Dont get me wrong, I’m not saying I dont like my new Exige, but I can’t help feeling its lost the sharp ‘pointy’ feel of my S1 Elise.
The Elise seemed to go round corners like a go kart, any slight turn on the steering wheel moved it immediately, and a little prod of the pedal gave a you a push in the back.
The Exige is more like a modern tourer, has heavier steering on tight corners, and needs more of a push on the accelerator for the same result. I do have a Janspeed and no cat on the Elise
But can I make my S2 Exige feel more like the S1 Elise I am used to?
I presume you have an S2 exige. So before all the hilarious replies from the S1 boys start…
I would recomend you have your geo done. Remove shims inorder to get more negative camber. I have 1.5 degrees at the front and 2.5 at the rear and it has transformed my s2 exige. Now its on the nose like my s1. Its the most noticeable change i have ever done to any car!
I presume you have an S2 exige. So before all the hilarious replies from the S1 boys start…
I would recomend you have your geo done. Remove shims inorder to get more negative camber. I have 1.5 degrees at the front and 2.5 at the rear and it has transformed my s2 exige. Now its on the nose like my s1. Its the most noticeable change i have ever done to any car!
Does this reduce the understeer or just sharpen things up a bit?
Its just the extra mass you are carrying around… you will never get an Exige to handle like an Elise…or a an Elise like a caterham either IYSIM.
My Exige feels wallowy compared to my balls-out CaterhamR300 and that is purely down to weight and not so much bhp/tonne figures.
Geo will go some ways to make it feel darty, but you just have more crap being lugged around than in a basic S1 Elise.
Disclaimer: I dont have actual weights of S2 Exiges or S1 Elises in front of me, so this comments are purely fictional if anybody asks or feels threatned by them (like you never mention to your fat uncle that he is, indeed, fat…)
I completely agree. My Geo (alignment) was not within spec when new! Taking out all of the front shims (I only get -0.5 though ) will definitely make the front less wallowy and feel more precise. Of course adding Ohlins also helps
Getting the front geo etc set up properly is more critical on the Exige (& Elise), than on a Caterham (weight distribution).
The Lotus tends to leave the factory with crap settings, which won’t be checked by the dealer before delivery to the customer.
A proper set up will make an enourmous difference on the road. Eliminating understeer on track is something else, & I’m not going there in this post
Has anybody used Phoenix MS for geo changes.
I’m looking for somebody near Manchester
Mark
Has anybody used Phoenix MS for geo changes.
I’m looking for somebody near Manchester
Mark
Oh yes, indeedy - top blokes If you go, take Harvey a steak butty
Can you let me have the phone number - can’t seem to find them on the web.
Mark
No probs:
01254 384071
As a matter of interest Mark, where are you based?
Stockport
In order to get enough negative camber i had to machine 4mm off my steering arms, i can now get nearly -2 degrees.
It stops understeer basically. The earlier comments about weight are of course true but once you get enough camber the car can use all of its tyre (instead of just rolling onto the outside of the tyre) and this transforms the amount of grip and the balance of grip.
At hockenheim there is a hairpin at the ens of the straight, with my old sttings i had to be very careful not to ask too much of the front on the way in, then i had to be really patient on the way out as too much throttle would push the front into understeer (the LSD was for sure contributing to this)
With my new settings i can ask anything of the front, if i go in too quick the rear just says goodbye, but the front is great. As soon as i come off the brake i can go almost immediately to full throttle and the car just digs in and goes…its a different car.
As soon as i come off the brake i can go almost immediately to full throttle and the car just digs in and goes…
I like the sound of that
PS You’ll be wearing the tarmac out at Hockenheim soon, so why not come a do a few trackdays “back home”?
I would love to. Mike (mitch) and i have been talking to pegbox about coming over for a couple of trackdays maybe either side of a Lotrdc weekend event. It will have to be later in the summer as i will become a dad in a couple of weeks…god willin’
I grew up going to Oulton park with my dad so i would love to do a trackday there, the new angelsey also appeals. My family still live in the NW so those two would be convenient aswell.
Ian
Firstly, I hope all goes well over the next 2 or 3 weeks for you & missus
Would be great to see you, & the others, at Oulton AND Anglesey
Cheers, thanks for that Pesky.
So ideally i am looking for two trackdays one at Oulton and one at Angelsey that are close together and in a dream world would be either side of a lotrdc race weekend…preferably a double header with a barbecue/piss-up on the saturday night…
…or am i asking too much?
…or am i asking too much?
We’ll have to see what we can do
Well you guys have certainly made me feel better, and now I can perhaps move on and sell the Elise.
I have to say I dont understand all this talk of negative camber, but I guess thats why people set themselves up to do geo set ups. If I go to this guy in Blackburn (I guess from the tel code), will he know what I mean when I mumble more negative camber, look at my feet and am unable to answer any of his questions ? Do I have to specify the settings I want, or is there only so far he can go ? How does it affect tyre wear ?
Here is some info to give you a bit of background. After reading this you will understand what we are on about…
http://wiki.seloc.org/a/Chassis_development
Here are some std settings. Here you will see how the 340r track settings differ from road settings, this gives you an idea which direction to go in.