerves at my first ever track day but only excitment since... but this was different. Once out on track, that of course subsided - especially when I realised the car wasn't going to kill me after chucking it into a bend.
I built up steadily in the morning sessions, only doing 5 or 6 hotlaps at a time and coming back in. The car was behaving fine, temperatures barely moving up and no sign of brake fade or inconsistency.
By lunch I had experienced a fair bit of movement in the rear of the car, nothing too dramatic and no spins - but primarily a flick of oversteer on turn-in when getting the line a bit wrong on a few of the corners, easily caught and no noticeable loss of momentum. Car felt great.
After lunch I attempted to pick up the pace a bit, but as my confidence grew it seemed my mental agility shrank and I was struggling to string good laps together. Can't blame traffic as the track was so quiet all day, and can't blame brakes or tyres as the car was incredibly consistent all day. Struggling to shift up from 2nd into 3rd was a pretty reliable indicator that I'd been out on track too long, I struggled with that change under hard acceleration when I first bought the car, and it showed again after I got a bit ragged out on the circuit.
Despite that, I got the odd good lap in and as my brother in law was feeling quite seasick - I got more time on track alone, which was actually a noticable difference in the Lotus vs the Subaru.
Car Feedback:
Obviously I'm still the weakest link in the car by far, but where I felt the car was a bit limited was in its feel on the higher speed direction change through Port Froid, it just felt a bit wallowy and didn't give me the confidence to carry the same sort of speed through as I did in the Subaru. There were a couple of scary looking spins on the day too which sent cars onto the infield grass at Port Froid, so maybe that slowed me down a bit.
I only suffered from loss of traction on exit a couple of times, and always the final 90 left before the start/finish line. Most of the time it would be a quick squeek from the inside rear but on a couple of laps I had it sliding around a bit. Having the cam change for all my power delivery helps here I guess, as the engine is quite dull through corners and only picks up once I'm straightening up, assuming I'm in the right gears at the right time.
Oversteer on turn-in was the most frequent reason for correcting something, but it was very easy to catch and never had to use more than a flick of opposite lock. Not driving hard enough, perhaps...
Braking was generally really good, really consistent and felt fantastic through the pedal. I did hear the odd squeel coming from the rears though suggesting that ABS let me lock up a touch, but I didn't have any drama as a result. I certainly don't feel the need to upgrade brakes anytime soon.
The power from this car didn't feel particularly low on this circuit, but it certainly seems to hit a brick wall at 100mph. Maybe I should have tried with the roof on for some drag reduction On a GP circuit I imagine the Elise might start feeling a little underpowered compared to the Subaru, but it felt fine at Blyton - corners seemed to come up at an alarming rate and saw similar top speeds as I did in the Subaru.
That said, after reviewing GoPro footage I'm a good 4secs per lap slower in the Lotus than I was in the Subaru on my final trackday in that car. I'm at the bottom of a steep learning curve though, and the car hasn't had any performance modifications yet - so that gives me a good benchmark to gauge improvements against.
Not a good day to by a fly...
Needless to say, can't wait to get back out. Probably another circuit next time, fancy Cadwell or Donnington but will see what comes up :thumbs:
Couple of videos that I uploaded so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDPeBDJ2dQ&fe...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJumD4_C6Ls&fe...
The trackday was organised by Lotus on Track and was at my local favourite... Blyton Park.
LoT run the day much like Javelin etc, except it's cheaper, exclusively Lotus/VX/Porsche attendees and they invite about half as many cars as Javelin.
I'd be driving on my standard wheels and mahogany bridgestones, with my brother in law kindly coming along in his Clio 197 support vehicle with my TDs and no-longer-road-legal A048s.
We met up and drove down with some work colleagues in an S1 111S, VX220 turbo and an S1 Exige who would also be attending. Arrived in good time and got the fancy wheels fitted.
Got the briefing done, then out for sighting laps. I was very nervous, weirdly. I remember having bad nerves at my first ever track day but only excitment since... but this was different. Once out on track, that of course subsided - especially when I realised the car wasn't going to kill me after chucking it into a bend.
I built up steadily in the morning sessions, only doing 5 or 6 hotlaps at a time and coming back in. The car was behaving fine, temperatures barely moving up and no sign of brake fade or inconsistency.
By lunch I had experienced a fair bit of movement in the rear of the car, nothing too dramatic and no spins - but primarily a flick of oversteer on turn-in when getting the line a bit wrong on a few of the corners, easily caught and no noticeable loss of momentum. Car felt great.
After lunch I attempted to pick up the pace a bit, but as my confidence grew it seemed my mental agility shrank and I was struggling to string good laps together. Can't blame traffic as the track was so quiet all day, and can't blame brakes or tyres as the car was incredibly consistent all day. Struggling to shift up from 2nd into 3rd was a pretty reliable indicator that I'd been out on track too long, I struggled with that change under hard acceleration when I first bought the car, and it showed again after I got a bit ragged out on the circuit.
