2007 Lotus 2-Eleven
Discussion
Day 4.
Finally, the trackday!
The weather forecast had twirled and turned and over breakfast we were discussing the real chance of a very wet day.
We arrived to the very cramped paddock in time for the rain. Many of the 24h crews were still packing up, and LoT did an utterly fantastic job of making sure this wasn't a problem. There was a truck being loaded by robotic forklift thing almost all day, and whenever a LoT member had to pass to get to circuit, a LoT staffmember stepped in and ushered you through. It could have been a disaster tbh with all of the stuff there, but it worked out really well.
Sad
It was time to bust out the Gazebo which I'd been hauling around Europe for 4 days. The bloody thing must have been 80kg in its bag, and I had a good 30-40kg of sandbags too to weigh down the legs.
Got the bag on the floor, everyone crowded round ready to help put it up...
"Go get the covers"
"Covers? I thought they were in the bag".
FECK! After all that, I'd just brought a frame. DOOOOOHHHHH.
I got all waterproofed up and we headed out for sighting laps. Phwoar what a circuit! I came off the track feeling like I knew less about it than I did before the sighters!
The rain stopped, and the circuit almost fully dried out during the sighting laps. Clouds lurked, so we all intended to make the most of it.
The difference 45mins makes.
My first session got under way and I had Jaik in the passenger seat. Eager to demonstrate my brakes to him which I've used every possible opportunity in the last 12 months to say how amazing they were.
Unfortunately, they were a long way from amazing
My notes from my road test continued, in that the whole car was extremely grabby and when trying to lean on them at all, the rear of the car became very unstable. I started getting that pit of dread in my stomach. What had I done?!
Perhaps they still would benefit from bedding in, so I persisted albeit gently before bringing it in. In addition to the brake concerns, my GoPro also threw an SD card error which I ignored, unfortunately at my peril The day has been unfortunately undocumented on video.
Weather was still fair, so after a short turnaround, I threw Jaik the keys and let him have a session to get his thoughts.
Very odd seeing your own car trundling down the pitlane, but I was relaxed and the car was in safe hands.
Jaik returned and we compared notes. He agreed, brakes not right - and it was likely too biased to the rear.
I went out for a solo session to see if I could push past it, but nope. The faster I tried to go, the less driveable the car became - and even when not in a braking zone you felt yourself thinking about it all the way around and it just made you slow everywhere. The worst part was under partial pedal on turn-in, the rear brakes made the most horrendous noise!
I still got a fair few laps in through the morning, but I really wasn't having much fun.
I've often talked about how rare the 2-Eleven is, even following the Lotus on Track circuit as closely as I do, I've never seen another one. That changed today though!
Over lunch we discussed options for the brakes. Could try stiffening the front dampers up a bit to try and stop so much weight transferring forwards, maybe keep some grip over the rears and allow the brakes to work. Didn't really help.
Then after conferring with SeriouslyDave back in Blighty, we decided to try some different pads in the back.
One of the crew had brought some partially worn RS4-2 Pagid pads. A very road biased, but track capable pad which I'd used years ago in my Elise. Worth a try, but I wasn't hopeful.
I agreed with Jaik to go out, do a session and then come in and have an instant turnaround for him. I wouldn't give away my thoughts to him, and we'd independently make our minds up on whether we'd gone the right way or not.
That proved quite difficult, because after a 20min stint I had the worlds biggest s
t eating grin. I tried to not give anything away to Jaik but there was no question, the car was infinitely more driveable. Not only that, but the brakes felt like a strong upgrade over their OEM state too.
I could lean on them, trailbrake, and though it took a few laps to regain confidence in them I could throw the anchors out before La Source at an almost impossible point and still just about make the corner. Ace.
Jaik agreed, and he had a belting session too. After getting home and pulling the SD cards, it was fascinating to compare two drivers in the same car.
My takeaway was that I was shocked and impressed in how quickly Jaik adapted to another car and how close we were both over a total lap. However the big shock was how differently we achieved the very similar overall times. We both clearly started learning a couple of corners each, but different to each other. Fascinating stuff, had this been a test day with proper timing etc, it would have been a magnificent way to knock chunks and chunks of time off of both drivers, so you can see why race teams try to get other drivers in their cars as often as possible.
With the braking issues behind me, I could focus a bit more on the laps. Eau Rouge was a beast of a corner, you fly into it at what feels like much too fast, then half way up you're considering a downchange because the 2ZZ is wheezing away in fifth! I think the fastest way up there for me would be a brakeless downshift on entry, then pin it in fourth, but having the confidence to snatch fourth smoothly right on entry was causing me to leave way too much on the table so I eventually abandoned that in favour of keeping in fifth, lifting on entry and then getting on the power as soon as I dared. I was very slow up there though, easily my weakest corner.
