Discussion
Tried going out for hoons, but every time I go anywhere near my favourite roads at the moment, I end up getting stuck behind three cars who all think 35 mph is the appropriate speed to go *everywhere* unless there's a corner at which point they slow down to 15 mph. Or if there's a car coming the other way, they slam on the brakes - even if the road is wide enough for three cars abreast 
It's been *weeks* since I've been 'in luck' on the A264 i.e. not stuck behind a convoy of Sunday drivers 
So I thought 'sod this' and drove round the M25. One full loop later...
And there were enough contraflows and jams on the M25 to make the 'running in' valid... rather than sitting at one fixed rpm for hours on end. Besides, sitting at 6000 rpm in sixth gear would have attracted attention
It's been *weeks* since I've been 'in luck' on the A264 i.e. not stuck behind a convoy of Sunday drivers So I thought 'sod this' and drove round the M25. One full loop later...
And there were enough contraflows and jams on the M25 to make the 'running in' valid... rather than sitting at one fixed rpm for hours on end. Besides, sitting at 6000 rpm in sixth gear would have attracted attention
as you know, be careful!
was in mine last night coming back from parents, luckily i knew that a particular corner was going to have ice as water always runs off a field on to this adverse camber left hander, was doing approx 15mph 3rd gear steady very light throttle to keep the speed not gain any, and still found myself completely sideways
i can prove i was driving very sensibly by the way the wifey did not shout at me for being a tit!
anyway enough of me, you have fun, you've waited long enough for it
was in mine last night coming back from parents, luckily i knew that a particular corner was going to have ice as water always runs off a field on to this adverse camber left hander, was doing approx 15mph 3rd gear steady very light throttle to keep the speed not gain any, and still found myself completely sideways
i can prove i was driving very sensibly by the way the wifey did not shout at me for being a tit!
anyway enough of me, you have fun, you've waited long enough for it
kazste said:
as you know, be careful!
was in mine last night coming back from parents, luckily i knew that a particular corner was going to have ice as water always runs off a field on to this adverse camber left hander, was doing approx 15mph 3rd gear steady very light throttle to keep the speed not gain any, and still found myself completely sideways
Well I'll be honest, the A264 isn't exactly the safest road to hoon down in the current conditions. I went out to get miles on the car on Saturday, this time the GF wanted to come along so I went on the 'hoon loop' backwards - down to Tunbridge Wells, then on the A264 to East Grinstead, etc. Again stuck behind dead-slow types who were slowing to 10-15 mph on every sharp corner (the A264, for those who don't know it, is a twisty road with loads of up-down gradients - it's a road you can be nearly on the limits without breaking the NSL in many places, and therefore extremely entertaining, however it's not forgiving if you come off). Very frustrating. However the slowness was sort-of explained as we came to an unexpected stop - just past Stone Cross IIRC there's an uphill stretch which then turns sharply right at the crest of the hill - the right-hander is on-camber, and run-off from the farmer's field above it crosses the road. There was a load of what looked like slush on the road - could have been lots of salt to prevent ice, not sure. But the Exige wasn't troubled due to the winter tyres. 100 yards later we stop, and there's a Police temporary sign, and as we crawl past there's a small hatchback pointing towards us in the hedge / ditch on the other side of the road. No idea how anyone could have binned it coming the other way, so I'm assuming that the driver was going *my* way (i.e. towards East Grinstead), came over the crest, lost it on the slush / whatever, presumably either understeered and cannoned off the bank on our side of the road, or lift-off oversteer (it may have been a small Pug...) and spin resulting in the car facing from whence it came.was in mine last night coming back from parents, luckily i knew that a particular corner was going to have ice as water always runs off a field on to this adverse camber left hander, was doing approx 15mph 3rd gear steady very light throttle to keep the speed not gain any, and still found myself completely sideways
The police were just keeping traffic moving - there was no ambulance or any other obvious signs that the driver was in a bad way, so hopefully he/she was fine, if a bit shaken up.
There was a small-hatchback sized hole in the hedge the next day when I, again, got stuck behind dead-slow types on the same route, and hence gave up and looped the M25 instead. The 'slush' was *still* on the crest / apex of that corner... it would take out any driver going 'enthusiastically' without spotting the evident hazard. Black ice on some of those corners simply doesn't bear thinking about...