Despite that, I got the odd good lap in and as my brother in law was feeling quite seasick - I got more time on track alone, which was actually a noticable difference in the Lotus vs the Subaru.
Car Feedback:
Obviously I'm still the weakest link in the car by far, but where I felt the car was a bit limited was in its feel on the higher speed direction change through Port Froid, it just felt a bit wallowy and didn't give me the confidence to carry the same sort of speed through as I did in the Subaru. There were a couple of scary looking spins on the day too which sent cars onto the infield grass at Port Froid, so maybe that slowed me down a bit.
I only suffered from loss of traction on exit a couple of times, and always the final 90 left before the start/finish line. Most of the time it would be a quick squeek from the inside rear but on a couple of laps I had it sliding around a bit. Having the cam change for all my power delivery helps here I guess, as the engine is quite dull through corners and only picks up once I'm straightening up, assuming I'm in the right gears at the right time.
Oversteer on turn-in was the most frequent reason for correcting something, but it was very easy to catch and never had to use more than a flick of opposite lock. Not driving hard enough, perhaps...
Braking was generally really good, really consistent and felt fantastic through the pedal. I did hear the odd squeel coming from the rears though suggesting that ABS let me lock up a touch, but I didn't have any drama as a result. I certainly don't feel the need to upgrade brakes anytime soon.
The power from this car didn't feel particularly low on this circuit, but it certainly seems to hit a brick wall at 100mph. Maybe I should have tried with the roof on for some drag reduction
On a GP circuit I imagine the Elise might start feeling a little underpowered compared to the Subaru, but it felt fine at Blyton - corners seemed to come up at an alarming rate and saw similar top speeds as I did in the Subaru.That said, after reviewing GoPro footage I'm a good 4secs per lap slower in the Lotus than I was in the Subaru on my final trackday in that car. I'm at the bottom of a steep learning curve though, and the car hasn't had any performance modifications yet - so that gives me a good benchmark to gauge improvements against.
Not a good day to by a fly...
Needless to say, can't wait to get back out. Probably another circuit next time, fancy Cadwell or Donnington but will see what comes up :thumbs:
Couple of videos that I uploaded so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDPeBDJ2dQ&fe...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJumD4_C6Ls&fe...
Rick101 said:
Looks pretty good to me.
I'm there on the 8th with Javelin.
Enjoy! Something I noticed at the weekend which is either a new development to the surface at Blyton or just that I never felt/experienced it in the Subaru, but the ripples in the tarmac in the braking zones adds a nice bit of character to what otherwise is sometimes criticised for being a character-less track.I'm there on the 8th with Javelin.
I think I mentioned a few times that my rear tyres were knackered, so time to address that today.
Camera doesn't do that justice, but less than a mm registers on my depth gauge!
I'd been checking pricing for a week or so, replacing just the rear A048s would have been knocking for £500 which I wasn't enthusiastic about paying considering a full set of R888R can be had for around £550 and a full set of Avon ZZR £600.
The Avon ZZR is the flavour of the month tyre at the moment for the Lotus guys, as it's the control tyre for most/all series currently being run. It's slated to be as good as the A048/R888 and lasts a bit longer.
I was toying between a set of ZZR and trying something a little different (read: cheaper) such as the Federal 595s or Nankang NS2R etc.
Then I had a chance conversation with Rob @ Rob Boston racing who offered me a set of used Avon ZZR. I went to his shop today to take a look and they're barely used at all, 4.5-5mm tread on the rears and I believe they're 6mm from new. Less than half the price of a new set all fitted and balanced
Leon could comfortably manage the old tyres and new mounted on wheels. Wonder how well the Cupra could tow and become a full time support vehicle
Camera doesn't do that justice, but less than a mm registers on my depth gauge!
I'd been checking pricing for a week or so, replacing just the rear A048s would have been knocking for £500 which I wasn't enthusiastic about paying considering a full set of R888R can be had for around £550 and a full set of Avon ZZR £600.
The Avon ZZR is the flavour of the month tyre at the moment for the Lotus guys, as it's the control tyre for most/all series currently being run. It's slated to be as good as the A048/R888 and lasts a bit longer.
I was toying between a set of ZZR and trying something a little different (read: cheaper) such as the Federal 595s or Nankang NS2R etc.
Then I had a chance conversation with Rob @ Rob Boston racing who offered me a set of used Avon ZZR. I went to his shop today to take a look and they're barely used at all, 4.5-5mm tread on the rears and I believe they're 6mm from new. Less than half the price of a new set all fitted and balanced
Leon could comfortably manage the old tyres and new mounted on wheels. Wonder how well the Cupra could tow and become a full time support vehicle
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