Lotus Elise 111R
Discussion
Got tyre repaired last night:
Still undecided whether I'll keep it long term or replace the front tyres completely. It's a £290 swing we're talking about but safety n' that.
Spoke to a few people who have no concerns tracking or even racing with repaired tyres but then others of course that would not risk it.
Also dropped a bit of a clanger with the car, it was so wet on the day and I got soaked, carpets in the car got soaked etc. I left the roof on the car in the garage for a few days and now the interior is a musty fusty mess, and stinks. Will give it a few days of airing out, hopefully no nasty mould or leccy gremlins show up.
Still undecided whether I'll keep it long term or replace the front tyres completely. It's a £290 swing we're talking about but safety n' that.
Spoke to a few people who have no concerns tracking or even racing with repaired tyres but then others of course that would not risk it.
Also dropped a bit of a clanger with the car, it was so wet on the day and I got soaked, carpets in the car got soaked etc. I left the roof on the car in the garage for a few days and now the interior is a musty fusty mess, and stinks. Will give it a few days of airing out, hopefully no nasty mould or leccy gremlins show up.
Good shout, thanks tickle.
I left it in the sun all day yesterday with roof off and carpets out and the Fust seems to have moved on but will look into one for sure.
Got my tyre repaired and fitted, the fitter said it balanced up fine but I've got a wobble at 80mph. Will take it for a second opinion I think.
I left it in the sun all day yesterday with roof off and carpets out and the Fust seems to have moved on but will look into one for sure.
Got my tyre repaired and fitted, the fitter said it balanced up fine but I've got a wobble at 80mph. Will take it for a second opinion I think.
It's been a busy week or so of tinkering on the Lotus. We've had some miserable weather recently so I got the car up on jack stands to address a couple of rattles I had.
I know rattle hunting in one of these is a futile job, but these were new rattles since fitting the toe links so just wanted to make sure everything was still torqued up, though I suspected the heatsheilds that I needed to butcher to fit the kit.
The rattles I found/fixed were as follows:
Both driver and passenger seats had come a bit loose :! Quick nip up and that's sorted, if they come loose again I'll consider some loctite.
Handbrake cable on the undertray, evidence of some scuffing on the undertray:
I had a little foam circle I think used to be a firewall grommet in the Subaru, so stuck it on.
Exhaust heatshields, the flat one pinned against the inside of the 'tailgate' had broken free of its mountings so refitted with some oversized washers.
The second one was the snailshell looking one that surrounded the U bend from the cat to the backbox, I had multiple attempts of adjusting it and ended up ripping it off and swapping it for some heatwrap leftovers I had from the Subaru.
The next thing I decided to tackle was my battery. I can't remember if I mentioned it yet, but after my CarLimits day I found my battery was *this* close to breaking loose of its bracket and smashing the f
k out of my rear clam from the inside. I didn't take any photos of my car specifically, but this is what the stock bracket looks like:
My battery had shuffled backwards towards the tail lights and was barely hanging on. My first aim was just to see if I could tighten up the clamp, but that allen bolt was completely seized into my boot floor. I tried grinding flats on to it, cutting the head off (removing the clamp) and then molegripping the stud out. Gallons of penetrating fluid, not budging at all.
It would seem the rear clam would need to come off to access the underside panel (to replace the bolt/fixing) so I planned out an alternative. In line with the OEM battery position are two bolts that hold the clam onto the rear section of the subframe/longeron things. I found a universal battery tray on Amazon and made up a cardboard template to trial fit. The tray would cover the space used by both longeron bolts... so that was my plan.
Few days later, the tray arrived:
...and roughly fitted:
(since tidied up the carpet, cap for the positive terminal and fitted some sticky foam strips to the brackets.
I'm pretty happy with it, Battery seems 10x more secure now. The only chance of it coming loose and bouncing around my boot is if the longeron bolts shear off... hopefully that doesn't happen :| I can also use the bracket for a small lightweight race battery if I decide to go that route.
While the car was on stands, I decided to tidy up the unknown service history. It's got stamps for each year, but nothing to indiciate when the plugs, gearbox oil or coolant has been done - so I'm assuming none of it has been done.
Plus out, I'm no sparkplug forensic expert but they seem OK to me. Gap was a little too narrow actually, would have expected old plugs to have had a wider gap tbh.
Pretty clean up here:
Got the news ones refitted with some dielectric grease on the boots.
Also dropped out the gearbox oil, forgot how bad this stuff stinks. Vile hateful stuff.
Used 2.5 of these, this stuff stinks too.
I got the Redline stuff as it apparently helps to quieten down the racket that the Toyota gearbox makes when fitted to the Lotus. I think it's something to do with the cable linkage vs the mechanical one it was supposed to have - but on overrun at certain rev ranges you get some nasty sound effects coming into the cabin. This oil has made it a bit quieter tbf, but it's still there if you listen for it.
Oil and filter was done a few weeks ago with new sump, so left that alone. Coolant I'll do later too, I think I'll need to swap my rad/fan out soon so will do it then.
Finally the car was ready to come down on its wheels, I fitted the OEM gypo wheels and tyres until my trackday. The rear A048s on the TDs are no longer legal, so will ferry them to Blyton in a couple of weeks and finish them off there before buying new ones.
Car was looking pretty sorry for itself after a week or so in the garage, covered in dust and greasy handprints so it got a proper wash this weekend. I gave the Megs DA kit a glowing review a few weeks ago but I've since decided that it DOES need an additional LSP as the finishing polish/wax in the kit just isn't offering much longevity.
I'm a Collinite virgin, so thought it was about time I gave it a try.
Also got some C4 for the large amounts of crappy black plastic on the Elise to blacken them up a bit. This stuff is great, lasts at least a year and is worth spending out on rather than re-applying back to black every two weeks...
The TD wheels got done too, a good polish and new coat of Poorboys. Looking good!
Ready to go, really does look naff on these wheels/tyres now though!
I know rattle hunting in one of these is a futile job, but these were new rattles since fitting the toe links so just wanted to make sure everything was still torqued up, though I suspected the heatsheilds that I needed to butcher to fit the kit.
The rattles I found/fixed were as follows:
Both driver and passenger seats had come a bit loose :! Quick nip up and that's sorted, if they come loose again I'll consider some loctite.
