Spa in the Exige
Discussion
Thought i'd share some footage of my Exige S at Spa from a few weeks back. Second time i'd been but this time I had the 2 way Lotus spec Ohlins on there - what a difference!
I still can't believe this car. It drove me from Poole to Spa, then did 2 days of track work, then onto the Ring Gp track and Nordshleife, then home and didn't skip a beat. About 400 track miles! Plus it did Spa last year, and 6 UK track days. I'm still on the original brakes
Enjoy
http://www.vimeo.com/5856530
I still can't believe this car. It drove me from Poole to Spa, then did 2 days of track work, then onto the Ring Gp track and Nordshleife, then home and didn't skip a beat. About 400 track miles! Plus it did Spa last year, and 6 UK track days. I'm still on the original brakes
Enjoy
http://www.vimeo.com/5856530
It's brilliant - you will have a great time i'm sure.
Also confused about my brakes, I am not a monster hard braker, I try and be smooth but i'm not easy on them either! They do need replacing now though
One thing I found on the Exige is that the cooling holes int he discs were getting blocked up wuite quickly. This will lead to heat cracks. I was poking the dust out of them a couple of times per day, which is worth doing.
Also confused about my brakes, I am not a monster hard braker, I try and be smooth but i'm not easy on them either! They do need replacing now though
One thing I found on the Exige is that the cooling holes int he discs were getting blocked up wuite quickly. This will lead to heat cracks. I was poking the dust out of them a couple of times per day, which is worth doing.
MB 1 said:
Thought i'd share some footage of my Exige S at Spa from a few weeks back. Second time i'd been but this time I had the 2 way Lotus spec Ohlins on there - what a difference!
I still can't believe this car. It drove me from Poole to Spa, then did 2 days of track work, then onto the Ring Gp track and Nordshleife, then home and didn't skip a beat. About 400 track miles! Plus it did Spa last year, and 6 UK track days. I'm still on the original brakes
Enjoy
http://www.vimeo.com/5856530
This is what life is all about!!! I still can't believe this car. It drove me from Poole to Spa, then did 2 days of track work, then onto the Ring Gp track and Nordshleife, then home and didn't skip a beat. About 400 track miles! Plus it did Spa last year, and 6 UK track days. I'm still on the original brakes
Enjoy
http://www.vimeo.com/5856530
So the Ohlins - Maybe I should get some for the Elise R, do you find them equally good on the road ?
Are you running an uprated toe link and does your Exige come with any extra packs e.g. Super sports?
The Ohlins have made a massive difference, as much on the road as on track. After having them fitted, and set to the Lotus road settings it was much smoother on the road, but also cornered better. I found that hard to fathom but that's what adjustable bump and rebound does for you!
I only drive it on the road to get to a track, so not that fussed but it's definately better.
On the track it's massively better. I ended up on full hard all round for Spa, and worked a treat. No roll, sharper into corners, and also solved a wheel hop problem I was having (I have 250 bhp on a Gotham ECU) Last year I felt a bit inhibited by the standard suspension setup - but I went out in a mates car with Ohlins and decided within minutes that I had to have the same. Transformed the car!
My car is otherwise standard in terms of toe links, brakes etc. It's the sport veriosn with oil cooler and harnesses etc.
I only drive it on the road to get to a track, so not that fussed but it's definately better.
On the track it's massively better. I ended up on full hard all round for Spa, and worked a treat. No roll, sharper into corners, and also solved a wheel hop problem I was having (I have 250 bhp on a Gotham ECU) Last year I felt a bit inhibited by the standard suspension setup - but I went out in a mates car with Ohlins and decided within minutes that I had to have the same. Transformed the car!
My car is otherwise standard in terms of toe links, brakes etc. It's the sport veriosn with oil cooler and harnesses etc.
Edited by MB 1 on Thursday 20th August 11:20
MB 1 said:
The Ohlins have made a massive difference, as much on the road as on track. After having them fitted, and set to the Lotus road settings it was much smoother on the road, but also cornered better. I found that hard to fathom but that's what adjustable bump and rebound does for you!
