Elise around Thruxton...

[minghis]

Hi all,

I'm not an owner but I am doing a day at Thruxton soon in an Elise.

Any hints or tips on how to 'drive' them - do they like being wrestled or is smoothness the key, do they understeer and lift off oversteer or are they fairly neutral?

Any tips would be appreciated! I want to get the best from the day without having to spend too much time learning the car...

Thanks in advance,
minghis.

[thub]

The usual 'slow-in fast-out'. They definitely don't need to be wrestled but will readily oversteer if you lift off too quick in the wrong place.

[cuzza]

Agree with tub - lift off oversteer will be your main worry as Thruxton is mostly fast curves.

It's not an ideal circuit for the Elise as it is so quick but you'll have fun through the two chicanes. If the Ferraris are running, see how much space you can gain throught the first set of corners

[shnozz]

you almost sound a pro cuzza.

e-mail received mate. working on it but struggling to find someone to help.

[cuzza]

shnozz said:

you almost sound a pro cuzza. e-mail received mate. working on it but struggling to find someone to help.

Am working on some salesy stuff so it's obviously showing!!

Drove a 360 round there two years ago - on the far side of the circuit it's flat out but I needed to lift a bit on a couple of bends - can imagine the Elise getting out of shape easily in that situation . The bad thing is that'll be at 110+, the good thing is there's lots of space to showboat and get it back before you die

If it's problem don't panic - I'll be having a word tonight so I can go on holiday without worrying - should be OK.

[shnozz]

got someone on it at the moment mate.

yep, did the thruxton thing in a load of cars a few years back. 355 fezza, formula renault, formula ford, rover 220 vi (impressed for a hatchback) and an MGF VVC. high speed lap in a boxstaaaaaaaaaaa too.

but thats enough about racing and driving, how do I polish my aluminium handbrake handle?

[adrianr]

Do you know the circuit? If not, invest in a copy of TOCA or similar and practice; the back of Thruxton is a wild and lonely place with few obvious reference points and some nasty bumps (well nasty at 90-100mph anyway!)

Key to the Elise is remembering where the weight is, i.e. behind you and a bit too high up. This makes it tricky on turn in if you can't heel and toe, and it will respond well to trail braking. Otherwise you can use cautious lift off oversteer to adjust your line at speed (esp round the back of Goodwood), but fluff it or panic and you'll end up going backwards very fast. It doesn't like big yaw angles either, so keep it tidy.

AdrianR

[cuzza]

shnozz said:

got someone on it at the moment mate.

You da man - thanks

shnozz said:

yep, did the thruxton thing in a load of cars a few years back. 355 fezza, formula renault, formula ford, rover 220 vi (impressed for a hatchback) and an MGF VVC. high speed lap in a boxstaaaaaaaaaaa too.

Same here - minghis, are you doing the full Elise day there?? three or four sessions of six laps or so?? They do a 'Le Mans' experience too, now that looks good with increasing rev limits providing teh instructor says you're OK.

shnozz said:

but thats enough about racing and driving, how do I polish my aluminium handbrake handle?

Loreal - cos you're worth it

[minghis]

All very usefull - thanks very much.

I'm doing a 4 hour Red Letter Day 'Elise Experience' -I'm doing 14 laps (7, break then 7) plus some with the instructors.

I did a few laps (in 1991...) in a Formula Ford 1600 as well as a Rover 220GTi or something similar. From what I remember, the correct line was vitally important on the fast bits at the 'back' of the circuit as it was a bit twitchy having to lift, so it seems it'll be a similar thing - nice and smooth!

Thanks again,
minghis.

[xxplod]

Thruxton! 5 mins away from me! Excellent circuit. It is suited to the Elise, with the tight corners giving them an edge. The long straight at the far side of the circuit means the cars with more BHP tend to catch up. Makes for geart spectating when they have race meeting there, especially the 70s saloon cars and classic sportscars.
The Elises used by Thruxton Motorsport are S1s, so they will oversteer, although I'm not sure whether the company have tweaked the suspension in order to try and prevent their assets from meeting the armco. Certainly the singl-seat cars they have are notably detuned.

[minghis]

I did this event last Friday and all your comments were very usefull, thanks all.

I found the car to be excellent fun if not a little short of top end - bearing in mind it was the first time I'd driven one so wasn't sure what to expect. The car wasn't limited and would rev up to and beyond the red line.

Unfortunately the pit 'straight' was subject to a speed restriction so I didn't get to have any 'complete' flying laps but you'll all know I'm not joking when I say there was a fair bit of overtaking of some so called supercars such as Ferraris and Porsches as well as the Formula Renaults, especially coming out of the complex and after church which is awesome..

My corner speed through church was a tad over 100 indicated, assuming entries were correct the whole lot was 'flat', ie. no brakes, just a lift, with the exception of the two chicanes. The only thing I noticed about the car was that it had a tendency to pitch left slightly when lifting off, but other than that a great little car especially round corners!