Handbrake cable on the undertray, evidence of some scuffing on the undertray:
I had a little foam circle I think used to be a firewall grommet in the Subaru, so stuck it on.
Exhaust heatshields, the flat one pinned against the inside of the 'tailgate' had broken free of its mountings so refitted with some oversized washers.
The second one was the snailshell looking one that surrounded the U bend from the cat to the backbox, I had multiple attempts of adjusting it and ended up ripping it off and swapping it for some heatwrap leftovers I had from the Subaru.
The next thing I decided to tackle was my battery. I can't remember if I mentioned it yet, but after my CarLimits day I found my battery was *this* close to breaking loose of its bracket and smashing the f
k out of my rear clam from the inside. I didn't take any photos of my car specifically, but this is what the stock bracket looks like:My battery had shuffled backwards towards the tail lights and was barely hanging on. My first aim was just to see if I could tighten up the clamp, but that allen bolt was completely seized into my boot floor. I tried grinding flats on to it, cutting the head off (removing the clamp) and then molegripping the stud out. Gallons of penetrating fluid, not budging at all.
It would seem the rear clam would need to come off to access the underside panel (to replace the bolt/fixing) so I planned out an alternative. In line with the OEM battery position are two bolts that hold the clam onto the rear section of the subframe/longeron things. I found a universal battery tray on Amazon and made up a cardboard template to trial fit. The tray would cover the space used by both longeron bolts... so that was my plan.
Few days later, the tray arrived:
...and roughly fitted:
(since tidied up the carpet, cap for the positive terminal and fitted some sticky foam strips to the brackets.
I'm pretty happy with it, Battery seems 10x more secure now. The only chance of it coming loose and bouncing around my boot is if the longeron bolts shear off... hopefully that doesn't happen :| I can also use the bracket for a small lightweight race battery if I decide to go that route.
While the car was on stands, I decided to tidy up the unknown service history. It's got stamps for each year, but nothing to indiciate when the plugs, gearbox oil or coolant has been done - so I'm assuming none of it has been done.
Plus out, I'm no sparkplug forensic expert but they seem OK to me. Gap was a little too narrow actually, would have expected old plugs to have had a wider gap tbh.
Pretty clean up here:
Got the news ones refitted with some dielectric grease on the boots.
Also dropped out the gearbox oil, forgot how bad this stuff stinks. Vile hateful stuff.
Used 2.5 of these, this stuff stinks too.
I got the Redline stuff as it apparently helps to quieten down the racket that the Toyota gearbox makes when fitted to the Lotus. I think it's something to do with the cable linkage vs the mechanical one it was supposed to have - but on overrun at certain rev ranges you get some nasty sound effects coming into the cabin. This oil has made it a bit quieter tbf, but it's still there if you listen for it.
Oil and filter was done a few weeks ago with new sump, so left that alone. Coolant I'll do later too, I think I'll need to swap my rad/fan out soon so will do it then.
Finally the car was ready to come down on its wheels, I fitted the OEM gypo wheels and tyres until my trackday. The rear A048s on the TDs are no longer legal, so will ferry them to Blyton in a couple of weeks and finish them off there before buying new ones.
Car was looking pretty sorry for itself after a week or so in the garage, covered in dust and greasy handprints so it got a proper wash this weekend. I gave the Megs DA kit a glowing review a few weeks ago but I've since decided that it DOES need an additional LSP as the finishing polish/wax in the kit just isn't offering much longevity.
I'm a Collinite virgin, so thought it was about time I gave it a try.
Also got some C4 for the large amounts of crappy black plastic on the Elise to blacken them up a bit. This stuff is great, lasts at least a year and is worth spending out on rather than re-applying back to black every two weeks...
The TD wheels got done too, a good polish and new coat of Poorboys. Looking good!
Ready to go, really does look naff on these wheels/tyres now though!
Woo finally done a track day, and it was sunny all day!
The trackday was organised by Lotus on Track and was at my local favourite... Blyton Park.
LoT run the day much like Javelin etc, except it's cheaper, exclusively Lotus/VX/Porsche attendees and they invite about half as many cars as Javelin.
I'd be driving on my standard wheels and mahogany bridgestones, with my brother in law kindly coming along in his Clio 197 support vehicle with my TDs and no-longer-road-legal A048s.
We met up and drove down with some work colleagues in an S1 111S, VX220 turbo and an S1 Exige who would also be attending. Arrived in good time and got the fancy wheels fitted.
Got the briefing done, then out for sighting laps. I was very nervous, weirdly. I remember having bad nerves at my first ever track day but only excitment since... but this was different. Once out on track, that of course subsided - especially when I realised the car wasn't going to kill me after chucking it into a bend.
I built up steadily in the morning sessions, only doing 5 or 6 hotlaps at a time and coming back in. The car was behaving fine, temperatures barely moving up and no sign of brake fade or inconsistency.
By lunch I had experienced a fair bit of movement in the rear of the car, nothing too dramatic and no spins - but primarily a flick of oversteer on turn-in when getting the line a bit wrong on a few of the corners, easily caught and no noticeable loss of momentum. Car felt great.
After lunch I attempted to pick up the pace a bit, but as my confidence grew it seemed my mental agility shrank and I was struggling to string good laps together. Can't blame traffic as the track was so quiet all day, and can't blame brakes or tyres as the car was incredibly consistent all day. Struggling to shift up from 2nd into 3rd was a pretty reliable indicator that I'd been out on track too long, I struggled with that change under hard acceleration when I first bought the car, and it showed again after I got a bit ragged out on the circuit.
Despite that, I got the odd good lap in and as my brother in law was feeling quite seasick - I got more time on track alone, which was actually a noticable difference in the Lotus vs the Subaru.
Car Feedback:
Obviously I'm still the weakest link in the car by far, but where I felt the car was a bit limited was in its feel on the higher speed direction change through Port Froid, it just felt a bit wallowy and didn't give me the confidence to carry the same sort of speed through as I did in the Subaru. There were a couple of scary looking spins on the day too which sent cars onto the infield grass at Port Froid, so maybe that slowed me down a bit.
