Pauls Exige 410 Sport

[Paul_M3]

BertBert said:

I think that makes it worse! Deliberately running pads that low is a bad idea. Leads to overheating and the risk of mistakes. Not sure why you'd do it in the grand scheme of things. But hey ho, you use the car well for what it's supposed to do.
Cheers
Bert

That's definitely not an unreasonable comment, but my response would be;

You call it "running them low", but as an engineer I call it "Optimisation of replacement strategy based on previous degradation data"

Obviously that approach is only fine if you consider the risk of getting wrong to be relatively low. They are mild race pads designed to handle heat, and the performance wouldn't drop off a cliff. There was no sign of pad damage or crumbling during my routine inspections. If they overheated on track I'd start noticing pad fade. In reality, the performance was a strong that day as any other. (In fact, I did my best lap ever around Snetterton on those pads)

As to 'why?' Well a full set of those pads is £300. (The Pagids are over £500).

I had done 3 track days on them, and was very confident I could do one more before replacing them. Considering the replacement cost, that's exactly what I decided to do.

[Rocket.]

I ran the RS29's on my old Cayman with Girodiscs and they certainly worked and lasted very well if a little dusty.

Last weekend I treated myself to the 'Exige Experience' at Hethel, it was mainly to see what the 410 was like on track before I finally decide on buying one, needless to say I was very impressed and no surprise it made my old Cayman feel like a bus. I also wont be forgetting the passenger laps with Martin Donnelly driving anytime soon!

A question I have regarding brakes was modulation, I struggled a bit into high speed corners to get the right amount of braking, was that just me? fwiw I am not sure which pads the experience cars are running but the cars were stickered up with 'Textar' so I assume road biased pads. Also struggled with heel and toe, my size 11 feet never seemed to be in the right place and regular size
trainers almost seem to big to drive in, have you tried out your new throttle pedal yet?

[Paul_M3]

Rocket. said:

A question I have regarding brakes was modulation, I struggled a bit into high speed corners to get the right amount of braking, was that just me? fwiw I am not sure which pads the experience cars are running but the cars were stickered up with 'Textar' so I assume road biased pads. Also struggled with heel and toe, my size 11 feet never seemed to be in the right place and regular trainers almost seem to big to drive in, have you tried out your new throttle pedal yet?

I haven't really struggled with modulation. I wonder if those cars do run different pads? The standard 410 pad is effectively Ferodo DS2500. (Albeit with an AP Racing part number on it)

I also struggle to drive it in my regular trainers which are pretty wide. Narrower shoes are definitely worth having for driving in.

I haven't tried the new pedal on track yet, but I did take the car to work and have a bit of a 'play'. Obviously it's not quite the same as being on track, but it definitely felt much much easier to get some sort of blip. Hopefully on track with a bit of practice I'll be able to get a consistent blip each time.

[Rocket.]

Paul_M3 said:

I haven't really struggled with modulation. I wonder if those cars do run different pads? The standard 410 pad is effectively Ferodo DS2500. (Albeit with an AP Racing part number on it)

I also struggle to drive it in my regular trainers which are pretty wide. Narrower shoes are definitely worth having for driving in.

I haven't tried the new pedal on track yet, but I did take the car to work and have a bit of a 'play'. Obviously it's not quite the same as being on track, but it definitely felt much much easier to get some sort of blip. Hopefully on track with a bit of practice I'll be able to get a consistent blip each time.

Thanks for reply, probably just me then, my slightly lame excuse being 1st time have driven on track in about a year for 20 mins in a new car to try and string it all together. Smaller shoes for me next time and probably copy your throttle mod I suspect

[Rocketreid]

Rocket. said:

Thanks for reply, probably just me then, my slightly lame excuse being 1st time have driven on track in about a year for 20 mins in a new car to try and string it all together. Smaller shoes for me next time and probably copy your throttle mod I suspect

I have a similar accelerator pedal which has made some difference to H&T but quite often it’s the car not playing ball.

The pressure needed to get a good blip does seem to alter meaning you ca not be precise, particularly when you are pushing on.

[Rocketreid]

End of tracking of shortly so will swap back my Ti system for road use

Edited by Rocketreid on Wednesday 24th November 10:08

[BertBert]

Paul_M3 said:

That's definitely not an unreasonable comment, but my response would be;

You call it "running them low", but as an engineer I call it "Optimisation of replacement strategy based on previous degradation data"

Obviously that approach is only fine if you consider the risk of getting wrong to be relatively low. They are mild race pads designed to handle heat, and the performance wouldn't drop off a cliff. There was no sign of pad damage or crumbling during my routine inspections. If they overheated on track I'd start noticing pad fade. In reality, the performance was a strong that day as any other. (In fact, I did my best lap ever around Snetterton on those pads)

As to 'why?' Well a full set of those pads is £300. (The Pagids are over £500).

