2007 Lotus 2-Eleven
Discussion
MTW said:
Seats look great! I love them in my car, really comfortable.
My only recommendation in regards to PPF would be to do the bits above bottom harness holes. You might be ok with your car, but in mine the buckles from my harness seems to try and chew through that area pretty badly!
Good shout, thanks.My only recommendation in regards to PPF would be to do the bits above bottom harness holes. You might be ok with your car, but in mine the buckles from my harness seems to try and chew through that area pretty badly!
The harness buckles I think will be the undoing of my lovely shiny seats. Every time I get in and out they're clonking around all over the cabin, it's awful.
Best thing I could do now is just scratch the crap out of them, be sad for a few days - then get on with my life
With the seats in, I had sat for many minutes making brum brum noises in the garage checking and finetuning the driver position but it was time for a test drive.
Summer evenings are an untapped treasure when you've got a toddler, bed by 19:30, on the road by 19:31, gets dark around 22:00. Bob on.
I met up with an old friend, who was also out on a shakedown run ahead of Donington Park this week.
Was great to see my old Exige out in the wild again, had the pleasure of following it for a fair few miles and they really are a good looking car on the move.
I decided to go sans helmet because the weather was lovely, I wanted to see how a lower seating position influenced ride comfort and I suppose I just wanted a good exfoliation:
This all worked great, until following another car on sticky tyres... I got quite a peppering, but avoided any major damage!
Initial impressions on the seating position were really strong. The only concern I had was with the seat height further robbing me of visibility down near the front wheels, and finding apexes on track was more down to guesswork than vision.
What I found though was that I was now able to see through the aero screen to see the point of the road down near my front corners, whereas previously I was looking down through it, which heavily distorted what I could see and essentially turned the aero screen into a massive blind spot. The net result, was I felt like I could see better down there.
As hoped/expected, the open air ride quality was fantastic. With noise cancelling earphones in I could quite happily sit at NSL without any real discomfort. As an experiment I had some reference points for what I could see in my previous seating position (the small body panels for brake fluid access for example) so when I stretched my neck up to get those into my eyeline, the ride comfort degraded exponentially.
Realistically my mileage without a helmet on is going to be few and far between, but happy that I've made this better for when I do want to enjoy it.
We meandered up through Eastish/Northish Yorkshire and eventually found Malton at which point Jamie had to turn around and head home. Light was fading, but I wasn't far away from one of my favourite Yorkshire roads so I pushed on to get to Fylingdales just in time for the sun to fade.
It's a belting road, usually spent sat in nose to tail bank holiday traffic trying to get into Whitby but there was only one other car sharing it with me that night.... a Police Car.
I enjoyed the sunset, swapped my shaded lenses in my ballistic goggles for clear, then came home the boring way.
Clocked 3 hours of solid driving and had no desire to change the seating position at all. Harness waist strap got a slight adjustment, but that was about it.
I'd love to say I completed the drive with no trace of back ache from the seats, but my back was knackered before I even set off (probably from constantly lifting the seats in and out...) but at least the long drive in the Tilletts didn't make it worse!
Car got a well needed wash the following morning, then into the trailer for Donny.
Summer evenings are an untapped treasure when you've got a toddler, bed by 19:30, on the road by 19:31, gets dark around 22:00. Bob on.
I met up with an old friend, who was also out on a shakedown run ahead of Donington Park this week.
Was great to see my old Exige out in the wild again, had the pleasure of following it for a fair few miles and they really are a good looking car on the move.
I decided to go sans helmet because the weather was lovely, I wanted to see how a lower seating position influenced ride comfort and I suppose I just wanted a good exfoliation:
This all worked great, until following another car on sticky tyres... I got quite a peppering, but avoided any major damage!
Initial impressions on the seating position were really strong. The only concern I had was with the seat height further robbing me of visibility down near the front wheels, and finding apexes on track was more down to guesswork than vision.
What I found though was that I was now able to see through the aero screen to see the point of the road down near my front corners, whereas previously I was looking down through it, which heavily distorted what I could see and essentially turned the aero screen into a massive blind spot. The net result, was I felt like I could see better down there.
As hoped/expected, the open air ride quality was fantastic. With noise cancelling earphones in I could quite happily sit at NSL without any real discomfort. As an experiment I had some reference points for what I could see in my previous seating position (the small body panels for brake fluid access for example) so when I stretched my neck up to get those into my eyeline, the ride comfort degraded exponentially.
Realistically my mileage without a helmet on is going to be few and far between, but happy that I've made this better for when I do want to enjoy it.
We meandered up through Eastish/Northish Yorkshire and eventually found Malton at which point Jamie had to turn around and head home. Light was fading, but I wasn't far away from one of my favourite Yorkshire roads so I pushed on to get to Fylingdales just in time for the sun to fade.
It's a belting road, usually spent sat in nose to tail bank holiday traffic trying to get into Whitby but there was only one other car sharing it with me that night.... a Police Car.
I enjoyed the sunset, swapped my shaded lenses in my ballistic goggles for clear, then came home the boring way.
Clocked 3 hours of solid driving and had no desire to change the seating position at all. Harness waist strap got a slight adjustment, but that was about it.
I'd love to say I completed the drive with no trace of back ache from the seats, but my back was knackered before I even set off (probably from constantly lifting the seats in and out...) but at least the long drive in the Tilletts didn't make it worse!
Car got a well needed wash the following morning, then into the trailer for Donny.
Donny Update,
The LoT Summer Donny Evening sits alongside Anglesey and Croft in the 'unmissable' category for my schedule. Except Croft which I am missing this year, due to a clash with Spa.
My very first Donny Evening was an absolutely torrential day, cars falling off the track on the sighting laps sort of thing. Ever since, it has been high 20's or even high 30's every time we've been. It's a great place to top the tan up and get some laps done.
I never used to be a fan of evening trackdays, felt like poor value for money and were over as quick as they began, but I'm coming around to them. On the right track on the right day, they're brilliant - you get some intense sessions in and pack up right around the time exhaustion is kicking in anyway.
I was pretty fresh off the back of a full day at Donny (albeit sessioned) last month, so had recent memory of the place and had identified the big areas for improvement. Getting out for the first session was a bit of a rush, had a passenger in waiting, numberplate was still on, trying to undo it next to a roasting hot backbox, etc etc. Ended up going out on balloon tyres and it was a bit sketchy.
I had a problem shifting into fourth when coming down through the gears. It seemed to pass as quickly as it occurred so thought not much of it (until later).
Once I settled down and got all my checks in order, the laps started coming together nicely. After ditching my passengers it was time for my first "1-up" laps of Donny National so I could start optimising a bit.
Only change I'd made since last time was the Tilletts and I'd stiffened my front ARB up. I'd made some handling notes/observations at Blyton and wanted to see what impact the ARB would have on those. The old 'rule of thumb' that going stiff at one end improves grip at the other is a bit too generic I find on the Lotus, it has different impact through different phases of the corner - but ultimately the difference between fully soft and fully stiff is still pretty marginal.
I was really enjoying the seats and the new seating position. Need to remember to empty my pockets though because having a phone in my pocket makes a snug fit an uncomfortable one...
Intake Air Temps are usually an area for concern at these hot Donny evenings, last year on the Intercooled car it felt so slow I'm pretty sure an NA car would have walked past it. This year the performance drop was minimal, but still getting high enough IATs to get me into the low 60's which correlates to 1.5degrees of pulled timing plus the passive impact of the warmer, less dense air coming in for boost.
The evening progressed without much drama, only thing of note being that I sprayed vpower all over the pit garage when opening my jerry can, covering my car, my belongings and the belongings of my garage-mate with it. (Sorry again Jamie). I guess it had pressurised on the trailer and I should have made more effort to keep it in the shade, lesson learned.
The laps trickled on, getting faster and faster, and braver and braver. I came into the evening wanting to improve three areas:
1. Redgate entry speed
2. Hollywood/Craners bravery
3. Abusing the curbs and trusting the compliance of the car more through the final chicane
For #1 I struggled for the first half of the day, then got some passenger laps with Seriously Dave in his 3-Eleven (incredible bit of kit) who gave me a different approach to think about. I think I made a bit of progress after that, but it still feels like a corner I'm over slowing for, but end up losing the rear if I try to carry a single mph more.
For #2 I did OK, I think. But the car can still do more! My GPS minimum speed was only low 90s at Craners last time I came. I need to remind myself that on the stock dials that would probably read as 105 so need to be careful comparing with other people on YT etc, but still it was way too slow.
This week I was over 100mph every time, and as high as 108mph on one particular lap... but I then absolutely filled my pants and pretty much gave up the lap after that
This is a comparison from last month, two 'average' laps:
I probably gained most by keeping it pinned longer through Hollywood rather than Craners itself.
I suspect my car would be 120+ on a fully flat approach through Craners, whether it can do that or not.... I'm really not sure, doubt I'll ever find out but it's fun to think about.
As the sun gets lower, our favourite photographer https://www.jamesrobertsphoto.com gets all arty and we get some pretty cool shots.
I had a small frustration on track, pretty much for the full evening in which traffic was just... annoying. It was not the fault of any individual, but it felt like lap after lap I'd get the whole track to myself for 80% of the way around and then a car would just magically appear at the worst possible time. The pit release system at Donny always feels a bit 'free for all' to me, the light stays green all the time and cars are just allowed out onto the track which really compromises entry to Redgate if you're on a hot one, and then due to the layout you're likely to be following that car all the way around Craners/Old Hairpin etc before you can get by. When that happens 3-4 laps in a row it gets a bit annoying.
It was just unlucky though, as LoT numbers were characteristically low. The track was far from crowded.
The day ended 2 mins early with a redflag, I was cursing because once again I was on "a good one" and something happened to spoil it. As it happens, it was a good friend sat beached in the gravel so I did feel a bit bad, for about 5 seconds before the mockery began.
Trundled into the pits to call the day a success, had a natter, took some photos and started packing up.
When I came to move the car, I had a very floppy gearstick. No resistance at all, and certainly not selecting any gears. Uh oh...!
A quick inspection suggested that the linkage on top of the gearbox had fallen apart, so hopefully it's nothing fatal to the box and hopefully is an easy fix. It's an aftermarket linkage (LETSLA) so there's a chance a bolt has backed out of it or something. Need to get familiar with how they bolt together so hopefully it can be easily put right.
Amazing that it survived the track and chose it's moment to just flop apart as I pulled into the pits.... BUT that's my third day-stopping issue after 3 hours of track time this year so far.
ECU shenanigans at Blyton, brake discs at the second Blyton, and this issue at Donny.
Not a success rate I'm proud of, needs to improve.
Pushed into the trailer (thanks boys) and homeward bound, via KFC.