I really enjoyed the flowing few corners around Les Combes. Entry from Kemmel was faster than you think, then you could just balance the throttle through them. The downhill hairpin thing just afterwards was awful. Loads of patience needed, just not a fun corner.
Jamie was by all accounts stringing some great laps together in my old Exige. I really don't do passenger laps, but feel like I missed out by not seeing his interpretation of the track.
Pouhon was lots of fun, easily taken much faster than I did - but the feeling of turning into a corner in fifth, and pinning it fairly early was novel and extremely exciting.
Pif-paf/Fagnes I felt like I didn't really "get it". I think the entry is slower than you think, but whenenever taking it slowly it felt too slow.
The long sweeping back section into Blanchimont was good, but this was a bit of a turkey shoot in a 4cyl car. Lots of mirror watching here for the many powerful Porsche cars in attendance which would subsequently slow me down into and through the bus stop chicane and onto La Source again.
I won't pretend I did anywhere near a good lap, but it was still massively enjoyable. It's a circuit where you are just in awe of the scenery and the occasion of just being there. I had similar vibes at Silverstone last November. Chucking the car around almost becomes secondary.
The weather remained stunning all day after the damp sighting laps.
For what would be my last session, I made an ECU tweak to give me a bit more power on the straights. 5th and 6th gears in this setup are not particularly vulnerable, unlike 3/4. With that in mind, I altered my config to give full throttle in 5th and 6th but keep it pegged at 65% in 3 and 4. That would mean ~270bhp in 3/4 and ~300 in 5th and 6th. Useless at most British circuits, but a pretty handy help for a GP circuit.
My next session was a long one, too long. First few laps involved a lot of traffic, so I just chilled out and found myself a grove. Then I just found myself unable to come into the pits, lap after lap.
I ended up with a 30min session so not too extreme, but long enough for me. My ECU changes hadn't quite worked as I intended - but I knew exactly what to sort out. It was 17:15 ad it was stumps at 18:00, so after Jaik politely turned down one last session I got ready for a good one to finish.
Errr... what's that?
Bugger! CV Joint split, made a right mess.
Oh well, end of day. Yet another niggle preventing a flawless day in 2023 but on balance, after how I felt at lunch time - it was a cracking afternoon.
No Drama from the other boys either, all cars performed brilliantly and lots of fun was had all round. Chris was shaking his Honda down after a massive rebuild, so the fact it did so well is a credit to him.
All too soon, it was time to pack up.
Cheesy team photo. We'd picked up a 9th at some point, Andrew in his Alpine. These Alpines were seriously quick at Spa, they must be slippery buggers because they didn't half sneak up on you on the straight bits!
The rest of the trip was mainly food, beer and lack of sleep.
We stopped off for a quick shopping trip at a Motorsporty shop in Stavelot. Very cool, combining my two passions nicely:
Then it was to the ferry. Drive back to Rotterdam was a chore, but we got there in one piece.
Hull beckons. Home sweet home.
Finally, the trackday!
The weather forecast had twirled and turned and over breakfast we were discussing the real chance of a very wet day.
We arrived to the very cramped paddock in time for the rain. Many of the 24h crews were still packing up, and LoT did an utterly fantastic job of making sure this wasn't a problem. There was a truck being loaded by robotic forklift thing almost all day, and whenever a LoT member had to pass to get to circuit, a LoT staffmember stepped in and ushered you through. It could have been a disaster tbh with all of the stuff there, but it worked out really well.
Sad
It was time to bust out the Gazebo which I'd been hauling around Europe for 4 days. The bloody thing must have been 80kg in its bag, and I had a good 30-40kg of sandbags too to weigh down the legs.
Got the bag on the floor, everyone crowded round ready to help put it up...
"Go get the covers"
"Covers? I thought they were in the bag".
FECK! After all that, I'd just brought a frame. DOOOOOHHHHH.
I got all waterproofed up and we headed out for sighting laps. Phwoar what a circuit! I came off the track feeling like I knew less about it than I did before the sighters!
The rain stopped, and the circuit almost fully dried out during the sighting laps. Clouds lurked, so we all intended to make the most of it.
The difference 45mins makes.
My first session got under way and I had Jaik in the passenger seat. Eager to demonstrate my brakes to him which I've used every possible opportunity in the last 12 months to say how amazing they were.
Unfortunately, they were a long way from amazing
My notes from my road test continued, in that the whole car was extremely grabby and when trying to lean on them at all, the rear of the car became very unstable. I started getting that pit of dread in my stomach. What had I done?!