I only suffered from loss of traction on exit a couple of times, and always the final 90 left before the start/finish line. Most of the time it would be a quick squeek from the inside rear but on a couple of laps I had it sliding around a bit. Having the cam change for all my power delivery helps here I guess, as the engine is quite dull through corners and only picks up once I'm straightening up, assuming I'm in the right gears at the right time.
Oversteer on turn-in was the most frequent reason for correcting something, but it was very easy to catch and never had to use more than a flick of opposite lock. Not driving hard enough, perhaps...
Braking was generally really good, really consistent and felt fantastic through the pedal. I did hear the odd squeel coming from the rears though suggesting that ABS let me lock up a touch, but I didn't have any drama as a result. I certainly don't feel the need to upgrade brakes anytime soon.
The power from this car didn't feel particularly low on this circuit, but it certainly seems to hit a brick wall at 100mph. Maybe I should have tried with the roof on for some drag reduction
On a GP circuit I imagine the Elise might start feeling a little underpowered compared to the Subaru, but it felt fine at Blyton - corners seemed to come up at an alarming rate and saw similar top speeds as I did in the Subaru.
That said, after reviewing GoPro footage I'm a good 4secs per lap slower in the Lotus than I was in the Subaru on my final trackday in that car. I'm at the bottom of a steep learning curve though, and the car hasn't had any performance modifications yet - so that gives me a good benchmark to gauge improvements against.
Not a good day to by a fly...
Needless to say, can't wait to get back out. Probably another circuit next time, fancy Cadwell or Donnington but will see what comes up :thumbs:
Couple of videos that I uploaded so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDPeBDJ2dQ&fe...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJumD4_C6Ls&fe...
The trackday was organised by Lotus on Track and was at my local favourite... Blyton Park.
LoT run the day much like Javelin etc, except it's cheaper, exclusively Lotus/VX/Porsche attendees and they invite about half as many cars as Javelin.
I'd be driving on my standard wheels and mahogany bridgestones, with my brother in law kindly coming along in his Clio 197 support vehicle with my TDs and no-longer-road-legal A048s.
We met up and drove down with some work colleagues in an S1 111S, VX220 turbo and an S1 Exige who would also be attending. Arrived in good time and got the fancy wheels fitted.
Got the briefing done, then out for sighting laps. I was very nervous, weirdly. I remember having bad nerves at my first ever track day but only excitment since... but this was different. Once out on track, that of course subsided - especially when I realised the car wasn't going to kill me after chucking it into a bend.
I built up steadily in the morning sessions, only doing 5 or 6 hotlaps at a time and coming back in. The car was behaving fine, temperatures barely moving up and no sign of brake fade or inconsistency.
By lunch I had experienced a fair bit of movement in the rear of the car, nothing too dramatic and no spins - but primarily a flick of oversteer on turn-in when getting the line a bit wrong on a few of the corners, easily caught and no noticeable loss of momentum. Car felt great.
After lunch I attempted to pick up the pace a bit, but as my confidence grew it seemed my mental agility shrank and I was struggling to string good laps together. Can't blame traffic as the track was so quiet all day, and can't blame brakes or tyres as the car was incredibly consistent all day. Struggling to shift up from 2nd into 3rd was a pretty reliable indicator that I'd been out on track too long, I struggled with that change under hard acceleration when I first bought the car, and it showed again after I got a bit ragged out on the circuit.
Despite that, I got the odd good lap in and as my brother in law was feeling quite seasick - I got more time on track alone, which was actually a noticable difference in the Lotus vs the Subaru.
Car Feedback:
Obviously I'm still the weakest link in the car by far, but where I felt the car was a bit limited was in its feel on the higher speed direction change through Port Froid, it just felt a bit wallowy and didn't give me the confidence to carry the same sort of speed through as I did in the Subaru. There were a couple of scary looking spins on the day too which sent cars onto the infield grass at Port Froid, so maybe that slowed me down a bit.
I only suffered from loss of traction on exit a couple of times, and always the final 90 left before the start/finish line. Most of the time it would be a quick squeek from the inside rear but on a couple of laps I had it sliding around a bit. Having the cam change for all my power delivery helps here I guess, as the engine is quite dull through corners and only picks up once I'm straightening up, assuming I'm in the right gears at the right time.
Oversteer on turn-in was the most frequent reason for correcting something, but it was very easy to catch and never had to use more than a flick of opposite lock. Not driving hard enough, perhaps...
Braking was generally really good, really consistent and felt fantastic through the pedal. I did hear the odd squeel coming from the rears though suggesting that ABS let me lock up a touch, but I didn't have any drama as a result. I certainly don't feel the need to upgrade brakes anytime soon.
The power from this car didn't feel particularly low on this circuit, but it certainly seems to hit a brick wall at 100mph. Maybe I should have tried with the roof on for some drag reduction
On a GP circuit I imagine the Elise might start feeling a little underpowered compared to the Subaru, but it felt fine at Blyton - corners seemed to come up at an alarming rate and saw similar top speeds as I did in the Subaru.That said, after reviewing GoPro footage I'm a good 4secs per lap slower in the Lotus than I was in the Subaru on my final trackday in that car. I'm at the bottom of a steep learning curve though, and the car hasn't had any performance modifications yet - so that gives me a good benchmark to gauge improvements against.
Not a good day to by a fly...
Needless to say, can't wait to get back out. Probably another circuit next time, fancy Cadwell or Donnington but will see what comes up :thumbs:
Couple of videos that I uploaded so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDPeBDJ2dQ&fe...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJumD4_C6Ls&fe...
Rick101 said:
Looks pretty good to me.
I'm there on the 8th with Javelin.
Enjoy! Something I noticed at the weekend which is either a new development to the surface at Blyton or just that I never felt/experienced it in the Subaru, but the ripples in the tarmac in the braking zones adds a nice bit of character to what otherwise is sometimes criticised for being a character-less track.I'm there on the 8th with Javelin.
I think I mentioned a few times that my rear tyres were knackered, so time to address that today.
Camera doesn't do that justice, but less than a mm registers on my depth gauge!
I'd been checking pricing for a week or so, replacing just the rear A048s would have been knocking for £500 which I wasn't enthusiastic about paying considering a full set of R888R can be had for around £550 and a full set of Avon ZZR £600.