Couple of video clips, almost the same and nothing particularly interesting or dramatic:
2 Clearest laps from penultimate session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro9fB8hnBWs
2 Clearest laps from final session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmQdV3kdqeY
Only notable change between these sessions is that I started short shifting into fifth on the Schwantz(?) Straight/Curve thing. For earlier sessions I was hitting the limiter here in fourth and using that as my cue to gently lift off for McLeans. In fifth I found I could actually keep it pinned around the whole curve and then slam on for McLeans. This was gaining my huge laptime gains, BUT I could never carry it through a full lap, as I always hit traffic shortly after.
End result from retrospective video/log review is that I gained 3 secs from last month, but my virtual best lap if adding together all my best sectors could have netted me an extra 2.
The LoT Summer Donny Evening sits alongside Anglesey and Croft in the 'unmissable' category for my schedule. Except Croft which I am missing this year, due to a clash with Spa.
My very first Donny Evening was an absolutely torrential day, cars falling off the track on the sighting laps sort of thing. Ever since, it has been high 20's or even high 30's every time we've been. It's a great place to top the tan up and get some laps done.
I never used to be a fan of evening trackdays, felt like poor value for money and were over as quick as they began, but I'm coming around to them. On the right track on the right day, they're brilliant - you get some intense sessions in and pack up right around the time exhaustion is kicking in anyway.
I was pretty fresh off the back of a full day at Donny (albeit sessioned) last month, so had recent memory of the place and had identified the big areas for improvement. Getting out for the first session was a bit of a rush, had a passenger in waiting, numberplate was still on, trying to undo it next to a roasting hot backbox, etc etc. Ended up going out on balloon tyres and it was a bit sketchy.
I had a problem shifting into fourth when coming down through the gears. It seemed to pass as quickly as it occurred so thought not much of it (until later).
Once I settled down and got all my checks in order, the laps started coming together nicely. After ditching my passengers it was time for my first "1-up" laps of Donny National so I could start optimising a bit.
Only change I'd made since last time was the Tilletts and I'd stiffened my front ARB up. I'd made some handling notes/observations at Blyton and wanted to see what impact the ARB would have on those. The old 'rule of thumb' that going stiff at one end improves grip at the other is a bit too generic I find on the Lotus, it has different impact through different phases of the corner - but ultimately the difference between fully soft and fully stiff is still pretty marginal.
I was really enjoying the seats and the new seating position. Need to remember to empty my pockets though because having a phone in my pocket makes a snug fit an uncomfortable one...
Intake Air Temps are usually an area for concern at these hot Donny evenings, last year on the Intercooled car it felt so slow I'm pretty sure an NA car would have walked past it. This year the performance drop was minimal, but still getting high enough IATs to get me into the low 60's which correlates to 1.5degrees of pulled timing plus the passive impact of the warmer, less dense air coming in for boost.
The evening progressed without much drama, only thing of note being that I sprayed vpower all over the pit garage when opening my jerry can, covering my car, my belongings and the belongings of my garage-mate with it. (Sorry again Jamie). I guess it had pressurised on the trailer and I should have made more effort to keep it in the shade, lesson learned.
The laps trickled on, getting faster and faster, and braver and braver. I came into the evening wanting to improve three areas:
1. Redgate entry speed
2. Hollywood/Craners bravery
3. Abusing the curbs and trusting the compliance of the car more through the final chicane
For #1 I struggled for the first half of the day, then got some passenger laps with Seriously Dave in his 3-Eleven (incredible bit of kit) who gave me a different approach to think about. I think I made a bit of progress after that, but it still feels like a corner I'm over slowing for, but end up losing the rear if I try to carry a single mph more.
For #2 I did OK, I think. But the car can still do more! My GPS minimum speed was only low 90s at Craners last time I came. I need to remind myself that on the stock dials that would probably read as 105 so need to be careful comparing with other people on YT etc, but still it was way too slow.
This week I was over 100mph every time, and as high as 108mph on one particular lap... but I then absolutely filled my pants and pretty much gave up the lap after that
This is a comparison from last month, two 'average' laps:
I probably gained most by keeping it pinned longer through Hollywood rather than Craners itself.
I suspect my car would be 120+ on a fully flat approach through Craners, whether it can do that or not.... I'm really not sure, doubt I'll ever find out but it's fun to think about.
- 3 was pretty easy to be honest, The curbs on the final chicane are way flatter than I first thought and providing you avoid the little sausage things, you can just turn in and take the rest of it flat, which I did.
As the sun gets lower, our favourite photographer https://www.jamesrobertsphoto.com gets all arty and we get some pretty cool shots.
I had a small frustration on track, pretty much for the full evening in which traffic was just... annoying. It was not the fault of any individual, but it felt like lap after lap I'd get the whole track to myself for 80% of the way around and then a car would just magically appear at the worst possible time. The pit release system at Donny always feels a bit 'free for all' to me, the light stays green all the time and cars are just allowed out onto the track which really compromises entry to Redgate if you're on a hot one, and then due to the layout you're likely to be following that car all the way around Craners/Old Hairpin etc before you can get by. When that happens 3-4 laps in a row it gets a bit annoying.
It was just unlucky though, as LoT numbers were characteristically low. The track was far from crowded.
The day ended 2 mins early with a redflag, I was cursing because once again I was on "a good one" and something happened to spoil it. As it happens, it was a good friend sat beached in the gravel so I did feel a bit bad, for about 5 seconds before the mockery began.
Trundled into the pits to call the day a success, had a natter, took some photos and started packing up.
When I came to move the car, I had a very floppy gearstick. No resistance at all, and certainly not selecting any gears. Uh oh...!
A quick inspection suggested that the linkage on top of the gearbox had fallen apart, so hopefully it's nothing fatal to the box and hopefully is an easy fix. It's an aftermarket linkage (LETSLA) so there's a chance a bolt has backed out of it or something. Need to get familiar with how they bolt together so hopefully it can be easily put right.
Amazing that it survived the track and chose it's moment to just flop apart as I pulled into the pits.... BUT that's my third day-stopping issue after 3 hours of track time this year so far.
ECU shenanigans at Blyton, brake discs at the second Blyton, and this issue at Donny.
Not a success rate I'm proud of, needs to improve.
Pushed into the trailer (thanks boys) and homeward bound, via KFC.
Couple of video clips, almost the same and nothing particularly interesting or dramatic:
2 Clearest laps from penultimate session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro9fB8hnBWs
2 Clearest laps from final session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmQdV3kdqeY
Only notable change between these sessions is that I started short shifting into fifth on the Schwantz(?) Straight/Curve thing. For earlier sessions I was hitting the limiter here in fourth and using that as my cue to gently lift off for McLeans. In fifth I found I could actually keep it pinned around the whole curve and then slam on for McLeans. This was gaining my huge laptime gains, BUT I could never carry it through a full lap, as I always hit traffic shortly after.
End result from retrospective video/log review is that I gained 3 secs from last month, but my virtual best lap if adding together all my best sectors could have netted me an extra 2.
jeremyc said:
I enjoyed your write-up and progression with the car. However, if you are chasing clear laps to improve your times you are in the wrong environment: get a race licence and go to test days. 
Even in a racing environment the track is rarely clear - the real craft is in being able to minimise how much you are held up through good overtaking.
For track day I'd suggest chilling out, focusing on improving driving technique in specific areas (as you are doing) and not chase overall lap times. Oh, and enjoy giving passenger rides.
Yeah to be honest it's less about the time (I'm oblivious to that on track anyway) and more about just "losing" the first third of the lap due to hitting an outlap car coming out of the pits seemingly every time I approached Redgate! Even in a racing environment the track is rarely clear - the real craft is in being able to minimise how much you are held up through good overtaking.For track day I'd suggest chilling out, focusing on improving driving technique in specific areas (as you are doing) and not chase overall lap times. Oh, and enjoy giving passenger rides.
Laying on my deathbed I'm pretty sure I'll strongly regret not giving racing a try when I had the chance, but from where I'm sitting now I much prefer the chilled atmosphere of a trackday. From experience doing anything competitively is the first step in not enjoying something...
(plus I think I'd be really bad at it
)My real attraction from the logging aspect of the car is the geeky stuff, knowing what the engine and electronics are doing and finding silly ways to make things better. The lap timing element is a bit of a by-product, and I like to respect the rules of trackdays and not make it an active part of my day.
Speaking of which... IATs.
I'm having some thoughts about changing my supercharger pulley again.
As a reminder, I have a 2.9" pulley fitted which is enough to produce 301bhp/202ftlbs when the DBW is fully open at 161kpa.
Above 40degrees IAT I start trimming timing, so ultimately that 301bhp starts degrading.
90% of the time, in fact probably 95% of the time I'm in my "road" map which has the DBW pegged at 65%. This produces 281bhp/193ftlbs on the Dyno and total boost is in the region of 150kpa.
As I'm trimming power using DBW, the SC is still spinning just as fast in either map, and still generating the same heat even if boost output is lower in one of the maps. I'm basically carrying an IAT penalty all of the time, when only using fully unleashed power for small stints on the road and rarely/never on track in fear of expiring the gearbox.
One scenario is that I get Spa done and dusted, Spa has been the source of my anxiety as I really didn't want to smash a gearbox on the run up to that and compromise the big/expensive trackday in the centre of my schedule. Once Spa is done, perhaps I run 300bhp more often as I'm less concerned with a bit of downtime whilst finding/swapping gearboxes. I'm less annoyed about carrying the IAT penalty if I'm actually getting to play with all of my toys.
Other scenario is that I get rid of the 2.9" pulley and go for a 3.0" pulley instead. According to unverified sources this will lower my total boost potential by about 7kpa which will land my total power output somewhere in the region of 280-290bhp but will reduce my IATs by a <yet to be tested> amount.
If this means that I can get the same 280bhp but consistently, all the time - then it's probably a better way for me to go. Lower temps means everything is just happier. I could still have switchable maps if I really wanted to, and maybe look at a 260(OEM) and a 280(Race) map for instance.
I know from my Exige that going from OEM (3.4ish) pulley to a 2.9 was a significant hit to IATs. With the same Chargecooler setup my temps went from "barely above ambient" to the 50s and 60's that I'm seeing now, so not sure exactly where I'll end up by dropping just 0.1" but we'll see.
The other option of course is to find a way to optimise chargecooling. An extra auxiliary precharge rad? Not sure, but I think options are limited.
Speaking of which... IATs.
I'm having some thoughts about changing my supercharger pulley again.
As a reminder, I have a 2.9" pulley fitted which is enough to produce 301bhp/202ftlbs when the DBW is fully open at 161kpa.
Above 40degrees IAT I start trimming timing, so ultimately that 301bhp starts degrading.
90% of the time, in fact probably 95% of the time I'm in my "road" map which has the DBW pegged at 65%. This produces 281bhp/193ftlbs on the Dyno and total boost is in the region of 150kpa.