Perhaps they still would benefit from bedding in, so I persisted albeit gently before bringing it in. In addition to the brake concerns, my GoPro also threw an SD card error which I ignored, unfortunately at my peril
The day has been unfortunately undocumented on video.Weather was still fair, so after a short turnaround, I threw Jaik the keys and let him have a session to get his thoughts.
Very odd seeing your own car trundling down the pitlane, but I was relaxed and the car was in safe hands.
Jaik returned and we compared notes. He agreed, brakes not right - and it was likely too biased to the rear.
I went out for a solo session to see if I could push past it, but nope. The faster I tried to go, the less driveable the car became - and even when not in a braking zone you felt yourself thinking about it all the way around and it just made you slow everywhere. The worst part was under partial pedal on turn-in, the rear brakes made the most horrendous noise!
I still got a fair few laps in through the morning, but I really wasn't having much fun.
I've often talked about how rare the 2-Eleven is, even following the Lotus on Track circuit as closely as I do, I've never seen another one. That changed today though!
Over lunch we discussed options for the brakes. Could try stiffening the front dampers up a bit to try and stop so much weight transferring forwards, maybe keep some grip over the rears and allow the brakes to work. Didn't really help.
Then after conferring with SeriouslyDave back in Blighty, we decided to try some different pads in the back.
One of the crew had brought some partially worn RS4-2 Pagid pads. A very road biased, but track capable pad which I'd used years ago in my Elise. Worth a try, but I wasn't hopeful.
I agreed with Jaik to go out, do a session and then come in and have an instant turnaround for him. I wouldn't give away my thoughts to him, and we'd independently make our minds up on whether we'd gone the right way or not.
That proved quite difficult, because after a 20min stint I had the worlds biggest s
t eating grin. I tried to not give anything away to Jaik but there was no question, the car was infinitely more driveable. Not only that, but the brakes felt like a strong upgrade over their OEM state too. I could lean on them, trailbrake, and though it took a few laps to regain confidence in them I could throw the anchors out before La Source at an almost impossible point and still just about make the corner. Ace.
Jaik agreed, and he had a belting session too. After getting home and pulling the SD cards, it was fascinating to compare two drivers in the same car.
My takeaway was that I was shocked and impressed in how quickly Jaik adapted to another car and how close we were both over a total lap. However the big shock was how differently we achieved the very similar overall times. We both clearly started learning a couple of corners each, but different to each other. Fascinating stuff, had this been a test day with proper timing etc, it would have been a magnificent way to knock chunks and chunks of time off of both drivers, so you can see why race teams try to get other drivers in their cars as often as possible.
With the braking issues behind me, I could focus a bit more on the laps. Eau Rouge was a beast of a corner, you fly into it at what feels like much too fast, then half way up you're considering a downchange because the 2ZZ is wheezing away in fifth! I think the fastest way up there for me would be a brakeless downshift on entry, then pin it in fourth, but having the confidence to snatch fourth smoothly right on entry was causing me to leave way too much on the table so I eventually abandoned that in favour of keeping in fifth, lifting on entry and then getting on the power as soon as I dared. I was very slow up there though, easily my weakest corner.
I really enjoyed the flowing few corners around Les Combes. Entry from Kemmel was faster than you think, then you could just balance the throttle through them. The downhill hairpin thing just afterwards was awful. Loads of patience needed, just not a fun corner.
Jamie was by all accounts stringing some great laps together in my old Exige. I really don't do passenger laps, but feel like I missed out by not seeing his interpretation of the track.
Pouhon was lots of fun, easily taken much faster than I did - but the feeling of turning into a corner in fifth, and pinning it fairly early was novel and extremely exciting.
Pif-paf/Fagnes I felt like I didn't really "get it". I think the entry is slower than you think, but whenenever taking it slowly it felt too slow.
The long sweeping back section into Blanchimont was good, but this was a bit of a turkey shoot in a 4cyl car. Lots of mirror watching here for the many powerful Porsche cars in attendance which would subsequently slow me down into and through the bus stop chicane and onto La Source again.
I won't pretend I did anywhere near a good lap, but it was still massively enjoyable. It's a circuit where you are just in awe of the scenery and the occasion of just being there. I had similar vibes at Silverstone last November. Chucking the car around almost becomes secondary.
The weather remained stunning all day after the damp sighting laps.
For what would be my last session, I made an ECU tweak to give me a bit more power on the straights. 5th and 6th gears in this setup are not particularly vulnerable, unlike 3/4. With that in mind, I altered my config to give full throttle in 5th and 6th but keep it pegged at 65% in 3 and 4. That would mean ~270bhp in 3/4 and ~300 in 5th and 6th. Useless at most British circuits, but a pretty handy help for a GP circuit.
