VX220 for track, competition and shopping.

VX220 for track, competition and shopping.

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speedtwelve

Original Poster:

3,510 posts

272 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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16 years ago I had a drive in an Elise S1 Sport 135. Shortly after I had a go in a VX220 Turbo. I was hooked, and had to have something similar. I got a little distracted en route and bought cars ranging from a rustbucket Italian turbocharged hot-hatch and rubber-band-powered MX5 to a 6.0l LS2 Monaro and V8 TVR via everything in between. Earlier this year I finally admitted that using the 1700kg 400bhp Monaro for car club autosolos wasn't ideal. Fun car though it was, it often felt like trying to drive the APC from Aliens through a multi-storey car park. Monaro gone. Hello VX220.

I looked at Elise S1, S2 and VX220 NA. I realise the Elise is marginally the purer driver's car, but after a year in the Mad Max truck I wasn't that fussed about the last nth degree of steering feel. Prefer the looks of the VX anyway. Found one in my preferred colour with hardtop; makes it look a bit more GT car/Exigey. Incidentally, I drove a couple of VX220 Turbos and didn't reckon the extra performance made the car any more fun to drive, so saved a few grand with the 2.2 NA.

The car is standard other than VX VSE exhaust, which makes the car sound a bit more meaty. It sounds OK, but I'm still suffering V8 withdrawal. Otherwise it drives like most other Elise-type cars drive. When I bought the car it had rock-hard 10+ year-old Bridgestones on the front, with recent rears made by some random Chinese tyre & dangerous toy company. An excellent combination, congratulations to the previous owner on surviving. I fitted Goodyear Eagle F1s all round the first week I had the car. Ride is now much less crashy than before; I was surprised how 'firm' 10 year-old sidewalls are... I also unbolted the hardtop in the recent good weather and ran with the soft roof. Yet again, the ride seems better. It feels like the hardtop paradoxically induces what feels like scuttle shake over manhole covers etc, whereas without it the whole car seems a bit more compliant.

The OE halogen headlights were, well, arse. Fitted Elise-Shop Hurricane HID lights which are a revelation for £70 or so. First autosolo next month, followed by first trackday. More later.





CABC

5,528 posts

100 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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good call on NA. looks gorgeous.
could be time for a suspension refresh/upgrade too? spend what you're saving on depreciation making it perfect!

speedtwelve

Original Poster:

3,510 posts

272 months

Friday 26th August 2016
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Cheers. Still on the original Bilsteins at the moment. The car's done 67k; the plan is to eventually put Nitrons or similar on, with some bush/steering component refresh as you say. I'll see how it handles on track first.

Fonzey

2,056 posts

126 months

Friday 26th August 2016
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Nice, good choice. I got an Elise early this year and loving it so far - don't miss the power from my ~400bhp Subaru at all.

speedtwelve

Original Poster:

3,510 posts

272 months

Friday 26th August 2016
quotequote all
I don't miss having power either. There were few opportunities to let the Monaro off the leash, and when I did restraint/common sense soon kicked-in anyway. With the VX220 I can still have fun at 'normal' speeds.

p4cks

6,885 posts

198 months

Friday 26th August 2016
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The thinking mans' Elise. Excellent choice, I'm on my 7th.

Agreed about the NA - I've had 5 NAs and 2 Turbos and I much prefer the power delivery in the NA. It just feels perfect, as opposed to the Turbo which is like a switch.

I've heard the SCs are good though wink

HoggyR32

341 posts

147 months

Friday 26th August 2016
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I'm liking the "thinking mans Elise" line wink

Same colour as mine, although I opted for the turbo. Such good fun little cars! Enjoy it fella

speedtwelve

Original Poster:

3,510 posts

272 months

Saturday 27th August 2016
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Part of the attraction of the NA rather than forced-induction was that I could use most of the performance without a) ending up in a field upside-down and/or b) going to jail. Similar to the Chimaera 4.0 I had; TVR noise, performance and fun, but without the sphincter-twitching near-death-experience of a 5.0 or Cerbera. Maybe I'm getting soft....

tharriso

108 posts

124 months

Sunday 28th August 2016
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A good start safety wise is new hub carrier bolts (also referred to as ball joint plinth bolts) and new rear toe links if still OE.

If these fail you lose control of the car so it is the received wisdom to keep them in good nick. If you put track tyres on then it is even more important as you put more strain through them.

Cupramax

10,469 posts

251 months

Sunday 28th August 2016
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tharriso said:
If these fail you lose control of the car so it is the received wisdom to keep them in good nick.
Perceived wink

speedtwelve

Original Poster:

3,510 posts

272 months

Monday 29th August 2016
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Tharriso

Yes, although running road tyres I do plan to put the higher tensile bolts etc on the car. I'm pretty sure they're still the originals. There's a YT clip of a VX220 owner tracking his car at Croft when the hub-carrier bolts went, resulting in an unplanned trip into the scenery.

johnwilliams77

8,308 posts

102 months

Tuesday 30th August 2016
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p4cks said:
The poor mans' Elise.
EFA wink

tharriso

108 posts

124 months

Tuesday 30th August 2016
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Cupramax said:
Perceived wink
Think I had it right first time but thanks for having my back mate wink