As I'm trimming power using DBW, the SC is still spinning just as fast in either map, and still generating the same heat even if boost output is lower in one of the maps. I'm basically carrying an IAT penalty all of the time, when only using fully unleashed power for small stints on the road and rarely/never on track in fear of expiring the gearbox.
One scenario is that I get Spa done and dusted, Spa has been the source of my anxiety as I really didn't want to smash a gearbox on the run up to that and compromise the big/expensive trackday in the centre of my schedule. Once Spa is done, perhaps I run 300bhp more often as I'm less concerned with a bit of downtime whilst finding/swapping gearboxes. I'm less annoyed about carrying the IAT penalty if I'm actually getting to play with all of my toys.
Other scenario is that I get rid of the 2.9" pulley and go for a 3.0" pulley instead. According to unverified sources this will lower my total boost potential by about 7kpa which will land my total power output somewhere in the region of 280-290bhp but will reduce my IATs by a <yet to be tested> amount.
If this means that I can get the same 280bhp but consistently, all the time - then it's probably a better way for me to go. Lower temps means everything is just happier. I could still have switchable maps if I really wanted to, and maybe look at a 260(OEM) and a 280(Race) map for instance.
I know from my Exige that going from OEM (3.4ish) pulley to a 2.9 was a significant hit to IATs. With the same Chargecooler setup my temps went from "barely above ambient" to the 50s and 60's that I'm seeing now, so not sure exactly where I'll end up by dropping just 0.1" but we'll see.
The other option of course is to find a way to optimise chargecooling. An extra auxiliary precharge rad? Not sure, but I think options are limited.
Thanks everyone. I know some of this stuff is a bit dry but I write it mainly for myself
Question is, do I do if before Spa or do I have my fun at Spa and go mental in the final hour on full power. If it blows up, meh... I'll have had my fun and will have a couple of months downtime before next TD.
Rodd Nock said:
Your logic on s/c pulley sizes seems perfectly sound to me. Given that a pulley will be quite cheap, and you can do your own on-road mapping to re-calibrate DBW percentage and maintain existing boost pressure, I think you should JFDI and report back with IAT results . You can always revert back to the current setup if losses outweigh the gains!
Yep that's my thought process. Lob bigger pulley on for minimal effort/expense, and then just fine-tune DBW to match current boost levels. I know I've got a map that is appropriate for anything between 140-160kpa so anything I hit on that range should "just work". My ignition advance could probably be increased a bit if I do drop maximum boost which should close the gap even further whilst keeping IAT down.. You can always revert back to the current setup if losses outweigh the gains!Question is, do I do if before Spa or do I have my fun at Spa and go mental in the final hour on full power. If it blows up, meh... I'll have had my fun and will have a couple of months downtime before next TD.
GiantCardboardPlato said:
What the pressure thatn the supercharger generates with each pulley? It’s easy enough to calculate/estimate the temperature increase for a given pressure increase.
It's in the region of 1psi (7kpa) gained per 0.1" dropped. I'm not sure if it factors in, but it's well documented that the MP62 is already right on the edge of its efficiency window with the Lotus OE pulley so going smaller as I have is into diminishing returns.Following Donington I didn't even take the car out of the trailer, and a few days later I took it to see Dave and John @seriouslylotus .
We had been discussing for some weeks (and to be honest, on and off for years over the span of my S2 ownership career) a brake upgrade. I've repeatedly stated in this thread that the braking on the 2-Eleven is mega, should be illegal, etc etc - so the thought of ripping the system out and making big changes made me very nervous - but it's something I've wanted to try for years. Cracking that disc at Blyton was just the catalyst to finally tip me over.
Nothing that follows was logical or sensible, I should really have just lobbed another set of discs on, carried a spare pair and got on with life - but sometimes you just need to scratch an itch.
First though, the gear linkage needed fixing. Whilst rolling into the pitbox for the final Donny session it just fell apart and I was left with no gear selection to get it back on the trailer. Luckily the fix was identified in seconds in Dave's yard, a bolt had just backed out that holds the two halves of the linkage together.
It was an aftermarket linkage fitted as far as I know about a decade ago, we correctly suspected a missing spacer so with some best guessing from some old photos - Dave knocked up another on the lathe and we were back up and running.
Right, back to brakes.
From the factory Lotus fitted 288mm discs all round, with AP 2 pot calipers up front and brembo sliders at the rear. The cars are typically biased heavily towards the front as a way to make the car benign, and the standard braking system DOES work very well, despite looking a little feeble.
Some later cars came with some AP 4 pots at the front, but no changes (that I'm aware of) were ever made to the rears from factory. This tipped the bias further forward and in the eyes of some, became a backwards step.
There are a bunch of options for addressing this, but Dave and John have tried them all - and I punted the car to them to let them put on their interpretation of the best setup. I had limited time before Spa, and some other stuff going on which meant I just wouldn't have the time to do the spannering myself on this occasion. (So thanks Dave for all the photos for the thread).
What we ended up going for was the following:
- AP 4 Pots for the front
- Move AP 2 pots to the rear, and add a standalone handbrake caliper
- 308mm AP discs all round, floating on SL's own bells
Moving the 2 Pots to the rear is the most exciting bit to me, it puts a proper caliper on the back and will move the brake bias slightly more rearward. Obviously it's still biased to the front, just less so compared to standard setup.
I'd previously viewed the OE braking setup as tyre limited on the 2-Eleven as I could lock up or at least trigger ABS regularly, but looking at it a different way - it locked up because so much brake force was focussed into one axle. By spreading the load a bit, I hope to have a bit more stopping power before the tyres give up.
AP Discs were selected over Alcon due to their PCD, meaning that the swept area is a much closer match to the pad profile we'd be using, avoiding that un-worn rusty band around the centre of the disc.
I got a nice running commentary of the work via photos from Dave.
As the AP 4 Pots use banjo fittings, it would mean swapping brake hoses too. On some S2's this means front clam off, but the 2-Eleven allows you just enough access to do it... though my chargecooler plumbing really didn't help.
The handbrake caliper was the missing piece of the puzzle before. SL imported these from the US with the Lotus specific modification for plug and play fitment but the US company have since discontinued them. Luckily another Lotus community member stepped up and bailed me out by selling me a pair they had sat in a box ready for a possible future project. Thanks again Sean!
Adding bigger discs, an extra caliper and bigger calipers at the front had me convinced I'd be piling on unsprung weight which was a real shame, but I was pleasantly surprised when all the bits got weighed.
The bigger 308mm discs with all hardware were 1kg lighter PER CORNER! This is a huge amount of rotational mass.
The AP 2 Pot gained a bit of weight through the extra bracketry needed to mount it on the rear:
But the original Brembo sliders are absolute boat anchors, so binning those off claimed a fair chunk back too.
All in, the whole setup is lighter by around a kilo or so. Very impressed.
With the 2-pots off, Dave modified them for me to swap them to a banjo fitting to match the new fronts:
This isn't really mandatory for the conversion, but it will make bleeding a lot easier in future as there is now a bleed nipple in both sides of the caliper. They would previously trap air above the brake line inlet.
The fancy new 4 pots use the original mounting points, as they're Lotus specific items (I think??):
As said before, the discs were carefully selected for the swept area to be a good match for the pads.
Handbrake mech uses original cable:
Worst spoke positioning ever for brake photos: (I take the blame for those)
For Pads I wanted to stick to Carbotech XP8 that I used before on the old setup, because I wanted a good back to back test... but I left it a bit late to get organised and couldn't sort any in time for the new 4 pots. As a result, I've ended up with Performance Friction in there, 08s I think(?).
I know they're a dusty pad, but the Carbotech weren't particularly clean either.
On collection day I went for a quick test drive around the block. Initial impressions are that the pedal feel is very different, I had quite a stiff/solid pedal before but now the pedal travel is a little 'freer' which initially feels like poorly bled brakes.
Once moving though it was soon apparent that despite the pedal providing less resistance, the braking force was immense. It's always difficult to judge brakes on cold/dirty tyres on the road but there is no question that the stopping power of the car has increased dramatically.
It has increased so much that I'm actually a little bit scared of it. The brakes will lock up with ease on the road and a foot recalibration is required. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, and use the brake pedal less like i'm trying to push it through the bulkhead and more like I'm modulating a precision instrument.
The big test will be on track, with hot tyres to see just how much the new setup can be abused. My hope is that any/all heat management concerns are now behind me - and these should be up to the job of whatever duty cycle I throw at them. I'm expecting a backwards step in my ability to maximise braking on track, until I relearn them - but my hope is that the new pedal feel will gain me in modulation what I've lost in "stiffness". I've been pushing further and further into corners with my idiots approach to trailbraking so after taking a couple of steps back perhaps it will aid me in that area too.
I'll be honest, the difference in braking force is so stark that I am concerned that I've gone too far - but I'm sure by session #2 at Spa all that will be behind me. If not, well they look cooler.
Thanks again to Dave and John for the workshop time, few little tasks with a job like this would have caused me to drag it out for weeks (little machining jobs etc) so having their assistance here was critical to get it done for Spa. I do wish I did it a bit sooner so I could trial it on a UK track first, but hey ho.
We had been discussing for some weeks (and to be honest, on and off for years over the span of my S2 ownership career) a brake upgrade. I've repeatedly stated in this thread that the braking on the 2-Eleven is mega, should be illegal, etc etc - so the thought of ripping the system out and making big changes made me very nervous - but it's something I've wanted to try for years. Cracking that disc at Blyton was just the catalyst to finally tip me over.
Nothing that follows was logical or sensible, I should really have just lobbed another set of discs on, carried a spare pair and got on with life - but sometimes you just need to scratch an itch.
First though, the gear linkage needed fixing. Whilst rolling into the pitbox for the final Donny session it just fell apart and I was left with no gear selection to get it back on the trailer. Luckily the fix was identified in seconds in Dave's yard, a bolt had just backed out that holds the two halves of the linkage together.
It was an aftermarket linkage fitted as far as I know about a decade ago, we correctly suspected a missing spacer so with some best guessing from some old photos - Dave knocked up another on the lathe and we were back up and running.
Right, back to brakes.
From the factory Lotus fitted 288mm discs all round, with AP 2 pot calipers up front and brembo sliders at the rear. The cars are typically biased heavily towards the front as a way to make the car benign, and the standard braking system DOES work very well, despite looking a little feeble.
Some later cars came with some AP 4 pots at the front, but no changes (that I'm aware of) were ever made to the rears from factory. This tipped the bias further forward and in the eyes of some, became a backwards step.
There are a bunch of options for addressing this, but Dave and John have tried them all - and I punted the car to them to let them put on their interpretation of the best setup. I had limited time before Spa, and some other stuff going on which meant I just wouldn't have the time to do the spannering myself on this occasion. (So thanks Dave for all the photos for the thread).