My next session was a long one, too long. First few laps involved a lot of traffic, so I just chilled out and found myself a grove. Then I just found myself unable to come into the pits, lap after lap.
I ended up with a 30min session so not too extreme, but long enough for me. My ECU changes hadn't quite worked as I intended - but I knew exactly what to sort out. It was 17:15 ad it was stumps at 18:00, so after Jaik politely turned down one last session I got ready for a good one to finish.
Errr... what's that?
Bugger! CV Joint split, made a right mess.
Oh well, end of day. Yet another niggle preventing a flawless day in 2023 but on balance, after how I felt at lunch time - it was a cracking afternoon.
No Drama from the other boys either, all cars performed brilliantly and lots of fun was had all round. Chris was shaking his Honda down after a massive rebuild, so the fact it did so well is a credit to him.
All too soon, it was time to pack up.
Cheesy team photo. We'd picked up a 9th at some point, Andrew in his Alpine. These Alpines were seriously quick at Spa, they must be slippery buggers because they didn't half sneak up on you on the straight bits!
The rest of the trip was mainly food, beer and lack of sleep.
We stopped off for a quick shopping trip at a Motorsporty shop in Stavelot. Very cool, combining my two passions nicely:
Then it was to the ferry. Drive back to Rotterdam was a chore, but we got there in one piece.
Hull beckons. Home sweet home.
Great write up! Fantastic photos. Really glad you managed to sort the brakes, I know that feeling of dread after fiddling with the car. But to have it happen after such an effort to get all the way there must be aweful!
Spa is really the only European track I have the urge to do, even more so after reading that post!
Spa is really the only European track I have the urge to do, even more so after reading that post!
MTW said:
Spa is really the only European track I have the urge to do, even more so after reading that post!
I'd recommend your urge also takes you and your Caterham to Dijon-Prenois, which in my book is even better. 
And whilst you are over there also try Magny-Cours (OK) and Zandvoort (excellent).
I couldn't put it off forever, so made a start on tidying up the chaos from the split CV boot.
I've become a bit too well practised in taking the driveshafts out of this car. The new brake setup at the back is nicely thought out and engineered to not add any extra effort to this task.
The boot had split quite cleanly here:
In the foreground of that photo is a machining lug thing from the engine block. Allegedly this was the most likely candidate, and the stresses of Spa just caused my boot to expand that little bit too much and cause it to catch. Seems to be fairly common failure in the 2-Eleven world, based on a very small sample size - but it's unclear exactly why the 2-Eleven is more vulnerable. Maybe it's just confirmation bias.
The other thing to consider is that my 2bular manifold does away with the factory heat shields, and I've never been particularly convinced by the ceramic coating on the pipes. I could be overheating the boot and the air/grease within it.
The makeup of the driveshafts on the Lotus cars are a bit of a hybrid. Boot-wise it is a Toyota inner, and a Vauxhall Outer. I (wrongly) assumed the same for the actual joint inners too.
Though the outer joint and boot is available as a Vauxhall item, the inner joint is not the Toyota one, but instead a Lotus custom item... they just take the boot from Toyota, apparently.
I stripped the joint down and ordered a new boot from Toyota. I hoped to just fill it with grease, and get on with the rebuild - but my untrained eye wasn't happy with the state of the bearings/cage etc. So I started asking around for donors.
The part new from Lotus is $$$$$, in fact I think it works out cheaper to replace the entire driveshaft.
In stepped Dave (again) from SL.
In the ultimate vain effort to keep some heat out of the joint, I used my left over tape from the intercooler pipes. I don't for a moment thing this will help anything, but it made me feel like I was trying something.
I still plan to rebuild the original shaft, and carry it as a spare. If this failure would have happened at 10am of a big trackday like Spa, I'd have been gutted- but having a spare shaft, even if it's questionable may allow me to finish the day.
Now... onto the mess.
It really was everywhere, all nicely tucked behind the pulleys, in every cavity of the subframe (good rust proofing I guess) and on the back of the brake calipers, hub, shock absorber, etc. There's no question that my tyre will have got splattered in the initial explosion which explains the few lairy moments I had in that session. Scary.
I attacked it with three things:
1. Some Bilt Hamber degreaser in a pump sprayer. I stuck the wand in the various cavities and just sprayed it in to try and break down the grease before really trying anything else. This made a mighty mess of the floor, and not much else.