But it could be that all the corners on that road *are* pretty hairy at the moment and I'm just at a massive advantage due to the tyres I'm using. I'm noticing that it's incredibly easy to get the ABS kicking in, as it is incredibly easy to get the car moving about - so the roads must be incredibly greasy at the moment. All I can say is that I'm bloody glad that I don't have A048Rs on, there's no way I'd want to drive the necessary miles to run-in on *those* damn things in the current conditions...
Well done 
I'm suprised how long its taken you though thats a lot of restraint! I'd have stuck the sat nav on a route to York or somewhere avoiding motorways and gone for it 
Been told I need to do 3 hours varied driving to run my newly built engine in when its complete, its going in my track car though (no MOT or TAX), I'm debating on just propping the waste gate open and doing a trackday rather than going to the hassle of an MOT, take it gentle, still be faster than the corporate cars
I'm suprised how long its taken you though thats a lot of restraint! I'd have stuck the sat nav on a route to York or somewhere avoiding motorways and gone for it Been told I need to do 3 hours varied driving to run my newly built engine in when its complete, its going in my track car though (no MOT or TAX), I'm debating on just propping the waste gate open and doing a trackday rather than going to the hassle of an MOT, take it gentle, still be faster than the corporate cars
S Works said:
Glad it's run in mate.
Re: that point on the A264 is a classic point for that kind of accident. Have seen plenty in that place.
It's a great road though isn't it... but to be honest, I'm getting a roughly 1 in 10 probability that I'm lucky and get a third or more of the road to 'me' i.e. can have any fun on it at all. The other 9 out of 10 times, it's stuck behind 15 mph cornering slowcoaches. Can you recommend any other good roads in the area? I have my favourites but always up for recommendations. The trouble with the Exige is that any open, flowing roads mean 100+ mph and hence either big trouble with the law or BIG trouble in the case of an accident. Tight twisty stuff with gradients like the A264 mean fun below the NSL, though as you point out, not without risk...Re: that point on the A264 is a classic point for that kind of accident. Have seen plenty in that place.
Herman Toothrot said:
Well done I'm suprised how long its taken you though thats a lot of restraint! I'd have stuck the sat nav on a route to York or somewhere avoiding motorways and gone for it
Been told I need to do 3 hours varied driving to run my newly built engine in when its complete, its going in my track car though (no MOT or TAX), I'm debating on just propping the waste gate open and doing a trackday rather than going to the hassle of an MOT, take it gentle, still be faster than the corporate cars
It's taken me a long time because I picked it up in the snow - even with the correct tyres, long journeys on snow and ice meant longer exposure to the possibility of *someone else* crashing into my car (most people having no clue how to drive on snow), and I didn't really want to risk it. And I had two weeks down with swine flu, and when I got back to work it's been mental. So difficult to get *proper* miles on the car - even two hours on 'fun' roads averaging 30-50 mph (that's going fast) puts on less than 100 miles. Being stuck in traffic and behind Sunday drivers (I don't commute to work in a car) brings the average speed down to the point where I'd need to be spending every hour of every weekend behind the wheel... I'm suprised how long its taken you though thats a lot of restraint! I'd have stuck the sat nav on a route to York or somewhere avoiding motorways and gone for it Been told I need to do 3 hours varied driving to run my newly built engine in when its complete, its going in my track car though (no MOT or TAX), I'm debating on just propping the waste gate open and doing a trackday rather than going to the hassle of an MOT, take it gentle, still be faster than the corporate cars
In reality the only way to get 1000 miles on in a short timeframe is either to commute distance with the car, or to get on motorways / A roads and get the speed up to 70-90 so you get through a decent number of miles in an hour. Then, you've got to mess about with the gears to prevent the miles all being done at one engine speed, which is no good for running-in.
Lapping the M25 is pretty good actually because of all the jams, roadworks and bad driving - lots of speed, gear and engine load changes when it's busy. If I'd realised that earlier on then I'd probably have done 2 or 3 laps and got the job done quicker
There's apparently a record set by a chap named Twinpipe who did the 1000 miles in 24 hours after picking the car up. Not sure how that's possible whilst varying engine load, rpm and speed
but it's going to be hard to beat that record without doing the max-revs-constantly technique, which is no good for running in.Regarding your race engine... well if it's a race engine then you'll be rebuilding it at some point so may as well do a few rolling road runs and then have it. The 'waste gate open' trackday will still have you using full load on the engine, not good for running in - may be better to hook the turbo up and then religiously stick to a throttle max of say 60% and a much lower rev limit - you'll still be fast and yet you won't be over-stressing the engine. If you take off the turbo (so to speak) then you may find you're using *more* throttle and higher revs in order to stay in front of everyone...