What we ended up going for was the following:
- AP 4 Pots for the front
- Move AP 2 pots to the rear, and add a standalone handbrake caliper
- 308mm AP discs all round, floating on SL's own bells
Moving the 2 Pots to the rear is the most exciting bit to me, it puts a proper caliper on the back and will move the brake bias slightly more rearward. Obviously it's still biased to the front, just less so compared to standard setup.
I'd previously viewed the OE braking setup as tyre limited on the 2-Eleven as I could lock up or at least trigger ABS regularly, but looking at it a different way - it locked up because so much brake force was focussed into one axle. By spreading the load a bit, I hope to have a bit more stopping power before the tyres give up.
AP Discs were selected over Alcon due to their PCD, meaning that the swept area is a much closer match to the pad profile we'd be using, avoiding that un-worn rusty band around the centre of the disc.
I got a nice running commentary of the work via photos from Dave.
As the AP 4 Pots use banjo fittings, it would mean swapping brake hoses too. On some S2's this means front clam off, but the 2-Eleven allows you just enough access to do it... though my chargecooler plumbing really didn't help.
The handbrake caliper was the missing piece of the puzzle before. SL imported these from the US with the Lotus specific modification for plug and play fitment but the US company have since discontinued them. Luckily another Lotus community member stepped up and bailed me out by selling me a pair they had sat in a box ready for a possible future project. Thanks again Sean!
Adding bigger discs, an extra caliper and bigger calipers at the front had me convinced I'd be piling on unsprung weight which was a real shame, but I was pleasantly surprised when all the bits got weighed.
The bigger 308mm discs with all hardware were 1kg lighter PER CORNER! This is a huge amount of rotational mass.
The AP 2 Pot gained a bit of weight through the extra bracketry needed to mount it on the rear:
But the original Brembo sliders are absolute boat anchors, so binning those off claimed a fair chunk back too.
All in, the whole setup is lighter by around a kilo or so. Very impressed.
With the 2-pots off, Dave modified them for me to swap them to a banjo fitting to match the new fronts:
This isn't really mandatory for the conversion, but it will make bleeding a lot easier in future as there is now a bleed nipple in both sides of the caliper. They would previously trap air above the brake line inlet.
The fancy new 4 pots use the original mounting points, as they're Lotus specific items (I think??):
As said before, the discs were carefully selected for the swept area to be a good match for the pads.
Handbrake mech uses original cable:
Worst spoke positioning ever for brake photos: (I take the blame for those)
For Pads I wanted to stick to Carbotech XP8 that I used before on the old setup, because I wanted a good back to back test... but I left it a bit late to get organised and couldn't sort any in time for the new 4 pots. As a result, I've ended up with Performance Friction in there, 08s I think(?).
I know they're a dusty pad, but the Carbotech weren't particularly clean either.
On collection day I went for a quick test drive around the block. Initial impressions are that the pedal feel is very different, I had quite a stiff/solid pedal before but now the pedal travel is a little 'freer' which initially feels like poorly bled brakes.
Once moving though it was soon apparent that despite the pedal providing less resistance, the braking force was immense. It's always difficult to judge brakes on cold/dirty tyres on the road but there is no question that the stopping power of the car has increased dramatically.
It has increased so much that I'm actually a little bit scared of it. The brakes will lock up with ease on the road and a foot recalibration is required. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, and use the brake pedal less like i'm trying to push it through the bulkhead and more like I'm modulating a precision instrument.
The big test will be on track, with hot tyres to see just how much the new setup can be abused. My hope is that any/all heat management concerns are now behind me - and these should be up to the job of whatever duty cycle I throw at them. I'm expecting a backwards step in my ability to maximise braking on track, until I relearn them - but my hope is that the new pedal feel will gain me in modulation what I've lost in "stiffness". I've been pushing further and further into corners with my idiots approach to trailbraking so after taking a couple of steps back perhaps it will aid me in that area too.
I'll be honest, the difference in braking force is so stark that I am concerned that I've gone too far - but I'm sure by session #2 at Spa all that will be behind me. If not, well they look cooler.
Thanks again to Dave and John for the workshop time, few little tasks with a job like this would have caused me to drag it out for weeks (little machining jobs etc) so having their assistance here was critical to get it done for Spa. I do wish I did it a bit sooner so I could trial it on a UK track first, but hey ho.
Probably also worth noting that I got an odd feeling of 'doneness' after the brake job was finished. I had a roadmap planned for this car, much of it repeated from my Exige, some of it new stuff - but I'm pretty much 'done'.
Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm bored and it will be for sale any time soon - but it may represent a change in pace for the thread. It will still be a heavily used track car, so stuff will break and wear out, but the big flashy purchases (thankfully) are now done.
I'm still expecting a gearbox expense at some point, and might tidy some bodywork up depending on how I'm feeling/how many cones I hit, but hopefully I'll just be tweaking, optimising and maintaining the car now rather than throwing fancy bits at it.
Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm bored and it will be for sale any time soon - but it may represent a change in pace for the thread. It will still be a heavily used track car, so stuff will break and wear out, but the big flashy purchases (thankfully) are now done.
I'm still expecting a gearbox expense at some point, and might tidy some bodywork up depending on how I'm feeling/how many cones I hit, but hopefully I'll just be tweaking, optimising and maintaining the car now rather than throwing fancy bits at it.
mattdavies said:
I enjoy this thread for the regular updates so please dont stop updating us with maintenance and Track day de-briefs.
On the Brakes, I recently went from big caliper front to big caliper all round and the braking experiance was so different. instead of the whole car pitching forwards while scrubbing speed the car stays fairly level and speed just disappears in a much nicer way.
Oh yes the thread won't be going anywhere, just if anyone only tunes in only to see the money fountain spraying upgrades at the car... I want to temper expectations On the Brakes, I recently went from big caliper front to big caliper all round and the braking experiance was so different. instead of the whole car pitching forwards while scrubbing speed the car stays fairly level and speed just disappears in a much nicer way.
(Though I may have another thread for that to come...)Thanks for your comments on the brake setup, I do look forward to getting to grips with them. In theory they should be a really strong upgrade but it's hard to imagine it when this area of the car was already so bloody potent.
shalmaneser said:
Do you know the f/r bias before and after? Have you fitted a valve to tinker with this?
Feeling a lot more grabby is a good thing I think, when I go from the hatch to the Porsche it always feels like the brakes are rubbish but you recalibrate your foot pretty quickly each way.
I've always been interested that in the car world performance cars tend to have heavier brake pedals than normal models. It's the other way round in the cycling world.
No I don't off the top of my head, but some clever sod did the calcs years ago and it exists somewhere on a forum which I read a few weeks/months ago and can't find now.Feeling a lot more grabby is a good thing I think, when I go from the hatch to the Porsche it always feels like the brakes are rubbish but you recalibrate your foot pretty quickly each way.
I've always been interested that in the car world performance cars tend to have heavier brake pedals than normal models. It's the other way round in the cycling world.
It was something in the region of:
2Pot F and Slider R = 65/35
4 Pot F and Slider R = 70/30
4 Pot F and 2 Pot Rear = 60/40
Or something along those lines.
Got the car on my lift to do a few pre-Spa checks and tidyups. Allowed me to get some decent brake photos too.
Treated the 4pots to some ceramic coating from Gyeon. Vain attempt to keep the Performance Friction dust away for a while.
I also fitted a spare splitter that I've been working on for a while.
It was the second of the two I cut out of marine ply over winter, and my objective for this one was to make it look slightly less like furniture once painted. I made it a bit better, but it still looks like an Ikea desk.
The old one had taken a knock when loading into trailer, and I found the ply had also started delaminating at the trailing edge (so you couldn't see it when mounted) and the top layer of ply was starting to rise in certain areas. I didn't take much care to treat the first one, just sanded it and painted it.
This second one got a few coats of shellac(?) sanding sealer first, so hopefully that adds some longevity. It took me ages over several days to get it looking half decent, and I'm still not that happy with it. I think if I do another with ply I might try coating it in some sort of epoxy resin first.
Other options include trying some alternate material. I hear about some signmaking stuff which is like an aluminium composite sandwich, but I don't know how sandable that is... which means my Jigsawing would need to be absolutely on point... which it wouldn't be.
Happy to take suggestions onboard for this. It will likely be a winter tidy up job now.
Treated the 4pots to some ceramic coating from Gyeon. Vain attempt to keep the Performance Friction dust away for a while.
I also fitted a spare splitter that I've been working on for a while.
It was the second of the two I cut out of marine ply over winter, and my objective for this one was to make it look slightly less like furniture once painted. I made it a bit better, but it still looks like an Ikea desk.
The old one had taken a knock when loading into trailer, and I found the ply had also started delaminating at the trailing edge (so you couldn't see it when mounted) and the top layer of ply was starting to rise in certain areas. I didn't take much care to treat the first one, just sanded it and painted it.
This second one got a few coats of shellac(?) sanding sealer first, so hopefully that adds some longevity. It took me ages over several days to get it looking half decent, and I'm still not that happy with it. I think if I do another with ply I might try coating it in some sort of epoxy resin first.
Other options include trying some alternate material. I hear about some signmaking stuff which is like an aluminium composite sandwich, but I don't know how sandable that is... which means my Jigsawing would need to be absolutely on point... which it wouldn't be.
Happy to take suggestions onboard for this. It will likely be a winter tidy up job now.
Half Spa Update, half travel blog - so apologies in advance! If you want actual 2-Eleven content, just skip this and wait for the next update.
Day 1&2:
Lotus on Track had landed on well with the timing for the Summer Spa trackday by bagging the Monday following the GT Enduro 24h event. We used this as an opportunity to get the boat on the Friday night, and have a few days to enjoy the festivities before our track time.
For once, as a Yorkshireman it felt like I had the long straw and the easiest travel arrangements. Catching the ferry from Hull meant a small 45min hop and I'd be in the bar before the trip had really begun. We did however use it as an opportunity to have a pre-boat meet at Seriously Lotus, as Dave and John are conveniently located a few mins from the dock.
In our small convoy would be:
Simon in his Elise Cup 260
Jamie in his Exige S (my old car)
Darren in his 911
Chris with his Honda converted, and recently restored S1 Elise
and me, in a Volvo.
We had a passenger amongst us in the form of Jaik, who despite a colossal effort was unable to finish his long term Elise project in time.
After some hospitality and words of wisdom from John and Dave (and a footwell full of spare brake pads, just in case), we were on our way.
Between us we'd had a fair few sleepless nights about the new carnet requirements since Brexit, particularly us with trailers. But as soon as we mentioned the cars were road registered and insured, they really didn't care - in fact my trailer never even got inspected. I could have had three generations in the back for all customs' cared.