2. Brake cleaner in a pump sprayer, better - but still wasn't just blasting the grease off as I'd hoped.
3. Write off a few rags, roll up my sleeves and get stuck in
I think I'm almost there, the block is stained and grottier than before, but hopefully that will just burn off/season over time. The Subframe would have been a nightmare in its original galvanised state as it stains so easy, but the powdercoated black surface just allowed me to wipe it off pretty easily.
After consultation with a few people, I took a grinder to the engine too - and added a bit of clearance to that lug.
I'll be taking the aux belt off in the next couple of days, and will give the pulleys all a really good clean. Whilst I'm at it, I'm going to fit this:
It's a 3" up from the 2.9". Think I discussed this before but this was part of my action plan for the Exige and it just took a backburner through the car swap etc.
With a 2.9" pulley the chargecooler is just struggling to keep the IATs out of the range where a bit of timing gets pulled. Its not a huge amount, by the end of a very long Spa session it was pulling 1.5degrees (at 60*C) but it's enough that I feel like going 'down' a step of boost will probably be net neutral over a track session, and I'll be protecting the SC a bit as a bonus.
I know my map can cope with a range of boost pressures from 140kpa to 170kpa, from the DBW tweaking that we did on the dyno - so providing I fall within that range (I will), no real change will be needed - but I could in theory add a hint more ignition advance to claw back any losses from dropping a bit of boost.
Will be interesting to see how much impact it has on IATs, I have a pretty good sample selection now across a range of ambient temperatures so I'll quickly know once I get it back on track. 0.1" isn't much, but I'm banking on it having a bit of an exponential effect. I know that my OE pulley on the Exige was well, well within the comforts of the chargecooler and that it was always within a degrees or two of ambient.
I've become a bit too well practised in taking the driveshafts out of this car. The new brake setup at the back is nicely thought out and engineered to not add any extra effort to this task.
The boot had split quite cleanly here:
In the foreground of that photo is a machining lug thing from the engine block. Allegedly this was the most likely candidate, and the stresses of Spa just caused my boot to expand that little bit too much and cause it to catch. Seems to be fairly common failure in the 2-Eleven world, based on a very small sample size - but it's unclear exactly why the 2-Eleven is more vulnerable. Maybe it's just confirmation bias.
The other thing to consider is that my 2bular manifold does away with the factory heat shields, and I've never been particularly convinced by the ceramic coating on the pipes. I could be overheating the boot and the air/grease within it.
The makeup of the driveshafts on the Lotus cars are a bit of a hybrid. Boot-wise it is a Toyota inner, and a Vauxhall Outer. I (wrongly) assumed the same for the actual joint inners too.
Though the outer joint and boot is available as a Vauxhall item, the inner joint is not the Toyota one, but instead a Lotus custom item... they just take the boot from Toyota, apparently.
I stripped the joint down and ordered a new boot from Toyota. I hoped to just fill it with grease, and get on with the rebuild - but my untrained eye wasn't happy with the state of the bearings/cage etc. So I started asking around for donors.
The part new from Lotus is $$$$$, in fact I think it works out cheaper to replace the entire driveshaft.
In stepped Dave (again) from SL.
In the ultimate vain effort to keep some heat out of the joint, I used my left over tape from the intercooler pipes. I don't for a moment thing this will help anything, but it made me feel like I was trying something.
I still plan to rebuild the original shaft, and carry it as a spare. If this failure would have happened at 10am of a big trackday like Spa, I'd have been gutted- but having a spare shaft, even if it's questionable may allow me to finish the day.
Now... onto the mess.
It really was everywhere, all nicely tucked behind the pulleys, in every cavity of the subframe (good rust proofing I guess) and on the back of the brake calipers, hub, shock absorber, etc. There's no question that my tyre will have got splattered in the initial explosion which explains the few lairy moments I had in that session. Scary.
I attacked it with three things:
1. Some Bilt Hamber degreaser in a pump sprayer. I stuck the wand in the various cavities and just sprayed it in to try and break down the grease before really trying anything else. This made a mighty mess of the floor, and not much else.
2. Brake cleaner in a pump sprayer, better - but still wasn't just blasting the grease off as I'd hoped.
3. Write off a few rags, roll up my sleeves and get stuck in
I think I'm almost there, the block is stained and grottier than before, but hopefully that will just burn off/season over time. The Subframe would have been a nightmare in its original galvanised state as it stains so easy, but the powdercoated black surface just allowed me to wipe it off pretty easily.
After consultation with a few people, I took a grinder to the engine too - and added a bit of clearance to that lug.
I'll be taking the aux belt off in the next couple of days, and will give the pulleys all a really good clean. Whilst I'm at it, I'm going to fit this:
It's a 3" up from the 2.9". Think I discussed this before but this was part of my action plan for the Exige and it just took a backburner through the car swap etc.
