New arrival. Exige 410 Sport

[ecain63]

Well Silverstone, like Spa, didn't happen this week. Poo!

Instead we got the Exige through its first annual service and fitted the PFC pads. A very reasonable £329 all in and even had the pleasure of borrowing Hendy's Canyon Red Evora 410 for a few days. What's not to like!

The old pads were pretty worn and a flickering handbrake light on the dash since September was diagnosed as a low pad warning. At least we know now.



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|https://thumbsnap.com/hF763AFh[/url]

New pads in:





And service done:







And the lovely Evora.





Who knows if we'll see another track this year. Hopefully Goodwood will still happen on the 7th December.

[ecain63]

Last drive before the rain

[ecain63]

Did a little bit of winter restoration over the weekend. The front mesh was starting to look a bit tatty. It was also a good opportunity to black out the plate hangers too.












Anyone looking for a size comparison can use this. We've got a lodger for a couple of days in the form of a new Z4. It's as big as the wife's 2018 Countryman JCW.

[GaryF]

That does look lardy beside the Exige. Good tidyup on the grilles. I used the same Hammerite smooth black in spray form to do the side grilles on my Mini.

[ecain63]

GaryF said:

That does look lardy beside the Exige. Good tidyup on the grilles. I used the same Hammerite smooth black in spray form to do the side grilles on my Mini.

Spray is so much better if you can easily remove the mesh. I assume you can get them off the mini?

[GaryF]

Yes, was able to separate them from the plastic holders and dechromed the chrome bits with the Hammerite as well. Standing up well.

Hope to see some more of your excellent track action pics again soon

[ecain63]

There's not a huge amount going on at the moment outside work but I'm still making time to do bits and bobs with the Lotus.

Firstly, a clean of the throttle butterfly / inlet and MAF sensor. After opening it up I found it wasn't really that dirty at all, despite other owners reporting regular cleaning needed. Still good to keep on top of it though.







Managed a couple of school runs too..... taking the long route obviously






There's potentially a track day left in 2020, hopefully at Goodwood on the 7th, but it's unlikely I'll be pressing for lap times in December on Cup2s. With that in mind I've decided to refit the stock Lotus exhaust. If the track day is viable I'm happy to short shift for the day and just enjoy the day out.

Time wise, the exhaust swap took 90 minutes with no need for a ramp.
















Lastly, I managed to get the GoPro from BV and upload his footage from Combe last month. Unfortunately his GPS wasn't tracking so no displayed lap times. I worked out a best of 1.19 for him though in the last session of the day.

Here's us having a bit of fun before lunch.

https://youtu.be/stBRYSmOX1s

See you in December.

Edited by ecain63 on Saturday 28th November 07:22

[BertBert]

Does the standard exhaust pass the static test? I thought it would struggle (depending on the limit obvs).
Cheers
Bert

[ecain63]

BertBert said:

Does the standard exhaust pass the static test? I thought it would struggle (depending on the limit obvs).
Cheers
Bert

Passes static absolutely fine. You just need to stay below 4500rpm as that's when all hell breaks loose.

Edited by ecain63 on Sunday 29th November 16:22

[BertBert]

Ah ok that makes sense. The nasty man at BH a few months ago was very keen on 3/4 max revs for my GT3! I assume you have to sweet talk the noise man a bit!

[ecain63]

BertBert said:

Ah ok that makes sense. The nasty man at BH a few months ago was very keen on 3/4 max revs for my GT3! I assume you have to sweet talk the noise man a bit!

Getting on and staying on depends on the track, and obviously your exhaust.

Brands is very strict and they'll send you home quite quickly. I was there in June for an evening session and the noise was really tight. No static due to covid at the time but I got black flagged even with my track exhaust. I fitted the extra cans and was ok the rest of the evening.

Goodwood is great. To run quickly i need the track exhaust and sometimes the extra cans if the weather is playing up. The Marshall's will tell you where to lift off if you are noisy and do a "3 strikes and you're out" rule.

Thruxton is hard to get on with any powerful track car, but if you're just over on the static they'll help you out with your throttle techniques lol. There's no driveby but the circuit manager listens from his trackside window. I definitely need the track exhaust and extra cans here.

Silverstone, you'd need to lift passing through the national straight meter if you run a standard exhaust. I can run the track exhaust absolutely fine as it's a decent driveby limit.

Castle Combe is not suitable for a stock exhaust, but they're still quite relaxed where it's just outside the limit. Track exhaust, no cans, all good.

Nurburgring. Amazingly, you risk getting black flagged with a stock exhaust here. I've only been for TF laps in the Exige so far and ran the track exhaust, but I've heard of 410/430 being chucked off for noise on stock setups.

Spa, theoretically should be a problem for the stock exhaust on a 410/430 as it's a 107 driveby. But, people seem to be doing ok on the whole. Maybe only a couple of people have experienced problems.

Driveby for the stock exhaust can hit over 115db

[Rocketreid]

Static noise tests for under 102db on any 400 Exige or Evora and particularly for Ti exhausts are near on impossible. You may be lucky but over 4,500 rpm you stand little chance, so need a sympathetic tester as most will want at least 4,750

Drivebys are easier to manage but on full chat with the wind against you, a dB over 107 is common.