Volvo was particularly well loaded for this weekend, trailer had an extra set of wheels and tyres in for Jamie and I was also lugging around 100kg worth of Gazebo and sandbags to ballast it. Funny story about that, later.
On the boat we met the rest of our party for the weekend, Shaun in his new-to-him S3 Elise and Rich trailering his Komotec fettled V6 Exige.
No boat pics, average food, terrible entertainment, acceptable beer. Onwards!
The following morning we had grim weather for our 3-3.5hour trek towards Spa. We took our time, got split up, usual road trip stuff.
Consumed diesel
Enjoyed some top notch service station dining as you tend to do in Europe
Finally we arrived at our Gite just a few KM from Spa. This was recommended on the basis of good trailer parking, but honestly - that didn't really materialise. To get the two trailers parked we had to unhitch them and manhandle them into a corner, but wasn't too bad.
Had we have turned up with 3 or 4 trailers as was the original plan, it would have been a bit of a problem tbh.
After a quick turnaround, we jumped in the two tow cars and headed over for the start of the 24h race, which we missed by about 10mins. Oh well, it was a good hike anyway.
I've been lucky enough to visit Spa for two Grand Prix events, and now this - and Eau Rouge never fails to take a breath when you approach from the main entrance.
I've done a few GT events before, but never a 24h and I was well impressed at the turnout. Spa is a monster of a circuit, and I imagine the fans were all compressed into the paddock/Eau Rouge area but still - there were loads and loads of people there. Great to see.
For a few quid extra we'd upgraded our tickets to paddock passes, which was well worth it - loads to see and do, and we found a great spot (for yet another few quid) on a rooftop bar above the pits.
Eyeing up a new tow rig...
Some fancy stuff being unveiled/on show.
As light started to fade, we grabbed pizza and made our way to the Eau Rouge grandstand to get some shots of the lights coming on. Did not disappoint!
We probably left around midnight, the circuit showing no signs of slowing down and seemed to be more people there than ever enjoying the 'music' or whatever tf it was the DJ guy was blaring out.
Back to the Gite for a decent nights sleep, then onto the next day. Oh, and no idea what was happening during the race.
Day 2/3 to follow.
Day 1&2:
Lotus on Track had landed on well with the timing for the Summer Spa trackday by bagging the Monday following the GT Enduro 24h event. We used this as an opportunity to get the boat on the Friday night, and have a few days to enjoy the festivities before our track time.
For once, as a Yorkshireman it felt like I had the long straw and the easiest travel arrangements. Catching the ferry from Hull meant a small 45min hop and I'd be in the bar before the trip had really begun. We did however use it as an opportunity to have a pre-boat meet at Seriously Lotus, as Dave and John are conveniently located a few mins from the dock.
In our small convoy would be:
Simon in his Elise Cup 260
Jamie in his Exige S (my old car)
Darren in his 911
Chris with his Honda converted, and recently restored S1 Elise
and me, in a Volvo.
We had a passenger amongst us in the form of Jaik, who despite a colossal effort was unable to finish his long term Elise project in time.
After some hospitality and words of wisdom from John and Dave (and a footwell full of spare brake pads, just in case), we were on our way.
Between us we'd had a fair few sleepless nights about the new carnet requirements since Brexit, particularly us with trailers. But as soon as we mentioned the cars were road registered and insured, they really didn't care - in fact my trailer never even got inspected. I could have had three generations in the back for all customs' cared.
Volvo was particularly well loaded for this weekend, trailer had an extra set of wheels and tyres in for Jamie and I was also lugging around 100kg worth of Gazebo and sandbags to ballast it. Funny story about that, later.
On the boat we met the rest of our party for the weekend, Shaun in his new-to-him S3 Elise and Rich trailering his Komotec fettled V6 Exige.
No boat pics, average food, terrible entertainment, acceptable beer. Onwards!
The following morning we had grim weather for our 3-3.5hour trek towards Spa. We took our time, got split up, usual road trip stuff.
Consumed diesel
Enjoyed some top notch service station dining as you tend to do in Europe
Finally we arrived at our Gite just a few KM from Spa. This was recommended on the basis of good trailer parking, but honestly - that didn't really materialise. To get the two trailers parked we had to unhitch them and manhandle them into a corner, but wasn't too bad.
Had we have turned up with 3 or 4 trailers as was the original plan, it would have been a bit of a problem tbh.
After a quick turnaround, we jumped in the two tow cars and headed over for the start of the 24h race, which we missed by about 10mins. Oh well, it was a good hike anyway.
I've been lucky enough to visit Spa for two Grand Prix events, and now this - and Eau Rouge never fails to take a breath when you approach from the main entrance.
I've done a few GT events before, but never a 24h and I was well impressed at the turnout. Spa is a monster of a circuit, and I imagine the fans were all compressed into the paddock/Eau Rouge area but still - there were loads and loads of people there. Great to see.
For a few quid extra we'd upgraded our tickets to paddock passes, which was well worth it - loads to see and do, and we found a great spot (for yet another few quid) on a rooftop bar above the pits.
Eyeing up a new tow rig...
Some fancy stuff being unveiled/on show.
As light started to fade, we grabbed pizza and made our way to the Eau Rouge grandstand to get some shots of the lights coming on. Did not disappoint!
We probably left around midnight, the circuit showing no signs of slowing down and seemed to be more people there than ever enjoying the 'music' or whatever tf it was the DJ guy was blaring out.
Back to the Gite for a decent nights sleep, then onto the next day. Oh, and no idea what was happening during the race.
Day 2/3 to follow.
Day 3.
Plan for Sunday was to go back to the circuit and watch the 24h race wrap up, but a throwaway suggestion at breakfast meant we decided to go to the 'Ring instead.
Doing a lap didn't appeal to many, especially those of us with trailers. Weather forecast was variable, and getting the 2-Eleven 90mins into Germany just felt like a chew tbh.
After a short discussion we decided that the 911, the Elise Cup and the Volvo would go. An Exige, Audi and the two trailers would stay at the Gite.
I'd never done the Nürburgring before, it doesn't appeal as a trackday venue but I had heard great things about the sights and sounds, so was looking forward to it.
It didn't disappoint, strong representation from the UK but some cracking cars from across the continent too.
The whole day seemed to desensitise us to the 'special' car. Non RS GT3s started to look dull, it was bonkers.
All three cars decided to buy a lap, so we could all experience it one way or another. But that required a bit of track prep for the Volvo.
We had been lugging around the massive gazebo I bought, so we buddied up with some fellow Brits camped out with a trailer and dumped our stuff with them. Giddy to go, we then got notification that the track was closed due to an incident and would be reopened in 45mins or so.
As it happened, 45mins turned into several hours, as we later found a UK plated BMW had gone off the track in a pretty bad way. I've not heard anything since, but fingers crossed everyone got out with the least possible damage.
The various parking zones provided constant reminders of how quickly it can go wrong here
With time to kill, we did several laps of the carparks and I did a bit of studying:
We had a bit of a deadline, as we were due to move from the Gite into the Hotel right next to Spa for the duration of our stay, and we had dinner reservations etc. Just before calling it quits and heading back to Belgium, the horns blew and the track went green.
(The helmets were a bit of fun. Really could have done without mine on tbh, made visibility a bit dicey whilst dodging the constant GT3 missile attacks from behind!)
Off we went...
We all thought we were hilarious lapping round 4 up in a diesel Volvo, but I imagine it happens 40 times a day. Hey ho, we had a laugh.
The car was.... entertaining. Nobody was expecting it to be quick but the complete lack of consistency is what really bites you when you're used to driving cars engineered for performance. Sometimes the brakes hauled us up well, sometimes it was like they didn't exist. Gearbox wouldn't downshift unless I was in a precise 750rpm band, so any degree of engine braking was pretty much lost. Luckily it didn't have the grunt to get us into any real trouble.
My main concern was blocking the laps of somebody actually taking their day seriously, so with the help of my rear benchers we were sure to dive out of the way at the earliest sign of anything coming through. I think we did OK.
We had a small discussion in the cockpit coming up to the Karussell about whether to go for it or not. The entry is STEEP! No video or photo can do that justice, but I lobbed it in and we had a go around.
All in all it was a fun lap. When we got to the yellow flagged areas where barrier repairs were still ongoing, we got a feel for just how bad the earlier BMW crash was. It was long gone into the trees, and evidence of a fairly robust forest fire too
The 911 and Elise Cup 260 also went around, the tight arses didn't buy any photos though and I refuse to post watermarked ones. They both had fun, Simon in the Elise perhaps a little more than any of us.
After a quick debrief with our storage buddies for the day, it was time to head back to Belgium and switch accommodation.
Via this sign, obviously.
Our hotel for the remainder would be the Hotel de la Source, right at the entrance to Spa. We couldn't get into this for the first night due to the 24h, but it felt good to be in walking distance of everything we'd need for the duration.
I wish I knew who won the 24h, because just after checkin I jumped in the lift to find a very small, athletic and chuffed fella holding a trophy almost 3/4 his size! I had my race boots on, so gave him that knowing nod and wink. Well done lad.
Plan for Sunday was to go back to the circuit and watch the 24h race wrap up, but a throwaway suggestion at breakfast meant we decided to go to the 'Ring instead.
Doing a lap didn't appeal to many, especially those of us with trailers. Weather forecast was variable, and getting the 2-Eleven 90mins into Germany just felt like a chew tbh.
After a short discussion we decided that the 911, the Elise Cup and the Volvo would go. An Exige, Audi and the two trailers would stay at the Gite.
I'd never done the Nürburgring before, it doesn't appeal as a trackday venue but I had heard great things about the sights and sounds, so was looking forward to it.
It didn't disappoint, strong representation from the UK but some cracking cars from across the continent too.
The whole day seemed to desensitise us to the 'special' car. Non RS GT3s started to look dull, it was bonkers.
All three cars decided to buy a lap, so we could all experience it one way or another. But that required a bit of track prep for the Volvo.
We had been lugging around the massive gazebo I bought, so we buddied up with some fellow Brits camped out with a trailer and dumped our stuff with them. Giddy to go, we then got notification that the track was closed due to an incident and would be reopened in 45mins or so.
As it happened, 45mins turned into several hours, as we later found a UK plated BMW had gone off the track in a pretty bad way. I've not heard anything since, but fingers crossed everyone got out with the least possible damage.
The various parking zones provided constant reminders of how quickly it can go wrong here
With time to kill, we did several laps of the carparks and I did a bit of studying:
We had a bit of a deadline, as we were due to move from the Gite into the Hotel right next to Spa for the duration of our stay, and we had dinner reservations etc. Just before calling it quits and heading back to Belgium, the horns blew and the track went green.
(The helmets were a bit of fun. Really could have done without mine on tbh, made visibility a bit dicey whilst dodging the constant GT3 missile attacks from behind!)
Off we went...