With a 2.9" pulley the chargecooler is just struggling to keep the IATs out of the range where a bit of timing gets pulled. Its not a huge amount, by the end of a very long Spa session it was pulling 1.5degrees (at 60*C) but it's enough that I feel like going 'down' a step of boost will probably be net neutral over a track session, and I'll be protecting the SC a bit as a bonus.
I know my map can cope with a range of boost pressures from 140kpa to 170kpa, from the DBW tweaking that we did on the dyno - so providing I fall within that range (I will), no real change will be needed - but I could in theory add a hint more ignition advance to claw back any losses from dropping a bit of boost.
Will be interesting to see how much impact it has on IATs, I have a pretty good sample selection now across a range of ambient temperatures so I'll quickly know once I get it back on track. 0.1" isn't much, but I'm banking on it having a bit of an exponential effect. I know that my OE pulley on the Exige was well, well within the comforts of the chargecooler and that it was always within a degrees or two of ambient.
Finally pulled my finger out and got the car fettled.
New donor driveshaft in:
Box topped with Redlines finest:
I also addressed another Spa snag. My DIY arch liners at the front had sagged down and taken a beating. As a reminder I had applied some Bostik flashband up there to try and protect from internal stone damage, but I'd skimped on prep work and I think the recent heat beating down on the clam had been enough to unstick the tape and cause it to droop.
I addressed it by doing things "properly". Gave the inner arches a good degreasing, dried off and applied the Bostik adhesion primer.
My flashing tape was also a couple of years beyond its shelf life so I treated myself to a fresh roll inc price label! This was sticking to the clam much more convincingly, so hopefully that's that now.
Car back on its wheels for the first time since she came home. Still needs a de-stickering and a clean, but it's just about there.
Next steps will be a shakedown run just to see how much manifold pressure I'm making with the new pulley, then a tweak of the DBW parameters to get me as close to the previous setup as possible.
New donor driveshaft in:
Box topped with Redlines finest:
I also addressed another Spa snag. My DIY arch liners at the front had sagged down and taken a beating. As a reminder I had applied some Bostik flashband up there to try and protect from internal stone damage, but I'd skimped on prep work and I think the recent heat beating down on the clam had been enough to unstick the tape and cause it to droop.
I addressed it by doing things "properly". Gave the inner arches a good degreasing, dried off and applied the Bostik adhesion primer.
My flashing tape was also a couple of years beyond its shelf life so I treated myself to a fresh roll inc price label! This was sticking to the clam much more convincingly, so hopefully that's that now.
Car back on its wheels for the first time since she came home. Still needs a de-stickering and a clean, but it's just about there.
Next steps will be a shakedown run just to see how much manifold pressure I'm making with the new pulley, then a tweak of the DBW parameters to get me as close to the previous setup as possible.
I used the 2-Eleven at the weekend and nothing broke, nothing needed tinkering - it just did what a car does and got me from A-B and back again!
North Yorkshire Lotus Owners Club (NYLOC) had arranged a gathering on Whitby Pier alongside the RNLI as part of their vital fundraising day.
As a Family we absolutely love Whitby, and get there at every opportunity. One of the most beautiful places on the planet, not that we're biased. So an excuse to go down with the Lotus, chat cars for a bit and also get a family day out of it was not to be missed.
I went down early doors in the 2-Eleven whilst the missus and young'un followed behind later.
Getting to the pier in a car isn't the easiest task, as you're crawling through a road that under most normal circumstances is practically a pedestrian area, but the NYLOC marshals stepped in and made everything smooth and safe.
Rain threatened just after arrival, but it didn't really have much impact - so the showercap was shortlived.
After the family caught up, we wandered off and did the usual seasidey stuff. Fish and Chips, Arcade, Sand Castles and Ice Cream all smashed out with precision.
Went back and peaked at the car occasionally, just checking for nesting seagulls really.
(Thanks Martin and Mark for the photography)
The lineup was spectacular, can't remember the final count but it must have been knocking 40?
Lots of Elise/Exige of course, but a few Elans and Esprits' made it along too. Oh, and a smattering of Emira.
Mark braved the drone too, impressive with those coastal winds but worth it for the moneyshot.
The 2-Eleven had a fair few people curious, from what I was told people were generally obsessed with how small the rear view mirror was more than anything else! But a few nods of appreciation from Joe Public on just how shagged my tyres were starting to look along the outside edge didn't go unheard.