Mansells Tash

5,713 posts

205 months

Tuesday 30th August 2016
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I'm surprised to see that the value of these has gone up, in 2008 when I was after one, a decent low mile 2.2 was 8,000GBP.

speedtwelve

Original Poster:

3,510 posts

272 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
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A long overdue update: Have done 3 trackdays so far, Silverstone National with PH last October and again earlier this month, Abingdon last December with MSE. The car went well in wet & dry, exactly what I want from a light-ish track car. I also did an Autosolo in it last year with Farnborough Motor Club, something I've normally used my Mk3 MR2 for. I struggled with a lack of steering lock on the tighter sections, and a surfeit of grip (and lack of LSD) meant that it was difficult to get the tail out to point the car at low speed, something that the MR2 was better at.

Faster, more sweeping track stuff is more the car's forte, and I've decided to do some sprints this year. MSA Nat 'B' non-race licence has arrived.



Abingdon, great fun for an airfield circuit.

First time out at Silverstone the pedal suddenly went to the floor, resulting in a Code Brown going into Copse. I've now replaced the black watercolour paint that was in the braking system with Motul RBF660 fluid, fitted new discs all round, and have EBC Yellowstuff pads on the front. Much better.

The original Bilsteins, although fine on-track, were giving a very crashy ride on the road. The springs also looked like they'd been rescued from the ocean floor. Ordered some Quantum Zero coilovers, and after a chat with a very helpful Ian from Elise Parts settled on trackday springs 300 front, 400 rear. Very happy with the result. Much better ride and damping on the road, with sharper steering. In retrospect, the Bilsteins were obviously shot, and in recent weeks had rapidly deteriorated, with the spine-shattering crashes now accompanied by a bouncy-castle experience. I reckon at least one of the rears was doing no damping at all. I've also fitted new Elise Shop track-rod ends and had the geo done.





First event in a week's time at Abingdon Long Circuit sprint.

AH33

2,066 posts

134 months

Thursday 30th March 2017
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Mansells Tash said:
I'm surprised to see that the value of these has gone up, in 2008 when I was after one, a decent low mile 2.2 was 8,000GBP.
Aw man, I could have had a free one for the last few years.

Nice one OP

speedtwelve

Original Poster:

3,510 posts

272 months

Saturday 15th April 2017
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First proper competition event last week. The car is still in one piece! For those that are unfamiliar, 'speed' events comprise sprints & hillclimbs. Timed from a standing start over a fixed course, one car at a time (mainly). This new event at Abingdon is quite long for a sprint course (it combines two separate layouts from the annual summer CAR-nival sprint).






Classes exist for everything from daily-driven hatches to ex-F1 cars. As I was in a road car class the mods required to the car are minimal; yellow tape on the battery earth cable, an ON-OFF sticker by the ignition, and a black timing strut on the front of the car to trigger the timing beams. I bodged one by cutting a hard plastic storage box with my Dremel. After wincing through the bombardment of hot molten plastic splatter I wrapped it in black tape and had a functional but somewhat wobbly strut that managed to pass scrutineering. That process was quite informal BTW. Noise testing involved being asked to blip the throttle once! Cars potentially closer to the dB limit had the usual noise meter at 4500rpm thing. Otherwise it was a quick check that the tyres weren't flat followed by a bloke inspecting my helmet. Fnarr.

4 runs in total; 2 practice, 2 competitive, all timed, spread throughout the day. My first run time was within a second of my final one. Not exactly improving, but I did come 51st out of 102 entrants overall. I had my arse handed to me on a plate within the A8 class I was competing in. The VX220 is in with Caterham R500s and such like. Very friendly paddock, good to have a wander and a chat with owners of some fantastic machinery.

The new suspension has fixed rates, so not much to play with other than tyre pressures. 3 psi makes all the difference to the handling, and at one point had the rears a little too pumped; very pointy and drifty in the low-speed sections, but spun the thing at 80mph after going over a cracked seam in the airfield surface. After some new pants I tweaked the tyre pressures back to a more neutral setting and took it a bit easier.

Some may consider £100+ entry fee for less than 10 mins on-track to be poor value, but it's certainly an adrenaline rush. I still plan to do trackdays too; next one in May, then the 8-run Abingdon CAR-nival sprint in June. Think I'll make a metal timing strut in the meantime.













Actus Reus

4,229 posts

154 months

Sunday 16th April 2017
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Have you considered changing the wheel sizes? I don't compete at all, but pressing on on a Car Limits day all mine wanted to do was understeer as the narrow fronts were letting go way before the rears. Couple that with a group buy on VXR-style Speedlines on .org and I'm going to take the plunge I think.

speedtwelve

Original Poster:

3,510 posts

272 months

Wednesday 17th May 2017
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Sorry Actus, missed your post.

The car is on the standard 17" wheels, but I've fitted 195/45/17 Eagle F1s on the front to replace the 175/55/17 Bridgestones that it had before. More front end, less understeer, but it has slightly blunted the steering feel.


james_gt3rs

4,816 posts

190 months

Thursday 18th May 2017
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Well worth fitting an uprated anti roll bar too.