Pauls Exige 410 Sport
Discussion
Another little cosmetic mod carried out this weekend, and one which some will like and some won't.
I've always felt that the end plates on the rear wing let it down slightly. I wish they were made out of carbon fibre like the rest of it. They just seem a bit of a cheap after-thought in a way.
I kept looking at photographs of the cars with the union jack decals on the end plates, and although I generally liked them on other peoples cars I wasn't sure if they would suit mine.
I definitely didn't think the full colour version would work, and even the greyscale version seemed like it might stand out and be too obvious.
Then I saw a instagram post (by jcxmig) who had a monochromatic version, and I got me thinking about different options. I had a chat with Dan at Divinehandcrafts, and he said could do a 'blackout' version which has a black background and then the flag in a single colour. To make the design as subtle as possible, I asked for the flag to be in the darkest metallic grey that he offered. The decals are now applied, and I'm very happy with the result. The effect varies depending on the ambient light, and it's definitely quite subtle in darker conditions.
I've always felt that the end plates on the rear wing let it down slightly. I wish they were made out of carbon fibre like the rest of it. They just seem a bit of a cheap after-thought in a way.
I kept looking at photographs of the cars with the union jack decals on the end plates, and although I generally liked them on other peoples cars I wasn't sure if they would suit mine.
I definitely didn't think the full colour version would work, and even the greyscale version seemed like it might stand out and be too obvious.
Then I saw a instagram post (by jcxmig) who had a monochromatic version, and I got me thinking about different options. I had a chat with Dan at Divinehandcrafts, and he said could do a 'blackout' version which has a black background and then the flag in a single colour. To make the design as subtle as possible, I asked for the flag to be in the darkest metallic grey that he offered. The decals are now applied, and I'm very happy with the result. The effect varies depending on the ambient light, and it's definitely quite subtle in darker conditions.
Hi Paul,
I`m impressed with your enthusiasm and ingenuity...well done.
Regarding your exhaust extension, why did you fit the bend...to reduce the noise blast presumably?
I live very near to Snetterton and have a 430 Cup...guessing you're not too far away if you fancy a meet up and chat etc?
I`m impressed with your enthusiasm and ingenuity...well done.
Regarding your exhaust extension, why did you fit the bend...to reduce the noise blast presumably?
I live very near to Snetterton and have a 430 Cup...guessing you're not too far away if you fancy a meet up and chat etc?
CTE said:
Hi Paul,
Regarding your exhaust extension, why did you fit the bend...to reduce the noise blast presumably?
I live very near to Snetterton and have a 430 Cup...guessing you're not too far away if you fancy a meet up and chat etc?
Yeah, I’ve seen the downturn bend on other exhausts used to reduce noise. I have absolutely no idea of the effectiveness, but logically you’d think that directing the sound down towards the ground would help reduce the noise seen on the meters. Regarding your exhaust extension, why did you fit the bend...to reduce the noise blast presumably?
I live very near to Snetterton and have a 430 Cup...guessing you're not too far away if you fancy a meet up and chat etc?
I live in Lowestoft, so about an hour from Snetterton. Would be good to meet up sometime when we’re both free.
Had some bits turn up today, so got another little modification done. This one was back to the practical rather than cosmetic side.
Now I've got a few track days booked, the wheels will be coming off quite regularly for tyre and brake inspections. Based on that, a stud conversion seemed like a good idea. I've looked at some stud conversion kits previously, but a lot of them seemed to be quite long and didn't look particularly nice. I ordered a couple of individual studs in different sizes first to have a play and see how they would look. After the test I decided to go for it, and ordered slightly different sizes front and rear. Overall I'm quite pleased with the look, but obviously the main thing is how much easier it is removing and refitting the wheels now.
Studs fitted:
Front wheel:
Rear wheel:
Now I've got a few track days booked, the wheels will be coming off quite regularly for tyre and brake inspections. Based on that, a stud conversion seemed like a good idea. I've looked at some stud conversion kits previously, but a lot of them seemed to be quite long and didn't look particularly nice. I ordered a couple of individual studs in different sizes first to have a play and see how they would look. After the test I decided to go for it, and ordered slightly different sizes front and rear. Overall I'm quite pleased with the look, but obviously the main thing is how much easier it is removing and refitting the wheels now.
Studs fitted:
Front wheel:
Rear wheel:
CTE said:
Think the downward bend could cause the shock waves to bounce back up and be worse when static, but guess when moving not so...and it clearly works!
There's a lovely bit of road between Halesworth and Harleston, plus some other good bits around there...pm me when you're free.
It's just the drive-by that I'm concerned about really. I know I'll always be able to pass the static if necessary by forcing the exhaust valve closed. There's no harm in doing that for a few seconds for the static test, but I wouldn't do it for the actual driving.There's a lovely bit of road between Halesworth and Harleston, plus some other good bits around there...pm me when you're free.
Will definitely PM you about a meet up when I'm a bit less busy.