The Avon ZZR is the flavour of the month tyre at the moment for the Lotus guys, as it's the control tyre for most/all series currently being run. It's slated to be as good as the A048/R888 and lasts a bit longer.
I was toying between a set of ZZR and trying something a little different (read: cheaper) such as the Federal 595s or Nankang NS2R etc.
Then I had a chance conversation with Rob @ Rob Boston racing who offered me a set of used Avon ZZR. I went to his shop today to take a look and they're barely used at all, 4.5-5mm tread on the rears and I believe they're 6mm from new. Less than half the price of a new set all fitted and balanced
Leon could comfortably manage the old tyres and new mounted on wheels. Wonder how well the Cupra could tow and become a full time support vehicle
Camera doesn't do that justice, but less than a mm registers on my depth gauge!
I'd been checking pricing for a week or so, replacing just the rear A048s would have been knocking for £500 which I wasn't enthusiastic about paying considering a full set of R888R can be had for around £550 and a full set of Avon ZZR £600.
The Avon ZZR is the flavour of the month tyre at the moment for the Lotus guys, as it's the control tyre for most/all series currently being run. It's slated to be as good as the A048/R888 and lasts a bit longer.
I was toying between a set of ZZR and trying something a little different (read: cheaper) such as the Federal 595s or Nankang NS2R etc.
Then I had a chance conversation with Rob @ Rob Boston racing who offered me a set of used Avon ZZR. I went to his shop today to take a look and they're barely used at all, 4.5-5mm tread on the rears and I believe they're 6mm from new. Less than half the price of a new set all fitted and balanced
Leon could comfortably manage the old tyres and new mounted on wheels. Wonder how well the Cupra could tow and become a full time support vehicle
Rick101 said:
Sounds good. Did he had a few set or just that chance one?
I think this was is only set, but he did say that tyres come and go as racers decide they want new boots or whatever. Varying levels of condition etc.Had a nice run out on Sunday, decided to go up into the Yorkshire Dales the scenic route (rather than an hour of A1 and 20mins of countryside, we did 3 hours of countryside to get to Buttertubs!)
Car was bang on, even the missus had fun. Lots of photo opportunities too.
On the way up we found ourselves in a convoy of historic vauxhalls, so followed them to a meet they were having. Some great cars turned out, including a Lotus Carlton. Yay!
We hung around for 20mins, talked to a few people then hit the road again. Stopping for pics along the way...
...and stopping for sheep!
We even ventured off road for a walk...
Got home a bit sore and sunburned, I've got some personal conditioning to do before I could consider a euro roadtrip in this car...
Had a bit of an impromptu remap on the car last week! I rewatched all of my footage from Blyton and noticed that I was dropping "off cam" on all of the 3rd gear corners.
These corners are too quick for 2nd gear and I wasn't carrying enough speed through in 3rd to stay above 6200RPM and the go-cam, resulting in a bit of bogging down on exit.
It's also quite difficult to shift up from 2nd to 3rd and stay above 6200, you get very little room between the limiter and the drop-off point and anything other than a perfect shift results in bogging down slightly in a straight line.
With that in mind, I started doing some homework - not planning to make a change right away but wanted to see what my options were. A few companies do a service in which you can ship off your ECU and it comes back a few days later with a new map on it including Lotus themselves which lowers the cam switch point.
When my car was new, a "Lotus Motorsport" ECU was available as an optional extra. I think on the Exiges it also came with the TRD airbox that I'm using as a set. I guess it was under-advertised or people prefer the perception of a sharper "kick" of the later cam-switch, but I don't think it was all that popular.
I asked a local(ish) Lotus technician his opinion and he replied saying he had a Lotus Motorsport ECU lying around that he would exchange for mine, along with a small fee of course. 24 hours later the deal was done and I had a new ECU!
An added bonus to the Motorsport ECU is that I can enable traction control if I want it. I already have the wiring in my centre console, and a T/C warning light on my dash - I just need to buy and install a toggle switch. I can't say I've missed not having T/C, but it can't be a bad buffer to have lying around when driving on the road.
I've only driven the car for a few hours since swapping the ECU and so far I'm pleased with the change. The Cam switch is "only" 500 RPM earlier at 5700 but it does make all the difference. Firing up through the gears is much easier now that I've got a bit of margin before the limiter. The cam switch kick is now all but gone, you get a noticable surge of power through the revs instead now making it smoother and more linear. I can see why some people may not like it but for track driving there's no doubting that this is better. I've effectively gained slightly longer gearing with no change to the power delivery, feels great.
If you look at a torque graph for the standard car, the torque tails off quite a lot at 5700rpm until the second cam takes over so the "kick" that you feel is magnified. This earlier cam switch smooths that out nicely.
The car also feels much smoother and I dare say a little more powerful at low revs whilst off-cam too, though it could be placebo.
So far, very happy. Cheapest remap I've had on a car by a country mile and easily reversable but I fully expect this to represent a marginal lap time improvement on track .
These corners are too quick for 2nd gear and I wasn't carrying enough speed through in 3rd to stay above 6200RPM and the go-cam, resulting in a bit of bogging down on exit.
It's also quite difficult to shift up from 2nd to 3rd and stay above 6200, you get very little room between the limiter and the drop-off point and anything other than a perfect shift results in bogging down slightly in a straight line.
With that in mind, I started doing some homework - not planning to make a change right away but wanted to see what my options were. A few companies do a service in which you can ship off your ECU and it comes back a few days later with a new map on it including Lotus themselves which lowers the cam switch point.
When my car was new, a "Lotus Motorsport" ECU was available as an optional extra. I think on the Exiges it also came with the TRD airbox that I'm using as a set. I guess it was under-advertised or people prefer the perception of a sharper "kick" of the later cam-switch, but I don't think it was all that popular.
I asked a local(ish) Lotus technician his opinion and he replied saying he had a Lotus Motorsport ECU lying around that he would exchange for mine, along with a small fee of course. 24 hours later the deal was done and I had a new ECU!
An added bonus to the Motorsport ECU is that I can enable traction control if I want it. I already have the wiring in my centre console, and a T/C warning light on my dash - I just need to buy and install a toggle switch. I can't say I've missed not having T/C, but it can't be a bad buffer to have lying around when driving on the road.