Komotec do their dB eater for non Ti exhausts and is useful for drivebys as you can direct the can away from the meters. I believe drops by 3-4 dB

Anglesey is the only UK track where you have little issue or the few noisy days some circuits have.

In any event the 400’s are not really very user friendly for tracking without some messing about unfortunately

[ecain63]

Another cracking day at Goodwood, but under different weather conditions to our usual. Today was around 0-2°C on track and the light drizzle made for some tricky driving conditions..... especially on cold Cup2 tyres. Luckily there was the odd window of opportunity after a few laps warming the tyres and I managed a 1m35s before the rain came at lunch.

Potentially we could have gone a little quicker today due to the requirement to shortshift (noise / stock exhaust) but I think any more speed today may have ended things on the wrong side of the grass.

Here's my quickest run before lunch.

https://youtu.be/RGV0E84FQKs

[ecain63]

And that's a wrap for 2020.

15 track days
1 driving academy
1 set of pads
7200 miles
Tonnes of fun.

Can't wait for 2021!













[url]

[ecain63]

[Rocketreid]

ecain63 said:

Good to see a 410 getting the use it was intended for.

If you got 15 Track days in this year what could you manage in a non locked down 12 months , assuming of course !!!

My Cup 430 has been my track car of choice even though I have others. I usually do between 15-20 shared between them but the 430 is more fun, although short shifting on some circuits is a pita.

Let’s hope for a non ice/snowy winter !!

[ecain63]

Rocketreid said:

ecain63 said:

Good to see a 410 getting the use it was intended for.

If you got 15 Track days in this year what could you manage in a non locked down 12 months , assuming of course !!!

My Cup 430 has been my track car of choice even though I have others. I usually do between 15-20 shared between them but the 430 is more fun, although short shifting on some circuits is a pita.

Let’s hope for a non ice/snowy winter !!

I reckon maybe 20 at most. We had our Nurburgring trackday cancelled in May and the EVO day at Goodwood in July, for obvious reasons.... and also our Spa trip last month.

I can't remember if I posted it here, but I worked out the costs for the 15 track days this year. £7500! This includes everything from the ticket / entry costs, garage hire, fuel used on track (circa 2500 miles) as well as fuel used to and from trackdays (another 3000 maybe), trackday insurance from Moris and Reis (£60k cover), Channel Tunnel and hotel costs for the TF trip I did to the Ring in August, one set of PF brake pads (front and rear), service costs and a set of Cup2 tyres that I haven't actually bought yet. So it's more like £6750 if you discount them.

I think that's really very reasonable.

What other cars have you got? A Cup 430 would be my next move purely for the extra degree of track focus. I know there will be very little to separate the 410 and 430 on track but you know what I mean with the extra vents, carbon roof and wing. There's a nice one coming up soon at my local dealer that hopefully will make sense on paper. If not I can see the 410 being a long termer.

That heat haze

[Rocketreid]

I have McLarens.

I see the Type 79 Cup 430 has just come onto the market. Stunning looking car in the JPS Livery.

I think in your position i would consider just a Komotec upgrade and possibly add a few bits of carbon if you are using for mainly track use.

Aesthetically the Cup 430 is more aggressive looking and if it’s lap times you are chasing, then the Cup is probably long term a good purchase.

[ecain63]

Rocketreid said:

I have McLarens.

I see the Type 79 Cup 430 has just come onto the market. Stunning looking car in the JPS Livery.

I think in your position i would consider just a Komotec upgrade and possibly add a few bits of carbon if you are using for mainly track use.

Aesthetically the Cup 430 is more aggressive looking and if it’s lap times you are chasing, then the Cup is probably long term a good purchase.

Not sure I could justify putting that JP430 through 20 trackdays a year. That's most definitely a car for a collector / polisher. There's another coming hopefully in the new year that I've seen on the quiet. Depending on the numbers it may be doable, but I'm hearing negatives from Lotus at the moment and the change of car might not be worth the cash difference.. we'll see what happens.

[ecain63]

Winter mods:

I've decided to go big on safety for 2021, not that I've been lax in that department this year.

After binning it big time at Thruxton in 2019 I said I wouldn't fit harnesses without wearing a HANS device. The risk of breaking your neck in a crash with harnesses is really quite high without that neck restraint. I broke my back and not my neck at Thruxton most likely due to safety advantages of the standard seat belts.

So with the season now over for 2020 I ordered myself a harness bar from Castle Cars (I think it's actually a Seriously Lotus bar), some Lotus spec Schroth harnesses from GSM / Sportsseats4u and a OMP GP helmet and Schroth HANS device from Murray Motorsport in Ireland.

The bar has arrived so I set about fitting it this afternoon.

Roof off first:



Then seats out:







With the seats out it's just a simple job of unbolting the top seatbelt mounts, putting the harness bar in place and refitting the seatbelt mounts. If you don't want the OEM belts left in you can remove them, but I want the flexibility of easy belts for the road.





I've kept the seats out and roof off for now as the harnesses should arrive in the next few days.

Edited by ecain63 on Sunday 27th December 21:13