I only drive it on the road to get to a track, so not that fussed but it's definately better.
On the track it's massively better. I ended up on full hard all round for Spa, and worked a treat. No roll, sharper into corners, and also solved a wheel hop problem I was having (I have 250 bhp on a Gotham ECU) Last year I felt a bit inhibited by the standard suspension setup - but I went out in a mates car with Ohlins and decided within minutes that I had to have the same. Transformed the car!
My car is otherwise standard in terms of toe links, brakes etc. It's the sport veriosn with oil cooler and harnesses etc.
Sounds like I am going to be about 2.5K poorer -Thanks !I only drive it on the road to get to a track, so not that fussed but it's definately better.
On the track it's massively better. I ended up on full hard all round for Spa, and worked a treat. No roll, sharper into corners, and also solved a wheel hop problem I was having (I have 250 bhp on a Gotham ECU) Last year I felt a bit inhibited by the standard suspension setup - but I went out in a mates car with Ohlins and decided within minutes that I had to have the same. Transformed the car!
My car is otherwise standard in terms of toe links, brakes etc. It's the sport veriosn with oil cooler and harnesses etc.
Edited by MB 1 on Thursday 20th August 11:20
at the risk of upsetting the OP (sorry ), i just dumped my 2-way ohlins in favour of 1-way nitron/eibach setup and the difference is night and day.
way better on track, way better on road.
the nitrons are cheaper too.
the improvement from ohlin to nitron, is actually bigger than the improvement from stock bilstein to ohlins.
), i just dumped my 2-way ohlins in favour of 1-way nitron/eibach setup and the difference is night and day.way better on track, way better on road.
the nitrons are cheaper too.
the improvement from ohlin to nitron, is actually bigger than the improvement from stock bilstein to ohlins.
aceofspades said:
at the risk of upsetting the OP (sorry ), i just dumped my 2-way ohlins in favour of 1-way nitron/eibach setup and the difference is night and day.
way better on track, way better on road.
the nitrons are cheaper too.
the improvement from ohlin to nitron, is actually bigger than the improvement from stock bilstein to ohlins.
What set up were you running on the Ohlins as they are very sensitive to minor adjustments?), i just dumped my 2-way ohlins in favour of 1-way nitron/eibach setup and the difference is night and day.way better on track, way better on road.
the nitrons are cheaper too.
the improvement from ohlin to nitron, is actually bigger than the improvement from stock bilstein to ohlins.
They seem to perform very well on the road but are'nt as good as Nitrons on track.
To say the difference is 'night and day' sounds like you did'nt have them set up right in the first place,they're not that bad
The Bandit said:
What set up were you running on the Ohlins as they are very sensitive to minor adjustments?
They seem to perform very well on the road but are'nt as good as Nitrons on track.
To say the difference is 'night and day' sounds like you did'nt have them set up right in the first place,they're not that bad
i should give a bit more detail - i think the improvement i'm seeing in road driving is more down to the uprated springs than the change of dampers.They seem to perform very well on the road but are'nt as good as Nitrons on track.
To say the difference is 'night and day' sounds like you did'nt have them set up right in the first place,they're not that bad
i was running the default lotus ohlin setup with 325/425 pounts front/rear. i tend to drive on fairly crap roads some of the time and the car was crashing over bumps everywhere. this probably contributed to the reliability problems i had with the ohlins - after exactly one year, one of the front dampers let all its oil out. since they were a year old, i got all four rebuilt. then only three months later, the rebound control on a rear damper gradually seized. and then i noticed a slight weep from the other front damper. i spent a lot of time fiddling with them - with much help from experienced lotus racers who were familiar with all elise/exige suspension setups - and while they were better than the bilsteins on track, i didn't really see any benefit on the road (again, the spring rates being low was probably the problem here).
now i have the 450/575 pound springs on and the car happily glides over road bumps, and is way more composed on track.
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