I've only driven the car for a few hours since swapping the ECU and so far I'm pleased with the change. The Cam switch is "only" 500 RPM earlier at 5700 but it does make all the difference. Firing up through the gears is much easier now that I've got a bit of margin before the limiter. The cam switch kick is now all but gone, you get a noticable surge of power through the revs instead now making it smoother and more linear. I can see why some people may not like it but for track driving there's no doubting that this is better. I've effectively gained slightly longer gearing with no change to the power delivery, feels great.
If you look at a torque graph for the standard car, the torque tails off quite a lot at 5700rpm until the second cam takes over so the "kick" that you feel is magnified. This earlier cam switch smooths that out nicely.
The car also feels much smoother and I dare say a little more powerful at low revs whilst off-cam too, though it could be placebo.
So far, very happy. Cheapest remap I've had on a car by a country mile and easily reversable but I fully expect this to represent a marginal lap time improvement on track .
Craikeybaby said:
Very interesting. I wasn't a fan of the kick in my mate's 111R, as I prefer a linear power delivery, this remap sounds interesting and would open up more potential cars.
I can certainly see why the car "shipped" with the kick map. When you pin the throttle, just when you start to think "oh, this car isn't all that fast" you get a nice novelty kick and you're off again. It's sales genius!Not great for track use though, I'm expecting the new map to be much easier to use on a circuit.
No updates in a bit, mainly because the car hasn't needed any attention and on the few occasions the weather has been nice, I've just been driving it.
That said, over the last few weeknights I decided to make a start on dismantling the dashboard to see what was banging around inside it... This car rattles a fair bit, and I'm happy with that - but something new started, and it sounded so close to me it could have been inside my head!
Dashboard was easy enough to get off, but LOADS of little self tapping screws holding it all together so took a fair bit of time.
Once off, I quickly found the issue. The pipe leading to the left hand air vent was loose of its slots within the ally dashboard front and as a result was moving around a bit, the plastic occasionally dinking the aluminium.
After slotting it back into place, I put a strip of tape across the top of all the tubes to prevent them coming loose again. Pulled about half a kilo of leaves/crap from the dash and then began the chore of putting it all back together.
Next up, I'd decided to have a go at a DIY refurb of my gearknob. It's a brushed aluminium jobby with loads of scratches, notches and a worn patch presumably from a wedding ring.
I screwed it off, then found a bolt with a thread to match that of the gear stick, then dremelled off the head of the bolt so it would fit in my drill, AKA - Lathe.
Once fitted, I secured it in a very safe manner, between my knee and a recycling box and got to work progressively with three grades of wet/dry whilst buzzing the knob around at a million RPM.
I can't remember the grades I used, but something like 200/700/1200 maybe and really made short work of it. Really wish I took photos of each stage, but I didn't.
After the 1200 grit it pretty much looked fresh from factory, but felt really rough to the touch, like rubbing your palm over a dusty blackboard. I decided to go for one more finishing layer with some autosol and a rag.
I knew this last stage would make it more polished than brushed, but wasn't expecting a result like this!
Pretty chuffed with that
That said, over the last few weeknights I decided to make a start on dismantling the dashboard to see what was banging around inside it... This car rattles a fair bit, and I'm happy with that - but something new started, and it sounded so close to me it could have been inside my head!
Dashboard was easy enough to get off, but LOADS of little self tapping screws holding it all together so took a fair bit of time.
Once off, I quickly found the issue. The pipe leading to the left hand air vent was loose of its slots within the ally dashboard front and as a result was moving around a bit, the plastic occasionally dinking the aluminium.
After slotting it back into place, I put a strip of tape across the top of all the tubes to prevent them coming loose again. Pulled about half a kilo of leaves/crap from the dash and then began the chore of putting it all back together.
Next up, I'd decided to have a go at a DIY refurb of my gearknob. It's a brushed aluminium jobby with loads of scratches, notches and a worn patch presumably from a wedding ring.
I screwed it off, then found a bolt with a thread to match that of the gear stick, then dremelled off the head of the bolt so it would fit in my drill, AKA -
Lathe.Once fitted, I secured it in a very safe manner, between my knee and a recycling box and got to work progressively with three grades of wet/dry whilst buzzing the knob around at a million RPM.
I can't remember the grades I used, but something like 200/700/1200 maybe and really made short work of it. Really wish I took photos of each stage, but I didn't.
After the 1200 grit it pretty much looked fresh from factory, but felt really rough to the touch, like rubbing your palm over a dusty blackboard. I decided to go for one more finishing layer with some autosol and a rag.
I knew this last stage would make it more polished than brushed, but wasn't expecting a result like this!
Pretty chuffed with that
I attended a Lotus on Track Croft trackday yesterday, so a wee update to talk about that.
Set off nice and early, collecting my passenger for the day Simon en route. We then headed off to meet some North Yorks Lotus owners club members who would also be attending. About 20mins into our trip, Simon noticed my EML had come on :! First time I've had it in the Lotus, and it would be on the way to a bloody trackday
Initially the car felt fine, then realised I wasn't getting any power and the car wouldn't rev above 3-3500 RPM. Bugger! We limped to the NYLOC meet and had a poke around in the engine bay, nothing amiss but left my code reader at home.
Simons' brother lives about 10mi from Croft, and had a code reader so we decided to limp onwards to his house to see what was going on. What felt like an eternity later, we got the code reader plugged in and pulled code P2138 which was a throttle pedal position sensor issue.
Stuck my head into the footwell (harder than it sounds) and saw nothing odd, gave the wiring a wiggle and then we cleared the code with the reader. The EML then stayed off for the rest of the day, with no evidence of the symptoms returning. One to watch I think, and my code reader has earned a permanent slot in my trackday toolkit.
Also somewhere on the journey there, I picked up a stone-chip that looks like a house brick has been dropped onto my bonnet
Eventually, we got to Croft and got the briefing sorted and the day underway!
Weather had been looking bleak all week, but we actually got a bit of blue sky and the damp track was drying quickly. On our sighting laps, there were massive puddles on the inside apex' of most corners but they soon dried out with the exception of "Sunny Out" which stayed wet almost all day!