We all thought we were hilarious lapping round 4 up in a diesel Volvo, but I imagine it happens 40 times a day. Hey ho, we had a laugh.
The car was.... entertaining. Nobody was expecting it to be quick but the complete lack of consistency is what really bites you when you're used to driving cars engineered for performance. Sometimes the brakes hauled us up well, sometimes it was like they didn't exist. Gearbox wouldn't downshift unless I was in a precise 750rpm band, so any degree of engine braking was pretty much lost. Luckily it didn't have the grunt to get us into any real trouble.
My main concern was blocking the laps of somebody actually taking their day seriously, so with the help of my rear benchers we were sure to dive out of the way at the earliest sign of anything coming through. I think we did OK.
We had a small discussion in the cockpit coming up to the Karussell about whether to go for it or not. The entry is STEEP! No video or photo can do that justice, but I lobbed it in and we had a go around.
All in all it was a fun lap. When we got to the yellow flagged areas where barrier repairs were still ongoing, we got a feel for just how bad the earlier BMW crash was. It was long gone into the trees, and evidence of a fairly robust forest fire too
The 911 and Elise Cup 260 also went around, the tight arses didn't buy any photos though and I refuse to post watermarked ones. They both had fun, Simon in the Elise perhaps a little more than any of us.
After a quick debrief with our storage buddies for the day, it was time to head back to Belgium and switch accommodation.
Via this sign, obviously.
Our hotel for the remainder would be the Hotel de la Source, right at the entrance to Spa. We couldn't get into this for the first night due to the 24h, but it felt good to be in walking distance of everything we'd need for the duration.
I wish I knew who won the 24h, because just after checkin I jumped in the lift to find a very small, athletic and chuffed fella holding a trophy almost 3/4 his size! I had my race boots on, so gave him that knowing nod and wink. Well done lad.
Day 4.
Finally, the trackday!
The weather forecast had twirled and turned and over breakfast we were discussing the real chance of a very wet day.
We arrived to the very cramped paddock in time for the rain. Many of the 24h crews were still packing up, and LoT did an utterly fantastic job of making sure this wasn't a problem. There was a truck being loaded by robotic forklift thing almost all day, and whenever a LoT member had to pass to get to circuit, a LoT staffmember stepped in and ushered you through. It could have been a disaster tbh with all of the stuff there, but it worked out really well.
Sad
It was time to bust out the Gazebo which I'd been hauling around Europe for 4 days. The bloody thing must have been 80kg in its bag, and I had a good 30-40kg of sandbags too to weigh down the legs.
Got the bag on the floor, everyone crowded round ready to help put it up...
"Go get the covers"
"Covers? I thought they were in the bag".
FECK! After all that, I'd just brought a frame. DOOOOOHHHHH.
I got all waterproofed up and we headed out for sighting laps. Phwoar what a circuit! I came off the track feeling like I knew less about it than I did before the sighters!
The rain stopped, and the circuit almost fully dried out during the sighting laps. Clouds lurked, so we all intended to make the most of it.
The difference 45mins makes.
My first session got under way and I had Jaik in the passenger seat. Eager to demonstrate my brakes to him which I've used every possible opportunity in the last 12 months to say how amazing they were.
Unfortunately, they were a long way from amazing
My notes from my road test continued, in that the whole car was extremely grabby and when trying to lean on them at all, the rear of the car became very unstable. I started getting that pit of dread in my stomach. What had I done?!
Perhaps they still would benefit from bedding in, so I persisted albeit gently before bringing it in. In addition to the brake concerns, my GoPro also threw an SD card error which I ignored, unfortunately at my peril The day has been unfortunately undocumented on video.
Weather was still fair, so after a short turnaround, I threw Jaik the keys and let him have a session to get his thoughts.
Very odd seeing your own car trundling down the pitlane, but I was relaxed and the car was in safe hands.
Jaik returned and we compared notes. He agreed, brakes not right - and it was likely too biased to the rear.
I went out for a solo session to see if I could push past it, but nope. The faster I tried to go, the less driveable the car became - and even when not in a braking zone you felt yourself thinking about it all the way around and it just made you slow everywhere. The worst part was under partial pedal on turn-in, the rear brakes made the most horrendous noise!
I still got a fair few laps in through the morning, but I really wasn't having much fun.
I've often talked about how rare the 2-Eleven is, even following the Lotus on Track circuit as closely as I do, I've never seen another one. That changed today though!
Over lunch we discussed options for the brakes. Could try stiffening the front dampers up a bit to try and stop so much weight transferring forwards, maybe keep some grip over the rears and allow the brakes to work. Didn't really help.
Then after conferring with SeriouslyDave back in Blighty, we decided to try some different pads in the back.
One of the crew had brought some partially worn RS4-2 Pagid pads. A very road biased, but track capable pad which I'd used years ago in my Elise. Worth a try, but I wasn't hopeful.
I agreed with Jaik to go out, do a session and then come in and have an instant turnaround for him. I wouldn't give away my thoughts to him, and we'd independently make our minds up on whether we'd gone the right way or not.
That proved quite difficult, because after a 20min stint I had the worlds biggest s
t eating grin. I tried to not give anything away to Jaik but there was no question, the car was infinitely more driveable. Not only that, but the brakes felt like a strong upgrade over their OEM state too.
I could lean on them, trailbrake, and though it took a few laps to regain confidence in them I could throw the anchors out before La Source at an almost impossible point and still just about make the corner. Ace.
Jaik agreed, and he had a belting session too. After getting home and pulling the SD cards, it was fascinating to compare two drivers in the same car.
My takeaway was that I was shocked and impressed in how quickly Jaik adapted to another car and how close we were both over a total lap. However the big shock was how differently we achieved the very similar overall times. We both clearly started learning a couple of corners each, but different to each other. Fascinating stuff, had this been a test day with proper timing etc, it would have been a magnificent way to knock chunks and chunks of time off of both drivers, so you can see why race teams try to get other drivers in their cars as often as possible.
With the braking issues behind me, I could focus a bit more on the laps. Eau Rouge was a beast of a corner, you fly into it at what feels like much too fast, then half way up you're considering a downchange because the 2ZZ is wheezing away in fifth! I think the fastest way up there for me would be a brakeless downshift on entry, then pin it in fourth, but having the confidence to snatch fourth smoothly right on entry was causing me to leave way too much on the table so I eventually abandoned that in favour of keeping in fifth, lifting on entry and then getting on the power as soon as I dared. I was very slow up there though, easily my weakest corner.
I really enjoyed the flowing few corners around Les Combes. Entry from Kemmel was faster than you think, then you could just balance the throttle through them. The downhill hairpin thing just afterwards was awful. Loads of patience needed, just not a fun corner.
Jamie was by all accounts stringing some great laps together in my old Exige. I really don't do passenger laps, but feel like I missed out by not seeing his interpretation of the track.
Pouhon was lots of fun, easily taken much faster than I did - but the feeling of turning into a corner in fifth, and pinning it fairly early was novel and extremely exciting.
Pif-paf/Fagnes I felt like I didn't really "get it". I think the entry is slower than you think, but whenenever taking it slowly it felt too slow.
The long sweeping back section into Blanchimont was good, but this was a bit of a turkey shoot in a 4cyl car. Lots of mirror watching here for the many powerful Porsche cars in attendance which would subsequently slow me down into and through the bus stop chicane and onto La Source again.
I won't pretend I did anywhere near a good lap, but it was still massively enjoyable. It's a circuit where you are just in awe of the scenery and the occasion of just being there. I had similar vibes at Silverstone last November. Chucking the car around almost becomes secondary.
The weather remained stunning all day after the damp sighting laps.
For what would be my last session, I made an ECU tweak to give me a bit more power on the straights. 5th and 6th gears in this setup are not particularly vulnerable, unlike 3/4. With that in mind, I altered my config to give full throttle in 5th and 6th but keep it pegged at 65% in 3 and 4. That would mean ~270bhp in 3/4 and ~300 in 5th and 6th. Useless at most British circuits, but a pretty handy help for a GP circuit.
My next session was a long one, too long. First few laps involved a lot of traffic, so I just chilled out and found myself a grove. Then I just found myself unable to come into the pits, lap after lap.
I ended up with a 30min session so not too extreme, but long enough for me. My ECU changes hadn't quite worked as I intended - but I knew exactly what to sort out. It was 17:15 ad it was stumps at 18:00, so after Jaik politely turned down one last session I got ready for a good one to finish.
Errr... what's that?
Bugger! CV Joint split, made a right mess.
Oh well, end of day. Yet another niggle preventing a flawless day in 2023 but on balance, after how I felt at lunch time - it was a cracking afternoon.
No Drama from the other boys either, all cars performed brilliantly and lots of fun was had all round. Chris was shaking his Honda down after a massive rebuild, so the fact it did so well is a credit to him.
All too soon, it was time to pack up.
Cheesy team photo. We'd picked up a 9th at some point, Andrew in his Alpine. These Alpines were seriously quick at Spa, they must be slippery buggers because they didn't half sneak up on you on the straight bits!
The rest of the trip was mainly food, beer and lack of sleep.
We stopped off for a quick shopping trip at a Motorsporty shop in Stavelot. Very cool, combining my two passions nicely:
Then it was to the ferry. Drive back to Rotterdam was a chore, but we got there in one piece.
Hull beckons. Home sweet home.
Finally, the trackday!
The weather forecast had twirled and turned and over breakfast we were discussing the real chance of a very wet day.
We arrived to the very cramped paddock in time for the rain. Many of the 24h crews were still packing up, and LoT did an utterly fantastic job of making sure this wasn't a problem. There was a truck being loaded by robotic forklift thing almost all day, and whenever a LoT member had to pass to get to circuit, a LoT staffmember stepped in and ushered you through. It could have been a disaster tbh with all of the stuff there, but it worked out really well.
Sad
It was time to bust out the Gazebo which I'd been hauling around Europe for 4 days. The bloody thing must have been 80kg in its bag, and I had a good 30-40kg of sandbags too to weigh down the legs.
Got the bag on the floor, everyone crowded round ready to help put it up...
"Go get the covers"
"Covers? I thought they were in the bag".
FECK! After all that, I'd just brought a frame. DOOOOOHHHHH.
I got all waterproofed up and we headed out for sighting laps. Phwoar what a circuit! I came off the track feeling like I knew less about it than I did before the sighters!
The rain stopped, and the circuit almost fully dried out during the sighting laps. Clouds lurked, so we all intended to make the most of it.
The difference 45mins makes.
My first session got under way and I had Jaik in the passenger seat. Eager to demonstrate my brakes to him which I've used every possible opportunity in the last 12 months to say how amazing they were.
Unfortunately, they were a long way from amazing
My notes from my road test continued, in that the whole car was extremely grabby and when trying to lean on them at all, the rear of the car became very unstable. I started getting that pit of dread in my stomach. What had I done?!