Wednesday was another track day, this time at Donington Park on the National circuit. I'd only been here once before, and it was about 6 years ago so I was basically starting from scratch again.
The day was really (too) busy, with lots of very fast cars there including a couple of full on touring cars. Paul O'Neill of BTCC was in the garage providing coaching for one of the guys. Had a brief chat with him as I was packing up at the end of the day. Really friendly nice guy.
Because of the amount of traffic it was really hard to get a few clear laps and find the flow of the circuit again. I definitely need to start experimenting with damper settings, as the car felt like it was rolling around a bit too much through Craners and some others.
Made friends with a very nice chap called Viren, who had a black 350 which was fitted with an Alias23 induction kit. To be honest, there wasn't much difference in pace in a straight line.
Overall it was a fun day but I know I can be a lot smoother and faster there, so I'll definitely be going back.
Oh, and the bolt on (ugly) exhaust did it's job again as I didn't have a single warning all day.
Some photos from the day:
A short video showing a couple of clear(ish) laps.
https://youtu.be/3e1HMShwuH8
And one with traffic following a friend in his Exige 350.
https://youtu.be/l39OAB5dBDQ
The day was really (too) busy, with lots of very fast cars there including a couple of full on touring cars. Paul O'Neill of BTCC was in the garage providing coaching for one of the guys. Had a brief chat with him as I was packing up at the end of the day. Really friendly nice guy.
Because of the amount of traffic it was really hard to get a few clear laps and find the flow of the circuit again. I definitely need to start experimenting with damper settings, as the car felt like it was rolling around a bit too much through Craners and some others.
Made friends with a very nice chap called Viren, who had a black 350 which was fitted with an Alias23 induction kit. To be honest, there wasn't much difference in pace in a straight line.
Overall it was a fun day but I know I can be a lot smoother and faster there, so I'll definitely be going back.
Oh, and the bolt on (ugly) exhaust did it's job again as I didn't have a single warning all day.
Some photos from the day:
A short video showing a couple of clear(ish) laps.
https://youtu.be/3e1HMShwuH8
And one with traffic following a friend in his Exige 350.
https://youtu.be/l39OAB5dBDQ
Edited by Paul_M3 on Friday 27th August 19:54
Paul_M3 said:
Wednesday was another track day, this time at Donington Park on the National circuit. I'd only been here once before, and it was about 6 years ago so I was basically starting from scratch again.
The day was really (too) busy, with lots of very fast cars there including a couple of full on touring cars. Paul O'Neill of BTCC was in the garage providing coaching for one of the guys. Had a brief chat with him as I was packing up at the end of the day. Really friendly nice guy.
Because of the amount of traffic it was really hard to get a few clear laps and find the flow of the circuit again. I definitely need to start experimenting with damper settings, as the car felt like it was rolling around a bit too much through Craners and some others.
Made friends with a very nice chap called Viren, who had a black 350 which was fitted with an Alias23 induction kit. To be honest, there wasn't much difference in pace in a straight line.
Overall it was a fun day but I know I can be a lot smoother and faster there, so I'll definitely be going back.
Oh, and the bolt on (ugly) exhaust did it's job again as I didn't have a single warning all day.
Some photos from the day:
A short video showing a couple of clear(ish) laps.
https://youtu.be/3e1HMShwuH8
And one with traffic following a friend in his Exige 350.
https://youtu.be/l39OAB5dBDQ
Thanks for the updates, do you feel the car would benefit from a ltd. slip disc ?The day was really (too) busy, with lots of very fast cars there including a couple of full on touring cars. Paul O'Neill of BTCC was in the garage providing coaching for one of the guys. Had a brief chat with him as I was packing up at the end of the day. Really friendly nice guy.
Because of the amount of traffic it was really hard to get a few clear laps and find the flow of the circuit again. I definitely need to start experimenting with damper settings, as the car felt like it was rolling around a bit too much through Craners and some others.
Made friends with a very nice chap called Viren, who had a black 350 which was fitted with an Alias23 induction kit. To be honest, there wasn't much difference in pace in a straight line.
Overall it was a fun day but I know I can be a lot smoother and faster there, so I'll definitely be going back.
Oh, and the bolt on (ugly) exhaust did it's job again as I didn't have a single warning all day.
Some photos from the day:
A short video showing a couple of clear(ish) laps.
https://youtu.be/3e1HMShwuH8
And one with traffic following a friend in his Exige 350.
https://youtu.be/l39OAB5dBDQ
Edited by Paul_M3 on Friday 27th August 19:54
Akajak said:
Thanks for the updates, do you feel the car would benefit from a ltd. slip disc ?
To be honest, I don’t think I’ve got grips with the car well enough to answer that yet. Once I’ve got the geo sorted and found some track day damper settings then maybe I’ll start to get a fee for whether an LSD would help.
My take on the topic, if you're regularly tracking the car with the DPM system off, a spinning inside wheel coming out of slow corners is a frustration, thanks to the open diff. It was for me, anyway.
