I was disappointed there wasn't time for me to have a ride in, let alone drive, Mark's car over the weekend

In fact I only saw it in the dark

It's a compact little bugger though (the car not Mark)

Dwarfed even by my partner's hatchback

 

That's a good thing for me actually. My neighbours cars are both taller and longer than mine, so it's invisible from the street. Not so good when you can't remember where you parked it.

 

My car's first one still got fried in less than 10k miles! But you are right.

Certainly it's a piece of piss to launch the Elise sympathically compared to the S2000.

I regularly think about selling the Elise next year due to an expected lack of use... but then I have a quick blat to the shops or work (that is about as good as it gets!) and I realise how special it is*.

I am off to Angelesy at the end of October and can't wait. I'll probably squeeze a little jaunt to Llandow earlier in the month.


Bada, 2 questions...

1. when will we see you at the track?

2. are you running the Bridgestone's or Yoko AD07s. I have the former but am thinking of giving the later a go (rears are almost illegal and fronts are well worn).

* not special enough to wash it mind. 9 months of ownership and it's not been washed once. At least it should not have any swirls!

 

Gad, I guess the figures are indicative of what it can do. Gut feel says they are perfectly achievable, its just a monster!

I don't do many launches thugh.

Did have some video footage around somewhere...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DspbCPUrdHY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9H8MrUuUDU

 

Well, I've had mine a month, done 800+ miles in it and so far nothing's dropped off, broken, started smoking etc.

It feels so much better screwed together than the S1 I had before, but with the same stuck to the road, feel what the car is doing underneath you characteristic the car is known for.

It's on A048s, which a lot of people don't like, since I got new rears as part of the sale I was prepared to keep them a while and see how I got on, but so far they've been fine, the only caveat is that I wouldn't like to hit motorway standing water in them, they're fine on normal roads in the wet, and I'm sure they'll be fine on the track too. When they're warm, they stick like glue, and with the Exige having wider fronts than the Elise, cornering is even more impressive.

Got 2 days at Donington booked, 8th Oct and 7th Dec and will probably do an airfield day or two with motorsport Events, but am going to change pads and put braided hoses on before that, and I may well change the disks too (I'm tempted to run to the Brembo big brake kit) and alter the pedals to make H&T easier (a known pre 06 Exige issue), then I think the car will be perfect.

I finally got round to taking a couple of pictures the other day:-

 

Hi jacker looks great though.

The heel toe thing is not much better on the 06 IMO

I still can't do it 100%

I am fairly worried about the sump, and thinking of the accusump. Lotus added this to the 240R and for goo reason speaking to the dealer. Spa was VERY bad for oil surge.

PS - I also did the Lotus brake hoses on mine.

 

I've been thinking of the baffled sump for mine, since I intend on taking it on the track a lot, and want to do Mallory at some point (Gerrards is a 1/4 mile right hander), the Moroso one adds another litre capacity to the car, which I think is a good thing. The Accusump means you lose boot space, of which there isn't a huge amount to start with.

There is a section in the service manual (Section JJ 11) which has details about adjusting the brake and throttle pedal positions, seems that if you get them to move the throttle pedal down, and the brake pedal up, it gives the perfect position.

I plan to get new discs (don't like drilled), yellowstuff pads and hoses for the dealer to fit, i'm going to get the pedals done at the same time.

 

Baffled sump won't work from what I can work out from Lotus' response. I asked my dealer who then checked with Lotus.

The issue is oil getting trapped up in the galleries and not being able to return. Lotus seem to have tested sumps and the only sucess they had was with the Accusump.

"The problem with oil starvation in high speed corners is not predominantly caused by oil surge. The main cause is oil being trapped in the heads and not flowing back down through the block back to the sump to the pick up. "

 

Maybe next year, not sure. The biggest pain is getting to a track. I'm not keen on going across to Knockhill,and would prefer to head to my parents for a few days and visit Donnington. If I move to Birmingham as my employers have suggested then it'll be a definite for next year.

I''ve always run the Yoko AD07's and wouldn't put Bridgestones near my car. The Yoko's are utterly astonishing in all weather but do wear heavily. They offer up so much grip that they're worth it though. I need some new fronts before my trip up north next month, not to mention some new front bushes and a service.

Mark - your car looks ace.

 

The Bridgestones were developed specifically for the S2 Elise and were the original OEM tyres.

I think these got replaced when they released the 111R to the USA.

I've heard all I need to hear though and have done a little research on the Yoko's and I'll be going that route.

Also, as well as the peformance, the Yoko's look cool!