Perhaps they still would benefit from bedding in, so I persisted albeit gently before bringing it in. In addition to the brake concerns, my GoPro also threw an SD card error which I ignored, unfortunately at my peril
The day has been unfortunately undocumented on video.Weather was still fair, so after a short turnaround, I threw Jaik the keys and let him have a session to get his thoughts.
Very odd seeing your own car trundling down the pitlane, but I was relaxed and the car was in safe hands.
Jaik returned and we compared notes. He agreed, brakes not right - and it was likely too biased to the rear.
I went out for a solo session to see if I could push past it, but nope. The faster I tried to go, the less driveable the car became - and even when not in a braking zone you felt yourself thinking about it all the way around and it just made you slow everywhere. The worst part was under partial pedal on turn-in, the rear brakes made the most horrendous noise!
I still got a fair few laps in through the morning, but I really wasn't having much fun.
I've often talked about how rare the 2-Eleven is, even following the Lotus on Track circuit as closely as I do, I've never seen another one. That changed today though!
Over lunch we discussed options for the brakes. Could try stiffening the front dampers up a bit to try and stop so much weight transferring forwards, maybe keep some grip over the rears and allow the brakes to work. Didn't really help.
Then after conferring with SeriouslyDave back in Blighty, we decided to try some different pads in the back.
One of the crew had brought some partially worn RS4-2 Pagid pads. A very road biased, but track capable pad which I'd used years ago in my Elise. Worth a try, but I wasn't hopeful.
I agreed with Jaik to go out, do a session and then come in and have an instant turnaround for him. I wouldn't give away my thoughts to him, and we'd independently make our minds up on whether we'd gone the right way or not.
That proved quite difficult, because after a 20min stint I had the worlds biggest s
t eating grin. I tried to not give anything away to Jaik but there was no question, the car was infinitely more driveable. Not only that, but the brakes felt like a strong upgrade over their OEM state too. I could lean on them, trailbrake, and though it took a few laps to regain confidence in them I could throw the anchors out before La Source at an almost impossible point and still just about make the corner. Ace.
Jaik agreed, and he had a belting session too. After getting home and pulling the SD cards, it was fascinating to compare two drivers in the same car.
My takeaway was that I was shocked and impressed in how quickly Jaik adapted to another car and how close we were both over a total lap. However the big shock was how differently we achieved the very similar overall times. We both clearly started learning a couple of corners each, but different to each other. Fascinating stuff, had this been a test day with proper timing etc, it would have been a magnificent way to knock chunks and chunks of time off of both drivers, so you can see why race teams try to get other drivers in their cars as often as possible.
With the braking issues behind me, I could focus a bit more on the laps. Eau Rouge was a beast of a corner, you fly into it at what feels like much too fast, then half way up you're considering a downchange because the 2ZZ is wheezing away in fifth! I think the fastest way up there for me would be a brakeless downshift on entry, then pin it in fourth, but having the confidence to snatch fourth smoothly right on entry was causing me to leave way too much on the table so I eventually abandoned that in favour of keeping in fifth, lifting on entry and then getting on the power as soon as I dared. I was very slow up there though, easily my weakest corner.
I really enjoyed the flowing few corners around Les Combes. Entry from Kemmel was faster than you think, then you could just balance the throttle through them. The downhill hairpin thing just afterwards was awful. Loads of patience needed, just not a fun corner.
Jamie was by all accounts stringing some great laps together in my old Exige. I really don't do passenger laps, but feel like I missed out by not seeing his interpretation of the track.
Pouhon was lots of fun, easily taken much faster than I did - but the feeling of turning into a corner in fifth, and pinning it fairly early was novel and extremely exciting.
Pif-paf/Fagnes I felt like I didn't really "get it". I think the entry is slower than you think, but whenenever taking it slowly it felt too slow.
The long sweeping back section into Blanchimont was good, but this was a bit of a turkey shoot in a 4cyl car. Lots of mirror watching here for the many powerful Porsche cars in attendance which would subsequently slow me down into and through the bus stop chicane and onto La Source again.
I won't pretend I did anywhere near a good lap, but it was still massively enjoyable. It's a circuit where you are just in awe of the scenery and the occasion of just being there. I had similar vibes at Silverstone last November. Chucking the car around almost becomes secondary.
The weather remained stunning all day after the damp sighting laps.
For what would be my last session, I made an ECU tweak to give me a bit more power on the straights. 5th and 6th gears in this setup are not particularly vulnerable, unlike 3/4. With that in mind, I altered my config to give full throttle in 5th and 6th but keep it pegged at 65% in 3 and 4. That would mean ~270bhp in 3/4 and ~300 in 5th and 6th. Useless at most British circuits, but a pretty handy help for a GP circuit.
My next session was a long one, too long. First few laps involved a lot of traffic, so I just chilled out and found myself a grove. Then I just found myself unable to come into the pits, lap after lap.
I ended up with a 30min session so not too extreme, but long enough for me. My ECU changes hadn't quite worked as I intended - but I knew exactly what to sort out. It was 17:15 ad it was stumps at 18:00, so after Jaik politely turned down one last session I got ready for a good one to finish.
Errr... what's that?
Bugger! CV Joint split, made a right mess.
Oh well, end of day. Yet another niggle preventing a flawless day in 2023 but on balance, after how I felt at lunch time - it was a cracking afternoon.
No Drama from the other boys either, all cars performed brilliantly and lots of fun was had all round. Chris was shaking his Honda down after a massive rebuild, so the fact it did so well is a credit to him.
All too soon, it was time to pack up.
Cheesy team photo. We'd picked up a 9th at some point, Andrew in his Alpine. These Alpines were seriously quick at Spa, they must be slippery buggers because they didn't half sneak up on you on the straight bits!
The rest of the trip was mainly food, beer and lack of sleep.
We stopped off for a quick shopping trip at a Motorsporty shop in Stavelot. Very cool, combining my two passions nicely:
Then it was to the ferry. Drive back to Rotterdam was a chore, but we got there in one piece.
Hull beckons. Home sweet home.
I couldn't put it off forever, so made a start on tidying up the chaos from the split CV boot.
I've become a bit too well practised in taking the driveshafts out of this car. The new brake setup at the back is nicely thought out and engineered to not add any extra effort to this task.
The boot had split quite cleanly here:
In the foreground of that photo is a machining lug thing from the engine block. Allegedly this was the most likely candidate, and the stresses of Spa just caused my boot to expand that little bit too much and cause it to catch. Seems to be fairly common failure in the 2-Eleven world, based on a very small sample size - but it's unclear exactly why the 2-Eleven is more vulnerable. Maybe it's just confirmation bias.
The other thing to consider is that my 2bular manifold does away with the factory heat shields, and I've never been particularly convinced by the ceramic coating on the pipes. I could be overheating the boot and the air/grease within it.
The makeup of the driveshafts on the Lotus cars are a bit of a hybrid. Boot-wise it is a Toyota inner, and a Vauxhall Outer. I (wrongly) assumed the same for the actual joint inners too.
Though the outer joint and boot is available as a Vauxhall item, the inner joint is not the Toyota one, but instead a Lotus custom item... they just take the boot from Toyota, apparently.
I stripped the joint down and ordered a new boot from Toyota. I hoped to just fill it with grease, and get on with the rebuild - but my untrained eye wasn't happy with the state of the bearings/cage etc. So I started asking around for donors.
The part new from Lotus is $$$$$, in fact I think it works out cheaper to replace the entire driveshaft.
In stepped Dave (again) from SL.
In the ultimate vain effort to keep some heat out of the joint, I used my left over tape from the intercooler pipes. I don't for a moment thing this will help anything, but it made me feel like I was trying something.
I still plan to rebuild the original shaft, and carry it as a spare. If this failure would have happened at 10am of a big trackday like Spa, I'd have been gutted- but having a spare shaft, even if it's questionable may allow me to finish the day.
Now... onto the mess.
It really was everywhere, all nicely tucked behind the pulleys, in every cavity of the subframe (good rust proofing I guess) and on the back of the brake calipers, hub, shock absorber, etc. There's no question that my tyre will have got splattered in the initial explosion which explains the few lairy moments I had in that session. Scary.
I attacked it with three things:
1. Some Bilt Hamber degreaser in a pump sprayer. I stuck the wand in the various cavities and just sprayed it in to try and break down the grease before really trying anything else. This made a mighty mess of the floor, and not much else.
2. Brake cleaner in a pump sprayer, better - but still wasn't just blasting the grease off as I'd hoped.
3. Write off a few rags, roll up my sleeves and get stuck in
I think I'm almost there, the block is stained and grottier than before, but hopefully that will just burn off/season over time. The Subframe would have been a nightmare in its original galvanised state as it stains so easy, but the powdercoated black surface just allowed me to wipe it off pretty easily.
After consultation with a few people, I took a grinder to the engine too - and added a bit of clearance to that lug.
I'll be taking the aux belt off in the next couple of days, and will give the pulleys all a really good clean. Whilst I'm at it, I'm going to fit this:
It's a 3" up from the 2.9". Think I discussed this before but this was part of my action plan for the Exige and it just took a backburner through the car swap etc.
With a 2.9" pulley the chargecooler is just struggling to keep the IATs out of the range where a bit of timing gets pulled. Its not a huge amount, by the end of a very long Spa session it was pulling 1.5degrees (at 60*C) but it's enough that I feel like going 'down' a step of boost will probably be net neutral over a track session, and I'll be protecting the SC a bit as a bonus.
I know my map can cope with a range of boost pressures from 140kpa to 170kpa, from the DBW tweaking that we did on the dyno - so providing I fall within that range (I will), no real change will be needed - but I could in theory add a hint more ignition advance to claw back any losses from dropping a bit of boost.
Will be interesting to see how much impact it has on IATs, I have a pretty good sample selection now across a range of ambient temperatures so I'll quickly know once I get it back on track. 0.1" isn't much, but I'm banking on it having a bit of an exponential effect. I know that my OE pulley on the Exige was well, well within the comforts of the chargecooler and that it was always within a degrees or two of ambient.
I've become a bit too well practised in taking the driveshafts out of this car. The new brake setup at the back is nicely thought out and engineered to not add any extra effort to this task.
The boot had split quite cleanly here:
In the foreground of that photo is a machining lug thing from the engine block. Allegedly this was the most likely candidate, and the stresses of Spa just caused my boot to expand that little bit too much and cause it to catch. Seems to be fairly common failure in the 2-Eleven world, based on a very small sample size - but it's unclear exactly why the 2-Eleven is more vulnerable. Maybe it's just confirmation bias.
The other thing to consider is that my 2bular manifold does away with the factory heat shields, and I've never been particularly convinced by the ceramic coating on the pipes. I could be overheating the boot and the air/grease within it.