Onto my first proper laps, this was the first "virgin" visit to a track I've had since Oulton a couple of years ago(?) in my Subaru. I was a little slow identifying my interpretation of "the line" and I was veeeery slow in the morning. Just before lunch we had a bit of a downpour, caught us whilst we were out on track and it didn't take much rain at all for the car to start feeling very unsettled on the faster corners, of which there are a few at Croft.
After lunch and fuel, it was dry and sunny again and would remain so for the rest of the day.
I started picking up a bit of confidence and adjusted my lines on a few corners considerably, I never felt good about "tower" though so that'll be focus of next time around, and the fast esses to Barcroft section made the car feel very "unsportscar-like"...
The esses are very fast, many cars can take this flat I believe but I was trying to glide through with neutral throttle in the 85-95mph region. Upon turn in, the grip would be delayed slightly as the weight transferred over and then I had similar on the second of the esses in the other direction. Barcroft felt better but by the time the car settled on exit of that you're balls deep into the braking zone for Sunny. Very exciting stuff and a brilliant track layout, but really tested my commitment and has left me feeling lacking in that area.
I'd like to think some car tweaks will raise my confidence with the higher speed stuff, reduce body roll a bit and make the weight transfer less dramatic - but obviously it's mainly a "me" problem.
Despite my concerns in the faster stuff, the car was bloody fantastic under braking, REALLY good. Initially I was mimicking other drivers on the braking points on the big braking zones but concentrated on finding my own sweetspot. When leaning on my brakes properly and getting close to the braking/grip limit, I found myself going far too slowly at corner entry, so gradually pushed back my braking distances and it felt like I ended up being close to getting it right on some corners, some of the time :P Both Simon and myself felt a bit car sick towards the end of the day, probably related to my braking exercises!
Some time mid afternoon I had a solo session, and I think I said this last time at Blyton but the car feels so different when only 1up. I really couldn't tell the difference in the Subaru but the car feels better in all areas without a passenger. Physics I know, and seems an obvious thing to state - but with my finger in the air I'd reckon the passenger was worth at least 1.5-2secs to me yesterday.
I feel like I was making gradual improvements through the day, but I'm still nowhere close to my potential yet. Somewhere mid-afternoon I had a really bad session, the car just felt numb and all over the place but after a short break all felt fine again. Tyre pressures were nowhere out of the ordinary but I was getting loads of rubber marbling on the tyres, whether a characteristic of the Avons or Croft I'm unsure, but perhaps my tyres just got a bit messy and it reduced grip a bit until they cleaned up.
We called it at 16:30 just as the rain came back, but already I cannot wait to go back.
Tiptoed home, and parked the car up after another safe and successful track day. It wasn't a day I came away from feeling like a godlike racecar driver, it was actually quite humbling but it's given me plenty to work on for next time.
I have some GoPro footage to sort, will post up later.
Set off nice and early, collecting my passenger for the day Simon en route. We then headed off to meet some North Yorks Lotus owners club members who would also be attending. About 20mins into our trip, Simon noticed my EML had come on :! First time I've had it in the Lotus, and it would be on the way to a bloody trackday
Initially the car felt fine, then realised I wasn't getting any power and the car wouldn't rev above 3-3500 RPM. Bugger! We limped to the NYLOC meet and had a poke around in the engine bay, nothing amiss but left my code reader at home.
Simons' brother lives about 10mi from Croft, and had a code reader so we decided to limp onwards to his house to see what was going on. What felt like an eternity later, we got the code reader plugged in and pulled code P2138 which was a throttle pedal position sensor issue.
Stuck my head into the footwell (harder than it sounds) and saw nothing odd, gave the wiring a wiggle and then we cleared the code with the reader. The EML then stayed off for the rest of the day, with no evidence of the symptoms returning. One to watch I think, and my code reader has earned a permanent slot in my trackday toolkit.
Also somewhere on the journey there, I picked up a stone-chip that looks like a house brick has been dropped onto my bonnet
Eventually, we got to Croft and got the briefing sorted and the day underway!
Weather had been looking bleak all week, but we actually got a bit of blue sky and the damp track was drying quickly. On our sighting laps, there were massive puddles on the inside apex' of most corners but they soon dried out with the exception of "Sunny Out" which stayed wet almost all day!
Onto my first proper laps, this was the first "virgin" visit to a track I've had since Oulton a couple of years ago(?) in my Subaru. I was a little slow identifying my interpretation of "the line" and I was veeeery slow in the morning. Just before lunch we had a bit of a downpour, caught us whilst we were out on track and it didn't take much rain at all for the car to start feeling very unsettled on the faster corners, of which there are a few at Croft.
After lunch and fuel, it was dry and sunny again and would remain so for the rest of the day.
I started picking up a bit of confidence and adjusted my lines on a few corners considerably, I never felt good about "tower" though so that'll be focus of next time around, and the fast esses to Barcroft section made the car feel very "unsportscar-like"...
The esses are very fast, many cars can take this flat I believe but I was trying to glide through with neutral throttle in the 85-95mph region. Upon turn in, the grip would be delayed slightly as the weight transferred over and then I had similar on the second of the esses in the other direction. Barcroft felt better but by the time the car settled on exit of that you're balls deep into the braking zone for Sunny. Very exciting stuff and a brilliant track layout, but really tested my commitment and has left me feeling lacking in that area.
I'd like to think some car tweaks will raise my confidence with the higher speed stuff, reduce body roll a bit and make the weight transfer less dramatic - but obviously it's mainly a "me" problem.
Despite my concerns in the faster stuff, the car was bloody fantastic under braking, REALLY good. Initially I was mimicking other drivers on the braking points on the big braking zones but concentrated on finding my own sweetspot. When leaning on my brakes properly and getting close to the braking/grip limit, I found myself going far too slowly at corner entry, so gradually pushed back my braking distances and it felt like I ended up being close to getting it right on some corners, some of the time :P Both Simon and myself felt a bit car sick towards the end of the day, probably related to my braking exercises!
Some time mid afternoon I had a solo session, and I think I said this last time at Blyton but the car feels so different when only 1up. I really couldn't tell the difference in the Subaru but the car feels better in all areas without a passenger. Physics I know, and seems an obvious thing to state - but with my finger in the air I'd reckon the passenger was worth at least 1.5-2secs to me yesterday.