I had done 3 track days on them, and was very confident I could do one more before replacing them. Considering the replacement cost, that's exactly what I decided to do.

The problem is with the risk of what happens if they fail at that point. Being a very frequent track driver, taking what in my view is deliberate risk of a track incident to save, what, £75 is foolish. But I'll leave it there as you are comfortable with it and I wouldn't be. Each to their own

[Rocketreid]

Any recommendation for a top road/track tyre for wet/colder conditions

[JP__FOX]

Rocketreid said:

Any recommendation for a top road/track tyre for wet/colder conditions

Sounds like you need the Michelin PS4 / PS4S depending on tyre size... both great tyres and black circles have an offer on them atm

[Rocketreid]

JP__FOX said:

Sounds like you need the Michelin PS4 / PS4S depending on tyre size... both great tyres and black circles have an offer on them atm

Yep, they would be spot on but can’t get them
in the sizes, they do rears a size up but no fronts that are close unfortunately

[JP__FOX]

Can you get the Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport? It's hard to offer more without knowing which size tbh.

[Rocketreid]

Sizes are 215/45/17 & 285/30/18

Strangely I can get PS4 for the front and if I go a size up on the rears to 295/30/18 I can get PS4S.

Not sure i want to change the rear height/Geo or mix different compound tyres but it is a potential solution

[RevsPerMinute]

Rocketreid said:

Sizes are 215/45/17 & 285/30/18

Strangely I can get PS4 for the front and if I go a size up on the rears to 295/30/18 I can get PS4S.

Not sure i want to change the rear height/Geo or mix different compound tyres but it is a potential solution

I'm sure I've seen lots of other people running 295/30/18 on the rears in PS4's.
Anyone comment?

[JP__FOX]

Rocketreid said:

Sizes are 215/45/17 & 285/30/18

Strangely I can get PS4 for the front and if I go a size up on the rears to 295/30/18 I can get PS4S.

Not sure i want to change the rear height/Geo or mix different compound tyres but it is a potential solution

I think you'd struggle to notice the increase of about 3mm in height between 30% of 285 and 30% of 295 and I'd probably take the compound mixing over the other alternatives tbh.

[Rocketreid]

RevsPerMinute said:

I'm sure I've seen lots of other people running 295/30/18 on the rears in PS4's.
Anyone comment?

PS4’s are not available in that size , just PS4S

[Rocketreid]

JP__FOX said:

I think you'd struggle to notice the increase of about 3mm in height between 30% of 285 and 30% of 295 and I'd probably take the compound mixing over the other alternatives tbh.

At the moment this is the only solution, but need to give it some further consideration.

Does seem a bit ridiculous that Lotus manufacture a car that you can only buy track/ dry weather tyres for but then again it is Lotus !!!

[Gibbo205]

Hi Paul

Just wanted to say thanks for the guide for the silencer, I followed it, works a treat, a big reduction in noise to my ears.
Took the car Donnington a week ago, silencer attached, valves open and zero issues the whole day with a noise level of 98Db driveby, so well happy, it works and cost less than £100 and means I get to keep the fruity factory 410 exhaust for driving on the road.

[Paul_M3]

Gibbo205 said:

Hi Paul

Just wanted to say thanks for the guide for the silencer, I followed it, works a treat, a big reduction in noise to my ears.
Took the car Donnington a week ago, silencer attached, valves open and zero issues the whole day with a noise level of 98Db driveby, so well happy, it works and cost less than £100 and means I get to keep the fruity factory 410 exhaust for driving on the road.

That’s great news. Did you use exactly the same parts as mine?

If so, keep me updated with any noise test results you get and if you use it with success on any of the stricter circuits.

[Gibbo205]

Paul_M3 said:

That’s great news. Did you use exactly the same parts as mine?

If so, keep me updated with any noise test results you get and if you use it with success on any of the stricter circuits.

Yes used all your links, took the parts to local garage who made it for me, even better free of charge. It also looks pretty smart too as its all black so blends in with the undertray.

[Rocketreid]

Anyone had the pleasure of having to unscrew the O2 Sensors, mine are causing me some issues. They seem very tight

Looks like a cool light of day job !