The makeup of the driveshafts on the Lotus cars are a bit of a hybrid. Boot-wise it is a Toyota inner, and a Vauxhall Outer. I (wrongly) assumed the same for the actual joint inners too.
Though the outer joint and boot is available as a Vauxhall item, the inner joint is not the Toyota one, but instead a Lotus custom item... they just take the boot from Toyota, apparently.
I stripped the joint down and ordered a new boot from Toyota. I hoped to just fill it with grease, and get on with the rebuild - but my untrained eye wasn't happy with the state of the bearings/cage etc. So I started asking around for donors.
The part new from Lotus is $$$$$, in fact I think it works out cheaper to replace the entire driveshaft.
In stepped Dave (again) from SL.
In the ultimate vain effort to keep some heat out of the joint, I used my left over tape from the intercooler pipes. I don't for a moment thing this will help anything, but it made me feel like I was trying something.
I still plan to rebuild the original shaft, and carry it as a spare. If this failure would have happened at 10am of a big trackday like Spa, I'd have been gutted- but having a spare shaft, even if it's questionable may allow me to finish the day.
Now... onto the mess.
It really was everywhere, all nicely tucked behind the pulleys, in every cavity of the subframe (good rust proofing I guess) and on the back of the brake calipers, hub, shock absorber, etc. There's no question that my tyre will have got splattered in the initial explosion which explains the few lairy moments I had in that session. Scary.
I attacked it with three things:
1. Some Bilt Hamber degreaser in a pump sprayer. I stuck the wand in the various cavities and just sprayed it in to try and break down the grease before really trying anything else. This made a mighty mess of the floor, and not much else.
2. Brake cleaner in a pump sprayer, better - but still wasn't just blasting the grease off as I'd hoped.
3. Write off a few rags, roll up my sleeves and get stuck in
I think I'm almost there, the block is stained and grottier than before, but hopefully that will just burn off/season over time. The Subframe would have been a nightmare in its original galvanised state as it stains so easy, but the powdercoated black surface just allowed me to wipe it off pretty easily.
After consultation with a few people, I took a grinder to the engine too - and added a bit of clearance to that lug.
I'll be taking the aux belt off in the next couple of days, and will give the pulleys all a really good clean. Whilst I'm at it, I'm going to fit this:
It's a 3" up from the 2.9". Think I discussed this before but this was part of my action plan for the Exige and it just took a backburner through the car swap etc.
With a 2.9" pulley the chargecooler is just struggling to keep the IATs out of the range where a bit of timing gets pulled. Its not a huge amount, by the end of a very long Spa session it was pulling 1.5degrees (at 60*C) but it's enough that I feel like going 'down' a step of boost will probably be net neutral over a track session, and I'll be protecting the SC a bit as a bonus.
I know my map can cope with a range of boost pressures from 140kpa to 170kpa, from the DBW tweaking that we did on the dyno - so providing I fall within that range (I will), no real change will be needed - but I could in theory add a hint more ignition advance to claw back any losses from dropping a bit of boost.
Will be interesting to see how much impact it has on IATs, I have a pretty good sample selection now across a range of ambient temperatures so I'll quickly know once I get it back on track. 0.1" isn't much, but I'm banking on it having a bit of an exponential effect. I know that my OE pulley on the Exige was well, well within the comforts of the chargecooler and that it was always within a degrees or two of ambient.
Finally pulled my finger out and got the car fettled.
New donor driveshaft in:
Box topped with Redlines finest:
I also addressed another Spa snag. My DIY arch liners at the front had sagged down and taken a beating. As a reminder I had applied some Bostik flashband up there to try and protect from internal stone damage, but I'd skimped on prep work and I think the recent heat beating down on the clam had been enough to unstick the tape and cause it to droop.
I addressed it by doing things "properly". Gave the inner arches a good degreasing, dried off and applied the Bostik adhesion primer.
My flashing tape was also a couple of years beyond its shelf life so I treated myself to a fresh roll inc price label! This was sticking to the clam much more convincingly, so hopefully that's that now.
Car back on its wheels for the first time since she came home. Still needs a de-stickering and a clean, but it's just about there.
Next steps will be a shakedown run just to see how much manifold pressure I'm making with the new pulley, then a tweak of the DBW parameters to get me as close to the previous setup as possible.
New donor driveshaft in:
Box topped with Redlines finest:
I also addressed another Spa snag. My DIY arch liners at the front had sagged down and taken a beating. As a reminder I had applied some Bostik flashband up there to try and protect from internal stone damage, but I'd skimped on prep work and I think the recent heat beating down on the clam had been enough to unstick the tape and cause it to droop.
I addressed it by doing things "properly". Gave the inner arches a good degreasing, dried off and applied the Bostik adhesion primer.
My flashing tape was also a couple of years beyond its shelf life so I treated myself to a fresh roll inc price label! This was sticking to the clam much more convincingly, so hopefully that's that now.
Car back on its wheels for the first time since she came home. Still needs a de-stickering and a clean, but it's just about there.
Next steps will be a shakedown run just to see how much manifold pressure I'm making with the new pulley, then a tweak of the DBW parameters to get me as close to the previous setup as possible.
I used the 2-Eleven at the weekend and nothing broke, nothing needed tinkering - it just did what a car does and got me from A-B and back again!
North Yorkshire Lotus Owners Club (NYLOC) had arranged a gathering on Whitby Pier alongside the RNLI as part of their vital fundraising day.
As a Family we absolutely love Whitby, and get there at every opportunity. One of the most beautiful places on the planet, not that we're biased. So an excuse to go down with the Lotus, chat cars for a bit and also get a family day out of it was not to be missed.
I went down early doors in the 2-Eleven whilst the missus and young'un followed behind later.
Getting to the pier in a car isn't the easiest task, as you're crawling through a road that under most normal circumstances is practically a pedestrian area, but the NYLOC marshals stepped in and made everything smooth and safe.
Rain threatened just after arrival, but it didn't really have much impact - so the showercap was shortlived.
After the family caught up, we wandered off and did the usual seasidey stuff. Fish and Chips, Arcade, Sand Castles and Ice Cream all smashed out with precision.
Went back and peaked at the car occasionally, just checking for nesting seagulls really.
(Thanks Martin and Mark for the photography)
The lineup was spectacular, can't remember the final count but it must have been knocking 40?
Lots of Elise/Exige of course, but a few Elans and Esprits' made it along too. Oh, and a smattering of Emira.
Mark braved the drone too, impressive with those coastal winds but worth it for the moneyshot.
The 2-Eleven had a fair few people curious, from what I was told people were generally obsessed with how small the rear view mirror was more than anything else! But a few nods of appreciation from Joe Public on just how shagged my tyres were starting to look along the outside edge didn't go unheard.
The public that I ran into were bob on. In a purpose built car event, people go there because they like cars - but just turning up with a collection of toy cars in a random public location in the middle of both a cost of living crisis but also a save-the-planet crisis could have generated some friction - but I'm not aware of any issues, and generally I felt it added to everyone's day out.
Was great to be a part of, and we raised a few quid for the RNLI too so happy days.
Ride home was a pleasure, steady traffic so nothing lairy - but a helmetless ride home had me nicely exfoliated and a nice reminder that the car isn't *so* bad on the road.
Thanks to NYLOC for organising, and thanks RNLI for the invite (and the life savery)
North Yorkshire Lotus Owners Club (NYLOC) had arranged a gathering on Whitby Pier alongside the RNLI as part of their vital fundraising day.
As a Family we absolutely love Whitby, and get there at every opportunity. One of the most beautiful places on the planet, not that we're biased. So an excuse to go down with the Lotus, chat cars for a bit and also get a family day out of it was not to be missed.
I went down early doors in the 2-Eleven whilst the missus and young'un followed behind later.
Getting to the pier in a car isn't the easiest task, as you're crawling through a road that under most normal circumstances is practically a pedestrian area, but the NYLOC marshals stepped in and made everything smooth and safe.
Rain threatened just after arrival, but it didn't really have much impact - so the showercap was shortlived.
After the family caught up, we wandered off and did the usual seasidey stuff. Fish and Chips, Arcade, Sand Castles and Ice Cream all smashed out with precision.
Went back and peaked at the car occasionally, just checking for nesting seagulls really.
(Thanks Martin and Mark for the photography)
The lineup was spectacular, can't remember the final count but it must have been knocking 40?
Lots of Elise/Exige of course, but a few Elans and Esprits' made it along too. Oh, and a smattering of Emira.
Mark braved the drone too, impressive with those coastal winds but worth it for the moneyshot.
The 2-Eleven had a fair few people curious, from what I was told people were generally obsessed with how small the rear view mirror was more than anything else! But a few nods of appreciation from Joe Public on just how shagged my tyres were starting to look along the outside edge didn't go unheard.
The public that I ran into were bob on. In a purpose built car event, people go there because they like cars - but just turning up with a collection of toy cars in a random public location in the middle of both a cost of living crisis but also a save-the-planet crisis could have generated some friction - but I'm not aware of any issues, and generally I felt it added to everyone's day out.
Was great to be a part of, and we raised a few quid for the RNLI too so happy days.
Ride home was a pleasure, steady traffic so nothing lairy - but a helmetless ride home had me nicely exfoliated and a nice reminder that the car isn't *so* bad on the road.
Thanks to NYLOC for organising, and thanks RNLI for the invite (and the life savery)
Edited by Fonzey on Monday 31st July 22:22
Edited by Fonzey on Monday 31st July 22:23
Managed to squeak into an unplanned trackday at Croft with Circuitdays on BH Monday. Between then and now I'm away for a week, so needed to do my trackday prep early.
Because the car 'just works' at the moment, that prep involved putting petrol in it, and washing it.
I did get to snap it next to the new(ish) stablemate though. Since the 2-Eleven hasn't cost me any money in almost a month I guess I wanted to fill the void in my life with another moneypit.
Depending on how motivated I am when I get to Croft I may have a play with the brakes. At Spa I found a satisfactory setup running a road-biased Pagid RS42 pad in the back, but I also have the option to revert to a 288mm disc and run matching compounds front and rear to see if that also works. Other than swapping some bolts/spacers out, it's not a huge job to do trackside so I may consider it.
Because the car 'just works' at the moment, that prep involved putting petrol in it, and washing it.
I did get to snap it next to the new(ish) stablemate though. Since the 2-Eleven hasn't cost me any money in almost a month I guess I wanted to fill the void in my life with another moneypit.
Depending on how motivated I am when I get to Croft I may have a play with the brakes. At Spa I found a satisfactory setup running a road-biased Pagid RS42 pad in the back, but I also have the option to revert to a 288mm disc and run matching compounds front and rear to see if that also works. Other than swapping some bolts/spacers out, it's not a huge job to do trackside so I may consider it.
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