I feel like I was making gradual improvements through the day, but I'm still nowhere close to my potential yet. Somewhere mid-afternoon I had a really bad session, the car just felt numb and all over the place but after a short break all felt fine again. Tyre pressures were nowhere out of the ordinary but I was getting loads of rubber marbling on the tyres, whether a characteristic of the Avons or Croft I'm unsure, but perhaps my tyres just got a bit messy and it reduced grip a bit until they cleaned up.
We called it at 16:30 just as the rain came back, but already I cannot wait to go back.
Tiptoed home, and parked the car up after another safe and successful track day. It wasn't a day I came away from feeling like a godlike racecar driver, it was actually quite humbling but it's given me plenty to work on for next time.
I have some GoPro footage to sort, will post up later.
A short video from Croft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7z9RUaNMOQ
Altrezia said:
You may have a lot to work on, but I've certainly seen worse.
Thanks... I think? I feel my biggest place to gain currently is my commitment levels. I had a few tiny moments in the morning in which I turned in to a corner (mainly Tower) and the back came loose. I'm not talking about any mega drifts, just a tiny loss of grip which my passenger barely could feel. I then probably backed off far too much, and that compromised my ability to keep refining my lines/turn-in point etc as I was second guessing the car too much.
I think in many ways I need to have a few proper moments to see how the car feels, at Blyton (a safer track which I'm much more familiar with) I was pushing the rear loose a lot more and the car felt brilliant, never did it feel like it was going to kill me. At Croft the speeds are higher and I was very slow to learn it tbh, should have had tuition... lesson learned.
I was browsing around Amazon as you do, and found some black gunk that claimed to restore leather somewhat, and cover over cracks/worn areas.
It was about £4 in the Prime sale, (now seems to be £7.99) so thought it was worth a punt.
My target was the steering wheel, it's on the list to get a retrim as the leather is looking a bit tatty and worn - hard to photograph but here's an attempt:
I used a trio of products, Gliptone to clean, this new Amazon stuff to restore and then the Gliptone protection stuff over the top.
After cleaning the wheel and letting it dry, I got to work with the Amazon stuff. Very runny and messy, but just kinda dabbed it on with a rag. After leaving it to dry, I lightly buffed it off and could immediately see some improvement... but not enough.
3 or 4 coats later, the wheel actually looks pretty good.
I also did my doorcards, the passenger one was particularly scuffed up (occupational hazard of being a Lotus doorcard I guess) and this stuff has at least made the scuffs black and hence harder to see. I may get some leather filler and have a proper go at them another time.
I'll see tomorrow whether I just end up with black hands after driving it, and be back to square one - but I've done a few passes now with a clean rag and I don't seem to be getting and residue. Pretty impressed, as usual though the pics probably don't do it justice!
It was about £4 in the Prime sale, (now seems to be £7.99) so thought it was worth a punt.
My target was the steering wheel, it's on the list to get a retrim as the leather is looking a bit tatty and worn - hard to photograph but here's an attempt:
I used a trio of products, Gliptone to clean, this new Amazon stuff to restore and then the Gliptone protection stuff over the top.
After cleaning the wheel and letting it dry, I got to work with the Amazon stuff. Very runny and messy, but just kinda dabbed it on with a rag. After leaving it to dry, I lightly buffed it off and could immediately see some improvement... but not enough.
3 or 4 coats later, the wheel actually looks pretty good.
I also did my doorcards, the passenger one was particularly scuffed up (occupational hazard of being a Lotus doorcard I guess) and this stuff has at least made the scuffs black and hence harder to see. I may get some leather filler and have a proper go at them another time.
I'll see tomorrow whether I just end up with black hands after driving it, and be back to square one - but I've done a few passes now with a clean rag and I don't seem to be getting and residue. Pretty impressed, as usual though the pics probably don't do it justice!
Next week I had planned to lift my front clam off of the car.
The reason for getting my clam off:
1) Replace the radiator, as the OEM ones have a weakness in the plastic end tanks. I'd rather pre-empt a failure and get an all ally one in.
2) Replace the fan, as my current one sounds like a bag of spanners
3) Replace tow post/strut, they rust to dust.
4) Respray the front clam after "the Croft" stone
Number 4 I was a little unsure about, seemed daft to respray the front for stonechips only as these cars attract them anyway, but last night I got a real reason to get it repainted...
Rabbit strike at 60mph
The clam was already booked in for paint for end of next week, so going to see the bodyshop today to make sure they can fix it and see how much it adds to the cost... gutted!
The reason for getting my clam off:
1) Replace the radiator, as the OEM ones have a weakness in the plastic end tanks. I'd rather pre-empt a failure and get an all ally one in.
2) Replace the fan, as my current one sounds like a bag of spanners
3) Replace tow post/strut, they rust to dust.
4) Respray the front clam after "the Croft" stone
Number 4 I was a little unsure about, seemed daft to respray the front for stonechips only as these cars attract them anyway, but last night I got a real reason to get it repainted...
Rabbit strike at 60mph
The clam was already booked in for paint for end of next week, so going to see the bodyshop today to make sure they can fix it and see how much it adds to the cost... gutted!
AyBee said:
Unlucky That should be a reasonably simple repair at least Damage to Lotus clams always looks much worse than it is!
Been to see the bodyshop this morning and they don't look too phased by it, it's not added a massive amount onto the respray anyway so not the end of the world! That should be a reasonably simple repair at least Damage to Lotus clams always looks much worse than it is!You say unlucky, but I'm surprised this is the first damage I've had. I've hit a pheasant already which just glanced off and I'm constantly taking evasive action round near my house to dodge rabbits, hares, foxes and sheep. I think I just need to do 40% of the speed limit when the sun goes down...!
Some progress today
Need to get the clam off by Saturday morning, as I've got a friend coming over with a transit van that I HOPE the clam will fit into...
Decided to get cracking today, to give me tomorrow as contingency if any tools needed buying or whatever.
First out, service panels and bonnet grills. Few allen bolts, easy.
Jacked up next, front wheel arch liners out and headlights removed. Headlights will be packaged up and sent to LeMass for some (hopeful) restoration
I then had about 10 fixings to remove, four near the door hinges, two near the windscreen, two in the arches and two in the headlight recesses. The only one which seized in was under the passenger headlight... 20secs with a dremel and that was sorted.
