Downforce at high speeds

[johnh74]

I dunno what speeds you guys reach in your V8 Esprits, but recently I managed a nice little streach on the M25 in London. She came round the bend at 100+mph, at this point I had a striaght of about 3-4 miles in front of me, which I then accelerated to 167mph. For those not done this speed, belive me the Esprit has plenty left, the revs where around 6000, and was doing what felt like 10mph per second accerleration. The car dropped by about 2-3 inches, and became really tight/stiff on the round surface, in a nice way, complelty the opisite to cars like M3's/T4's etc.. where the fast you go the lighter the become the Lotus is so different. Dumped a lot of fuel in my little stunt. I plan now to open up another 100bhp with some engine mods. Does anyone know the top speed of any single non std. V8 Esprit?

Cheers

[paul c]

I know nothing of note on V8's.
However,your downforce question reminded me of something i saw at the last meet.
A couple of V8's with their wings totally removed. We liked the way they looked (mega wide due to arches and no wing) but,perhaps naively,wondered of the stability effect. When we looked at the winged V8's it seemed quite a necessary component,and i assumed the large side planes of the wing would be critical for stability at speed.
As i said,i don't know much so i won't block this thread with any more of my ramblings.

PAUL

Think my body has never seen 167mph as i've never even been on a passenger plane. not sure how i'd react.

[ErnestM]

Rather than adding more horsepower, you might want to see about adding another cog as that seems to be the limiting factor to top end speed on the V8...

ErnestM

[andecorp]

johnh74 said:

Does anyone know the top speed of any single non std. V8 Esprit? Cheers

JH took his to 220mph (or thereabouts) before his tranny seized.
He's is heavily modified though.

[Ye Olde Esprit]

The wings on the Esprits of SE/S300/S4S don't add significant downforce, just enough to balance front and rear lift, their main purpose is to improve airflow and reduce wake drag. They were tunnel tested in design to acheive this.

However, the wings of S4 and later V8 don't provide much other than weight and change the look of the car for marketing reasons of freshening up the looks.

Nicholas

[dictys]

My SE has seen 160 on the clock, at this time I backed off as the car was feeling slighty twitchy.

The blue flashing lights behind me which weren't catching me up also had something to do with it.

PUK and others offer a 5th gear conversion that raises the top speed to 196mph.

Rgds
Dictys 89 SE

[Del-Esprit]

Well I have had my S4s upto 157 (measured on GPS) clock was showing higher and had to slow down due t a hairpin. Well it was a bend in the motorway but at 157 it looks like a hairpin !!!
Car also seemed to get very stable and squat down a bit, feeling very stable and attached to the road with velcro. Unlike previous Celica at near speed that was stable but becoming light (not realy designed for those speeds anyway).

As to getting more speed well the extra power would be neccessary to get you up the speeds quicker, but also moving the power up the rev band will give the extra MPH without changing gears. If you get 160 at 6000 then by getting power curve to move up 500rpm that would give a potential of another 13mph.
Top speed is more about sheer engine power to overcome wind resistance, the gearing just makes best use of the power available. If your not at peak of power curve (anyone know what the power curve is like ?) then gearing is generally fine.

Derrick
95 S4s

[kylie]

dictys said:

The blue flashing lights behind me which weren't catching me up also had something to do with it.

Your joking right? If your serious was it a massive $$$$ fine?

Kylie

>> Edited by kylie on Saturday 29th November 20:15