Glad you are ready to enjoy your car now! I think the running in period is meant to be normal driving rather than a long trip with the engine sat at the same speed on a motorway. I.e lots of gear changes, breaking etc. There is a school of thought that thrashing it from new is best! But the ecu may record this and be read by the dealer when you take it in for the 1000mile checkup 
Chimjunkie said:
There is a school of thought that thrashing it from new is best! But the ecu may record this and be read by the dealer when you take it in for the 1000mile checkup
I like that idea for the rings, it makes perfect sense but the chap thats building mine said it needs a bit of gentle to seat the bearings, I suppose whats good for one component isn't good for another.Chimjunkie said:
Glad you are ready to enjoy your car now! I think the running in period is meant to be normal driving rather than a long trip with the engine sat at the same speed on a motorway. I.e lots of gear changes, breaking etc. There is a school of thought that thrashing it from new is best! But the ecu may record this and be read by the dealer when you take it in for the 1000mile checkup
Exactly - apart from the trip back from Taunton (the trip down took 8 hours due to crazy traffic volumes... and we had to get back the same day, so sadly the drive back *was* at the rev limit (4500 rpm) for the entire run), circumstances and road conditions actually meant that my running-in was close to 'ideal' running-in procedure. If I'd had picked up the car in spring with a few days to take off, I'd have spent solid days driving it around, and that'd risk motorway and A-road journeys where you're cruising at a steady speed, which as you say isn't the idea.Instead, loads of extended trips in heavy stop-start traffic, speeds varying from zero to the maximum allowed by RPM, throttle openings from zero to max (after 600 miles), the whole range of engine loads, etc. have been done almost by accident. So hopefully it's a good start to the engine, though I doubt the snow and road salt have been a good start to the condition of the chassis / suspension components (it lives outside, and I don't spend a lot of time cleaning and polishing)...
Regarding the ECU download, no doubt I'll get a ticking off from my dealer
as there are two clearly defined events where I 'broke the rules' - one where an Aston DB9 owner decided he'd 'have me in the corners' round a few roundabouts near Brighton and I couldn't resist attempting to prove that *nobody* 'has a Lotus in the corners' 
- got a good demonstration of modern traction and stability control systems working hard though, as I sat behind this Aston (which is a great GT, after all) desperately trying to keep control of its wheels entering and exiting slippery roundabouts. Single rear wheel braking tricks were *really* noticeable, and that's one aspect where modern 'nanny' electronics can outperform even the best human drivers - we don't have four separate brake pedals and the computers really *do* have a finer level of control. The Aston really did look like it was 'lurching' - the stability control (or whatever Aston call their system) was working hard so the car didn't slide about much - but I bet the Aston driver didn't 'feel' like the car was lurching. It probably felt fast and controlled, which is why the Lotus is so damn exceptional - at any point I could have driven round the outside of him on the roundabouts, but that would have been both irresponsible on the road and potentially dangerous if the Aston ran out of front grip and understeered into my lane... However once the roundabouts finished, the Aston put the power down and I may have exceeded half throttle and 4500 rpm for an instant... argh if it'd been fully run-in... The second incident involved a red Evo 8 making a point to a Scooby Impreza driver (nothing to do with me, honest guv) - the fact that the Evo chap nearly took my rear end off screaming past me to overtake the Scoob (I was behind the Scoob) led me to see if I could catch the Evo. It was only when I eventually pulled up next to him at traffic lights that the stickers on the side of the Evo saying 'XXX MOTORSPORT 400' (can't remember the XXX acronym) and the roll cage / harnesses were apparent
Quick, quick car. I doubt that the Exige would have had much luck against that thing on road or track if the driver was good. It's the same story with the rally rockets though - they can be incredibly quick but they're expensive to run if you want to go fast - they're not hugely overweight but the 300-500 kg more than a Lotus (from S1s to the heaviest Exige S) eats tyres, brakes and suspension, not to mention fuel on a 400 bhp 2-litre turbo. I had a couple of Scoobies early in my car ownership 'career' and whilst they were fun (and cost me VERY little due to the waiting list - I had them when they'd just been picked up on by the enthusiast crowd), they were only fun when really going for it. And 'really going for it' in a quick rally-rep means illegal speeds on the road...The Exige, on the other hand, has still been awesome fun to drive even during the running-in process. I was expecting frustration, boredom even - but then I've just re-affirmed why I love the Elise platform so much in all its forms (Elise to VX220 to Exige) - it's **fun** to drive, even when you're not driving hard or even particularly fast. Just rolling around, even in town traffic, is still rewarding. The steering and connection to the actual machinery (yes, even in the supposedly overweight, de-sensitised and supposedly flabbier S2 Exige S) is so direct and exquisite, there's just as much challenge and fun to be had driving slowly but *perfectly* smoothly, getting gearchanges and matching revs exactly, as there is getting that last second a lap round your favourite circuit. I can even honestly say that I actually *enjoyed* driving round the M25 for no other reason than to get to the 1000 mile marker - every input and response from the car is there to enjoy - even if it's just to refine your driving technique to make it feel as the car is flowing smoothly regardless of speed or road condition.