I'd found a website which sold a set of stainless fixings for pennies, so had that on standby.
Detached all the electrics then brought the wife through, grabbed a wheelarch each and off it came!
Probably took me two hours, being very methodical (slow) with a couple of brew breaks. 30mins should be doable.
With the clam off I got a proper view of the knackered tow strut, side by side with a new one (need some fresh bolts for it though)
Clam has had a few knocks before it seems, dodgy looking repair patch on the inside of the nose.
Next up I decided to get the throttle pedal out for inspection. It's bolted through from the topside of the chassis and access to those bolts was now marginally easier that the clam was off. Whizzed them off and out it came.
GM Part, with a Lotus specific part number but also a Hella part number. Googling on the Hella code gives me options from a few cars up and down the Vauxhall range, though Vaux prices are no better than Lotus ones. Lotus can do me one for £125 but it needs ordering in.
eBay has some Astra used ones for around £50.
I opened it up, hoping to find some obvious damage or cause for the fault but sure enough it looked mint
I'm going to have a think about how else I can test this, surely with a multimeter I can do some testing but no idea how. Any ideas? I'm nervous that the fault may be elsewhere upstream in the wiring.
That aside, I don't know whether to take a punt at an eBay Astra one or just go ahead and buy from Lotus. Needs a think, but I'd welcome any ideas.
As the car is now off the road (probably for the best part of August) and it's not a particularly easy part to remove from the car, I don't think temporarily swapping with a friend would be feasible.
Next up, rad out!
Rad was just a couple of bolts, disconnected the inlet and outlet hoses and then chopped the connectors from the wiring (couldn't figure out how to slot it through the small gap with the plug still on...
Out she came, looking a bit rough...
No sign of leaking coolant, but the fans and brackets are in a sorry state. No way I could reuse the brackets, but luckily I'd been conned into buying some hidden bling and a fan mounting kit when I bought my fan.
As you can see, I'm a fan short on the new setup. I'd (mis)read somewhere that non-AC cars like mine only had one fan, but obviously not. That's another £70 or so I could do without spending, but hey-ho. I'd thought for a minute that I could test both old fans in isolation to see if one sounded OK (at least one of them sounds like a bag of spanners) and use the better one alongside my new one, but talked myself out of it as I don't want to be lifting the clam off again in two months time because the old one has died...
The coolant has got me a little confused. I was expecting red/orange OAT stuff as per the manual but I've got blue stuff. I'm no coolant expert but I had it in my head that blue - old IAT stuff that shouldn't be mixed with new orange OAT stuff?
I didn't lose much coolant, couple of litres maybe in the rad and pipes so I might just top up with water and then get the car serviced in a few months with a proper flush out and get some new proper stuff in. Again, any advice/recommendations are always welcome.
Need to get the clam off by Saturday morning, as I've got a friend coming over with a transit van that I HOPE the clam will fit into...
Decided to get cracking today, to give me tomorrow as contingency if any tools needed buying or whatever.
First out, service panels and bonnet grills. Few allen bolts, easy.
Jacked up next, front wheel arch liners out and headlights removed. Headlights will be packaged up and sent to LeMass for some (hopeful) restoration
I then had about 10 fixings to remove, four near the door hinges, two near the windscreen, two in the arches and two in the headlight recesses. The only one which seized in was under the passenger headlight... 20secs with a dremel and that was sorted.
I'd found a website which sold a set of stainless fixings for pennies, so had that on standby.
Detached all the electrics then brought the wife through, grabbed a wheelarch each and off it came!
Probably took me two hours, being very methodical (slow) with a couple of brew breaks. 30mins should be doable.
With the clam off I got a proper view of the knackered tow strut, side by side with a new one (need some fresh bolts for it though)
Clam has had a few knocks before it seems, dodgy looking repair patch on the inside of the nose.
Next up I decided to get the throttle pedal out for inspection. It's bolted through from the topside of the chassis and access to those bolts was now marginally easier that the clam was off. Whizzed them off and out it came.
GM Part, with a Lotus specific part number but also a Hella part number. Googling on the Hella code gives me options from a few cars up and down the Vauxhall range, though Vaux prices are no better than Lotus ones. Lotus can do me one for £125 but it needs ordering in.
eBay has some Astra used ones for around £50.
I opened it up, hoping to find some obvious damage or cause for the fault but sure enough it looked mint
I'm going to have a think about how else I can test this, surely with a multimeter I can do some testing but no idea how. Any ideas? I'm nervous that the fault may be elsewhere upstream in the wiring.
That aside, I don't know whether to take a punt at an eBay Astra one or just go ahead and buy from Lotus. Needs a think, but I'd welcome any ideas.
As the car is now off the road (probably for the best part of August) and it's not a particularly easy part to remove from the car, I don't think temporarily swapping with a friend would be feasible.
Next up, rad out!
Rad was just a couple of bolts, disconnected the inlet and outlet hoses and then chopped the connectors from the wiring (couldn't figure out how to slot it through the small gap with the plug still on...
Out she came, looking a bit rough...
No sign of leaking coolant, but the fans and brackets are in a sorry state. No way I could reuse the brackets, but luckily I'd been conned into buying some hidden bling and a fan mounting kit when I bought my fan.
As you can see, I'm a fan short on the new setup. I'd (mis)read somewhere that non-AC cars like mine only had one fan, but obviously not. That's another £70 or so I could do without spending, but hey-ho. I'd thought for a minute that I could test both old fans in isolation to see if one sounded OK (at least one of them sounds like a bag of spanners) and use the better one alongside my new one, but talked myself out of it as I don't want to be lifting the clam off again in two months time because the old one has died...
The coolant has got me a little confused. I was expecting red/orange OAT stuff as per the manual but I've got blue stuff. I'm no coolant expert but I had it in my head that blue - old IAT stuff that shouldn't be mixed with new orange OAT stuff?
I didn't lose much coolant, couple of litres maybe in the rad and pipes so I might just top up with water and then get the car serviced in a few months with a proper flush out and get some new proper stuff in. Again, any advice/recommendations are always welcome.
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