Does anyone remember when Clarkson tested the S2 elise and he didnt like it because it understeered ? I think they then got the chassis bloke from Lotus to show hows it done, what was the difference in driver style ? I have an S2 Elise and when you really push on the front understeers. Oh yeah, its an SC Honda so any ideas welcome and comments on the above.
Does the Exige S2 suffer from the same issue ?
Thanks.
There are a lot of things that effect the handling balance -
Geo
ride height
spring rates
LSD
dampers
tyre size and compound
plus the driver - fast in slow out/ slow in fast out etc etc
Most Lotus’ cars have a decent handling balance although they rightly engineer in a safe bit of understeer which is nice to have on road at least.
I did have an Exige that was prone to understeer - due to the LSD so I worked on tyre pressure spring rates and damping to remove some of the excess.
As they say a race car with a hint of understeer is a fast race car…
Do you have Nitrons? spring rates? when was the last time you had geo done also what tyres are you running?
If you are in doubt take it to someone who knows what they are doing - Plans , Hofmanns etc etc
Just to refresh your memory.
Here it is again.
Just as an example went to a Lotus Exige day at Knock Hill Lotus brought along a 240R for peeps which already had an Exige (tempt them into buying a supercharger) and a n/a Exige. I drove both and they were very different the 240R had a little bit of understeer but very steerable on the throttle while they had made the standard Exige very understeery to give an extra safety margin. The Lotus guy did confirm they had played with the geo on the standard car to make it safe on a very wet track.
Obvious question then … I have had a full geo at Blink and have nitrons, motorsport arb, etc and I will find out tomorrow if all is well. If it isnt, what else can I do ? I believe the S2s cant get enough camber on the front, is there a way round this ?
I bloody hate understeer
You could always play with a set of 48s compounds the M that LOT racers race on is an improvement
You could always play with a set of 48s compounds the M that LOT racers race on is an improvement
Well I should be ready(ish) for a new set tomorrow so I will give them a go.
Has anyone tried the S2 GT Hubs on eliseparts ? Can you get a lot more camber on the front with these ?
Cheers.
You should be able to sort it without resulting to them
Out of interest are there any S2 elises in the LOT race series ? Just interested.
Some videos on here if you’re interested…
Yup
That looks great and just like mine. Two questions, where can I get that rear wing and front splitter ? The splitter and wing should help, shouldnt they ?
Thanks again.
Not really - to actually feel the difference you need to be doing over 90mph IF they work well
Re front camber. If you lower the ride height it helps in getting more camber. I saw about 1.2 degrees when lowering the front to 105mm, and removing all the shims. To get more than that you have at least 3 options.
machine the steering arms. Relatively easy to do as there is quite a lot of excess material. This is deirectly equivalent to removing even more shims.
Get the eliseparts adjustable bump steer steering arms as these are already setup to allow more camber
Consider changing the uprights to the eliseparts versions or have the existing uprights machined.
I’ve gone for option 2) and running with 1.5 degrees camber. Had to put shims back in to set it to this.
Makes the car tramline quite a bit on the road but turns in well on track, although still get a bit of high speed understeer. Still experimenting.
My old exige s1 (post blink geo) was perfect, and I really do mean perfect on track. Never even a hint of understeer and this was with the original lotus suspension. Awesome it was.
I wonder though if my SC Honda S2 Elise is just carrying a lot more speed than my old VHPD steed …
Well its my first trackday in the elise tomorrow and I hope its a lot better than on the road, I am secretly hoping its just the 48s not getting up to temp.
Even adjusting tyre pressures can make a difference - worth a play
Jamie
Good to see you posting again - got another Lotus yet?
Browsing Hope to be back in the fold soon
Browsing Hope to be back in the fold soon
Good man
It was the tyres. Got them up to temp on track and the car handles as well as my old S1 exige, which was simply awesome.
For the record, I couldnt tell the difference between running the K series and the SC honda for weight, balance, or handling.