The public that I ran into were bob on. In a purpose built car event, people go there because they like cars - but just turning up with a collection of toy cars in a random public location in the middle of both a cost of living crisis but also a save-the-planet crisis could have generated some friction - but I'm not aware of any issues, and generally I felt it added to everyone's day out.
Was great to be a part of, and we raised a few quid for the RNLI too so happy days.
Ride home was a pleasure, steady traffic so nothing lairy - but a helmetless ride home had me nicely exfoliated and a nice reminder that the car isn't *so* bad on the road.
Thanks to NYLOC for organising, and thanks RNLI for the invite (and the life savery)
North Yorkshire Lotus Owners Club (NYLOC) had arranged a gathering on Whitby Pier alongside the RNLI as part of their vital fundraising day.
As a Family we absolutely love Whitby, and get there at every opportunity. One of the most beautiful places on the planet, not that we're biased. So an excuse to go down with the Lotus, chat cars for a bit and also get a family day out of it was not to be missed.
I went down early doors in the 2-Eleven whilst the missus and young'un followed behind later.
Getting to the pier in a car isn't the easiest task, as you're crawling through a road that under most normal circumstances is practically a pedestrian area, but the NYLOC marshals stepped in and made everything smooth and safe.
Rain threatened just after arrival, but it didn't really have much impact - so the showercap was shortlived.
After the family caught up, we wandered off and did the usual seasidey stuff. Fish and Chips, Arcade, Sand Castles and Ice Cream all smashed out with precision.
Went back and peaked at the car occasionally, just checking for nesting seagulls really.
(Thanks Martin and Mark for the photography)
The lineup was spectacular, can't remember the final count but it must have been knocking 40?
Lots of Elise/Exige of course, but a few Elans and Esprits' made it along too. Oh, and a smattering of Emira.
Mark braved the drone too, impressive with those coastal winds but worth it for the moneyshot.
The 2-Eleven had a fair few people curious, from what I was told people were generally obsessed with how small the rear view mirror was more than anything else! But a few nods of appreciation from Joe Public on just how shagged my tyres were starting to look along the outside edge didn't go unheard.
The public that I ran into were bob on. In a purpose built car event, people go there because they like cars - but just turning up with a collection of toy cars in a random public location in the middle of both a cost of living crisis but also a save-the-planet crisis could have generated some friction - but I'm not aware of any issues, and generally I felt it added to everyone's day out.
Was great to be a part of, and we raised a few quid for the RNLI too so happy days.
Ride home was a pleasure, steady traffic so nothing lairy - but a helmetless ride home had me nicely exfoliated and a nice reminder that the car isn't *so* bad on the road.
Thanks to NYLOC for organising, and thanks RNLI for the invite (and the life savery)
Edited by Fonzey on Monday 31st July 22:22
Edited by Fonzey on Monday 31st July 22:23
Managed to squeak into an unplanned trackday at Croft with Circuitdays on BH Monday. Between then and now I'm away for a week, so needed to do my trackday prep early.
Because the car 'just works' at the moment, that prep involved putting petrol in it, and washing it.
I did get to snap it next to the new(ish) stablemate though. Since the 2-Eleven hasn't cost me any money in almost a month I guess I wanted to fill the void in my life with another moneypit.
Depending on how motivated I am when I get to Croft I may have a play with the brakes. At Spa I found a satisfactory setup running a road-biased Pagid RS42 pad in the back, but I also have the option to revert to a 288mm disc and run matching compounds front and rear to see if that also works. Other than swapping some bolts/spacers out, it's not a huge job to do trackside so I may consider it.
Because the car 'just works' at the moment, that prep involved putting petrol in it, and washing it.
I did get to snap it next to the new(ish) stablemate though. Since the 2-Eleven hasn't cost me any money in almost a month I guess I wanted to fill the void in my life with another moneypit.
Depending on how motivated I am when I get to Croft I may have a play with the brakes. At Spa I found a satisfactory setup running a road-biased Pagid RS42 pad in the back, but I also have the option to revert to a 288mm disc and run matching compounds front and rear to see if that also works. Other than swapping some bolts/spacers out, it's not a huge job to do trackside so I may consider it.
Fonzey said:
Managed to squeak into an unplanned trackday at Croft with Circuitdays on BH Monday. Between then and now I'm away for a week, so needed to do my trackday prep early.
All being well I should be there (Cayman has an oil weep which the specialist is looking at next week so it's touch and go at the moment).I think I booked a garage (can't find any confirmation that tells me what I bought) but if so you're welcome to use it if the weather's not great.
Steve H said:
That’s good news Fonzey, I’ll be working on that event so will see you there 
Awesome, be good to meet you at last. See you there.EmBe said:
All being well I should be there (Cayman has an oil weep which the specialist is looking at next week so it's touch and go at the moment).
