My Lotus Evora 400 & Video Diary
Discussion
McSam said:
Enjoying the videos, good presenting style, nicely shot and the car is of course lovely - especially in that photo above!
Liked the "pure driving" video, it sounds superb when you get it wide open, much more purposeful than I expected. Where are you recording sound from, the camera mounted on the rear? Just need to get your rev-matching sorted and then it'll sound really perfect
One thing that struck me was the cost of tyres. What tyres are they, and in which sizes? £850 seems pretty extreme - even to a 6-Series owner!
Hi SamLiked the "pure driving" video, it sounds superb when you get it wide open, much more purposeful than I expected. Where are you recording sound from, the camera mounted on the rear? Just need to get your rev-matching sorted and then it'll sound really perfect
One thing that struck me was the cost of tyres. What tyres are they, and in which sizes? £850 seems pretty extreme - even to a 6-Series owner!
The spec for 400 tyres is:
FRONT 235/35/19
REAR 285/30/20
Michelin Pilot Super Sports
I think it's pretty reasonable given the sizes of them. I was quite surprised actually. My 6 series, as with many new cars, was equipped with run-flats and even in 19" sizes they were about £350 a tyre on the rear.
Here's a nice big video update. This one's been a while in the works, but recently I was able to bag a 355 for a very brief drive so performed an impromptu 355 vs Evora debate.
This is the link:
What other cars would you like me to see if I can compare the Lotus against?
ETA
Sorry, monetised clips are not allowed.
This is the link:
What other cars would you like me to see if I can compare the Lotus against?
ETA
Sorry, monetised clips are not allowed.
Edited by Big Al. on Monday 6th June 17:11
The Crack Fox said:
Love the car. To offer some constructive criticism, no-one will watch half an hour of a home-made film. Get it down to 5 minutes, max, and I'm sure folks will follow. Good luck 
Thankyou.Length is something I am constantly watching. I am trying to get most videos to the 10-12 minute mark. Some are going to be longer, some shorter. Where I can I am dividing the videos up. This particular video started off over half an hour, I sliced about eight minutes out of it. I didn't want to ditch too much.
My most watched video is my first one, which is 29 minutes long. I'm trying to make that an exception rather than a rule.
Out of curiosity, have you watched any of the videos? Do you consider them "home made"? I'm trying to make them to the highest standards possible with a two-man crew, each video is getting better as we go along.
Edited by jayemm89 on Tuesday 31st May 16:15
We have a car mount now, I took some time finding one that I was happy mounting our main camera on. You'll start to see videos coming through now with much improved interior shots.
A camera guy is however essential for stuff where I'm outside the car and talking to camera, as I would like to avoid the go-pro-on-selfie-stick look where possible. There may be some videos of that ilk, but I am trying to keep them to a minimum.
There's a delay of 7-10 days between these videos being shot and posted, partly due to my slow-ass internet, partly because I want to moderate output and not just stick everything up at once. So alongside the camera mount, we now also have a radio mic which has improved sound quality for the newer videos considerably too.
We're getting there, slowly
A camera guy is however essential for stuff where I'm outside the car and talking to camera, as I would like to avoid the go-pro-on-selfie-stick look where possible. There may be some videos of that ilk, but I am trying to keep them to a minimum.
There's a delay of 7-10 days between these videos being shot and posted, partly due to my slow-ass internet, partly because I want to moderate output and not just stick everything up at once. So alongside the camera mount, we now also have a radio mic which has improved sound quality for the newer videos considerably too.
We're getting there, slowly
lockhart flawse said:
Good effort but couldn't hear the Ferrari very well.
There will be, in the near future, a "bonus" video of outtakes and things which will include more Ferrari noise. We were really time limited on the day, I did also do one shot of the Ferrari in full-chat flyby, but found out in the evening my stand-in cameraman hadn't pressed the record button when I told him. Never mind 
Plenty of 355 sound clips online though, they are awesome cars.
Thanks Spud - that's what I'm aiming for.
As there is more and more content there'll be a mix of things - videos will be from one minute to half an hour, depending on topic. I've just organised my next big feature, which will be a comparison of the last of the Esprits. Worth noting it's only the Evora 400 that finally eclipsed the Esprit's record of most powerful road-going Lotus ever. The Evora S was a few bhp short.
I don't really script as such, but I know the beats I want to hit and generally go over it in my head a few times the night before. It's a learning process for me, I'm much more used to being the other side of the camera!
As there is more and more content there'll be a mix of things - videos will be from one minute to half an hour, depending on topic. I've just organised my next big feature, which will be a comparison of the last of the Esprits. Worth noting it's only the Evora 400 that finally eclipsed the Esprit's record of most powerful road-going Lotus ever. The Evora S was a few bhp short.
I don't really script as such, but I know the beats I want to hit and generally go over it in my head a few times the night before. It's a learning process for me, I'm much more used to being the other side of the camera!
The 400 is definitely a harder car than the S1 Evora. That's fine by me, because if I wanted a more luxurious GT car I would have probably gone with an Aston or similar. As it was, I wanted a car with the world-famous Lotus handling, but just enough practicality that I could use it for weekends away etc...
Here's the next video in the series. This is actually one of the more recent ones to be finished, but I wanted to post up a shorter video before any more long ones go up.
This video shows five little things I really like about the car which aren't particularly obvious before you buy.
ETA
Sorry, monetised clips are not allowed.
This video shows five little things I really like about the car which aren't particularly obvious before you buy.
ETA
Sorry, monetised clips are not allowed.
Edited by Big Al. on Monday 6th June 17:10
Yeah, the aim initially was to really just put more information about the Evora out there. It's amazing that for a model which is now seven years old there's just so little about them. If you want to know about nearly any Ferrari, Audi, BMW, Porsche or Mercedes from the last 20 years there is shedloads out there. This Lotus, sod all. A shame really because they're a great car. Will they ever sell in 911 quantities? Not a chance - but there's probably a lot of guys out there with 911s who would be much more pleased with this!
Indeed - I think there's a lot of guys out there who've decided they want a 911 and don't realise the Evora is even out there.
I am going to do a video in the near future discussing why I think guys who previously bought 911s would actually love the car. After all, a lot of people don't like the fact that the 911 now has electric steering, that it's gotten so big, that it's full of electronic trickery, that it's turbocharged, that it's now often over £100k when specced. Those guys would love the Evora. And I don't really think you're giving up much at all for such huge gains in the fun department.
I am going to do a video in the near future discussing why I think guys who previously bought 911s would actually love the car. After all, a lot of people don't like the fact that the 911 now has electric steering, that it's gotten so big, that it's full of electronic trickery, that it's turbocharged, that it's now often over £100k when specced. Those guys would love the Evora. And I don't really think you're giving up much at all for such huge gains in the fun department.
Nice little bonus - I just calculated my MPG from a recent tank of fuel on mixed roads, 27MPG!
The only annoying thing is the fuel counter is very pessimistic - I keep thinking the car is bone dry only to find it had another 12l in the tank, so I keep thinking the car has poor range. In reality 300 miles per tank should be easily achievable - not bad considering it is a relatively small tank at 60l.
MPG on cars of this price is hardly a deal-breaker, but its a nice thing to have and will probably be much appreciated on longer trips.
The only annoying thing is the fuel counter is very pessimistic - I keep thinking the car is bone dry only to find it had another 12l in the tank, so I keep thinking the car has poor range. In reality 300 miles per tank should be easily achievable - not bad considering it is a relatively small tank at 60l.
MPG on cars of this price is hardly a deal-breaker, but its a nice thing to have and will probably be much appreciated on longer trips.
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