I've had a Quaife fitted in mine for about 4 years now and found it beneficial. At the time it was a no-brainer as I had the rear clam off to have the CupR aerokit fitted, but I'm very glad I did. Corner exit traction is even better (the standard car already has excellent mechanical grip), and is very predictable at the limit.
I've had a Quaife fitted in mine for about 4 years now and found it beneficial. At the time it was a no-brainer as I had the rear clam off to have the CupR aerokit fitted, but I'm very glad I did. Corner exit traction is even better (the standard car already has excellent mechanical grip), and is very predictable at the limit.
Arun_D said:
My take on the topic, if you're regularly tracking the car with the DPM system off, a spinning inside wheel coming out of slow corners is a frustration, thanks to the open diff. It was for me, anyway.
I've had a Quaife fitted in mine for about 4 years now and found it beneficial. At the time it was a no-brainer as I had the rear clam off to have the CupR aerokit fitted, but I'm very glad I did. Corner exit traction is even better (the standard car already has excellent mechanical grip), and is very predictable at the limit.
I think I'd probably be glad to have one once I get more confident with the car. The LSD itself isn't that expensive is it. It's just the fitting cost that bumps it right up. .I've had a Quaife fitted in mine for about 4 years now and found it beneficial. At the time it was a no-brainer as I had the rear clam off to have the CupR aerokit fitted, but I'm very glad I did. Corner exit traction is even better (the standard car already has excellent mechanical grip), and is very predictable at the limit.
On a lower powered S1 race car I found it was 50/50 when on circuit as whilst the spinning inside rear wheel was frustrating, when fitted the LSD tended to force the car into a straight line in the same situation, so you had to back off a bit in order to make the turn, so gained nothing much really. The main benefit was a clear improvement with traction off the line when launching from the starting grid. My car was about 180hp and weighed about 800kgs all up...there may be some more benefits with a 350-400hp Exige...
Redline88 said:
Looks great mate! From your track video, what are you using for the data overlay?
The AIM MX2E dash records all the parameters, and the AIM software (RaceStudio) can then export that as a CSV file. I then use RaceRender3 to create the overlays on top of the videos. Once you've got your head around it it's quite simple, and you can make custom dials, displays etc.Yesterday I had a go at addressing one of the few things about the Exige with is sub standard - the headlights. After looking at some threads on a few forums, I decided that I wanted to give LED bulbs a try. I know there are cheaper options available from a few places, but I wanted to play it safe with something from a known manufacturer. After a bit of research I purchased a set of these:
My thinking is that they should have hopefully developed them to have an OEM type beam pattern, and the 5 year warranty gives some peace of mind.
These newer versions do not have a separate ballast box to worry about.
Fitting was fairly straight forward with two points of note. If installed straight out of the box, the bulb will be in the wrong orientation. The light should be shining left / right and not up / down. As you may be able to tell from the photo above, the bulb have a little allen bolt which you screw in, and can then rotate the holder until the bulb is aligned as required. The second issue once fitted is that the dust cap no longer fits. A larger one from ebay has been ordered to try and resolve that.
So how does it perform? I took some photos of the car parked in front of my garage with the OEM bulbs. This was mainly to get a record of the original beam pattern as much as to try and record the brightness. The bulbs were then fitted and I took a second set of photos. The car had not been moved, and I used an app to lock the exposure and shutter speed of my iphone camera to try and get as fair a comparison as possible. Here are the results.
Conclusion: I'm very happy with them. Hopefully you can tell from the photographs that the brightness is much increased, but the beam patterns has remained identical to the OEM bulbs.
The only downside is the cost. They were £137 which quite frankly is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for the some headlight bulbs. Can you put a price on being able to see where you're going though?
My thinking is that they should have hopefully developed them to have an OEM type beam pattern, and the 5 year warranty gives some peace of mind.
These newer versions do not have a separate ballast box to worry about.
Fitting was fairly straight forward with two points of note. If installed straight out of the box, the bulb will be in the wrong orientation. The light should be shining left / right and not up / down. As you may be able to tell from the photo above, the bulb have a little allen bolt which you screw in, and can then rotate the holder until the bulb is aligned as required. The second issue once fitted is that the dust cap no longer fits. A larger one from ebay has been ordered to try and resolve that.
So how does it perform? I took some photos of the car parked in front of my garage with the OEM bulbs. This was mainly to get a record of the original beam pattern as much as to try and record the brightness. The bulbs were then fitted and I took a second set of photos. The car had not been moved, and I used an app to lock the exposure and shutter speed of my iphone camera to try and get as fair a comparison as possible. Here are the results.
Conclusion: I'm very happy with them. Hopefully you can tell from the photographs that the brightness is much increased, but the beam patterns has remained identical to the OEM bulbs.
The only downside is the cost. They were £137 which quite frankly is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for the some headlight bulbs. Can you put a price on being able to see where you're going though?
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