I think I booked a garage (can't find any confirmation that tells me what I bought) but if so you're welcome to use it if the weather's not great.
Likewise hope to see you there, fingers crossed you can get sorted! Very kind offer on the garage, at worst I might use it to hide some stuff in if the weather does turn a bit minging - but I'm fully expecting this later Summer to materialise just in time.I think I booked a garage (can't find any confirmation that tells me what I bought) but if so you're welcome to use it if the weather's not great.
Before packing up for Croft, I did a small job that I've been putting off for ages.
I've been tripping over a roll of PPF in the garage since I did the Tillett seats, and I'd saved just enough to cover the top and leading edge of the Reverie wing.
With the endplates off, I gave the wing a quick blast with a claybar followed by some polishing.
I've decided I really don't enjoy applying stuff like PPF, vinyl, stickers, etc- I just don't have the patience for it. This went half decent though.
The only thing I'm not really happy with is the trailing edge. I should have left a few inches so I could wrap it over the sharp edge and tack it down on the underside, but I didn't leave enough of a lip - so couldn't overcome the slight rigidity of the PPF and get it to stick. This left me with trimming the edge with a blade, which is OK - but a bit tatty in a couple of spots. I'll tidy it up when I have time.
Not quite a pro job, but definitely good enough to keep the carbon protected until I consider a proper job (which might be never).
I've been tripping over a roll of PPF in the garage since I did the Tillett seats, and I'd saved just enough to cover the top and leading edge of the Reverie wing.
With the endplates off, I gave the wing a quick blast with a claybar followed by some polishing.
I've decided I really don't enjoy applying stuff like PPF, vinyl, stickers, etc- I just don't have the patience for it. This went half decent though.
The only thing I'm not really happy with is the trailing edge. I should have left a few inches so I could wrap it over the sharp edge and tack it down on the underside, but I didn't leave enough of a lip - so couldn't overcome the slight rigidity of the PPF and get it to stick. This left me with trimming the edge with a blade, which is OK - but a bit tatty in a couple of spots. I'll tidy it up when I have time.
Not quite a pro job, but definitely good enough to keep the carbon protected until I consider a proper job (which might be never).
Fonzey said:
Likewise hope to see you there, fingers crossed you can get sorted! Very kind offer on the garage, at worst I might use it to hide some stuff in if the weather does turn a bit minging - but I'm fully expecting this later Summer to materialise just in time.
I spotted you out on track a few times but when I came to find you, both times you'd just gone out 
Car seemed to be going well, looks and sounds great.
Not the greatest of days for me, oil weep was fixed but when I got to the circuit one of the front dampers wouldn't budge from full soft so I had to leave both fronts like that and only stiffen up the rears a little, meaning the car was a bit wallowy all day and as a result I didn't enjoy myself as much as usual.
Plus the endless red flags after lunch
EmBe said:
I spotted you out on track a few times but when I came to find you, both times you'd just gone out
Car seemed to be going well, looks and sounds great.
Not the greatest of days for me, oil weep was fixed but when I got to the circuit one of the front dampers wouldn't budge from full soft so I had to leave both fronts like that and only stiffen up the rears a little, meaning the car was a bit wallowy all day and as a result I didn't enjoy myself as much as usual.
Plus the endless red flags after lunch
Ugh, sorry to hear about your woes. Which Cayman were you in, was it a white one? The Red flags were quite irritating yes, always seemed to be on an out lap, so spent a lot of time baking in the pitlane waiting to go out again.Car seemed to be going well, looks and sounds great.
Not the greatest of days for me, oil weep was fixed but when I got to the circuit one of the front dampers wouldn't budge from full soft so I had to leave both fronts like that and only stiffen up the rears a little, meaning the car was a bit wallowy all day and as a result I didn't enjoy myself as much as usual.
Plus the endless red flags after lunch
I'll get a full T'Day report up once I sort some video out. GoPro/SD Card shenanigans again but I think I can salvage something!
Fonzey said:
Ugh, sorry to hear about your woes. Which Cayman were you in, was it a white one? The Red flags were quite irritating yes, always seemed to be on an out lap, so spent a lot of time baking in the pitlane waiting to go out again.
I'll get a full T'Day report up once I sort some video out. GoPro/SD Card shenanigans again but I think I can salvage something!
Mine is black with gold wheels (crop below of one of the TDO pics from the day), but the white one is one of 'ours' (4 of us with modified Caymans).I'll get a full T'Day report up once I sort some video out. GoPro/SD Card shenanigans again but I think I can salvage something!
Edited by EmBe on Wednesday 30th August 10:14
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