It's ace. And I can see why I moved 'backwards' from 'fast-everywhere' machines like Scoobies, then 911s, Nobles and other high-power cars, back to the smaller Elise platform (not that a 243 bhp Exige is slow, mind you)... it's fun ALL of the time, and you don't have to be breaking the law to start 'feeling' the car. So many modern cars are so powerful and capable (grip levels of modern tyres at the sizes and widths commonly fitted to modern cars are so high that slip isn't really possible if you obey speed limits) that the fast ones are only fun if you drive outside the law or on track all the time. The Lotus is fun within the NSL too - even when running in. But it can still run with the big boys, and can also do long journeys without wearing you out. I reckon it's the perfect car
cyberface said:
S Works said:
Glad it's run in mate.
Re: that point on the A264 is a classic point for that kind of accident. Have seen plenty in that place.
It's a great road though isn't it... but to be honest, I'm getting a roughly 1 in 10 probability that I'm lucky and get a third or more of the road to 'me' i.e. can have any fun on it at all. The other 9 out of 10 times, it's stuck behind 15 mph cornering slowcoaches. Can you recommend any other good roads in the area? I have my favourites but always up for recommendations. The trouble with the Exige is that any open, flowing roads mean 100+ mph and hence either big trouble with the law or BIG trouble in the case of an accident. Tight twisty stuff with gradients like the A264 mean fun below the NSL, though as you point out, not without risk...Re: that point on the A264 is a classic point for that kind of accident. Have seen plenty in that place.
Other roads you might like? Loads mate. Here's a little run which I put together for you to have a try with. Ends at a really good fish n chip shop right on the beach. We do a good amount of it on the Kent Lotus Easter Egg run every year. Enjoy!
http://tinyurl.com/yzk3qa3
S Works said:
cyberface said:
S Works said:
Glad it's run in mate.
Re: that point on the A264 is a classic point for that kind of accident. Have seen plenty in that place.
It's a great road though isn't it... but to be honest, I'm getting a roughly 1 in 10 probability that I'm lucky and get a third or more of the road to 'me' i.e. can have any fun on it at all. The other 9 out of 10 times, it's stuck behind 15 mph cornering slowcoaches. Can you recommend any other good roads in the area? I have my favourites but always up for recommendations. The trouble with the Exige is that any open, flowing roads mean 100+ mph and hence either big trouble with the law or BIG trouble in the case of an accident. Tight twisty stuff with gradients like the A264 mean fun below the NSL, though as you point out, not without risk...Re: that point on the A264 is a classic point for that kind of accident. Have seen plenty in that place.
Other roads you might like? Loads mate. Here's a little run which I put together for you to have a try with. Ends at a really good fish n chip shop right on the beach. We do a good amount of it on the Kent Lotus Easter Egg run every year. Enjoy!
http://tinyurl.com/yzk3qa3
Blimey, wasn't expecting that! Massive thanks - that's downloaded and ready for trying out in three weekends time (next weekend the car goes in for 1st service, pick up the weekend after along with two kittens... so I doubt I'll be spending much time in the car on the first weekend with the new cats)... hopefully the weather will get above freezing overnight by then.
Shame I've got to get the car serviced next weekend now!!!!
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