Did the 2-day tarmac Rally Barbados this weekend in the new Lotus with a new co-driver. Last co-driver of 20-odd years said he’d had enough, replaced him with a 100lb woman who only had three years’ experience (looked and smelled allot better though). The car is quite slow with a standard engine (about 1/3 the power of my Cosworth), I didn’t want to spend $$$ on a motor and gearbox until I knew how she’d handle the bumpy tarmac. It’s a 111bhp car, flogging this thing was HARD WORK.
The first day was twisty and loose, some very tricky and dangerous roads with many of the stages running at night. In my class I opened out a lead of about a minute before lunch and finished the day/night a little over two minutes ahead. Most of the 2WD cars around here are built to eat road, you shoulda seen the looks on some of the BMW drivers’ faces when we were swapping times. The little Lotus was peddling and the co-driver learning fast. The braking points and cornering speeds are literally unbelievable, the thing will turn WHILE BRAKING sharper than you can hold on to it. I’ve been driving fast cars for 25 years and never experienced anything like it, spectators were moving out of the way on corners they obviously thought we were going to overshoot. The only problem I had for the entire day was the loss of a rear caliper bolt but it happened during a ‘drive-through’ of a cancelled stage so no time lost and repaired at service before the next stage.
The second days’ stages were longer and flowing so I knew going in we were going to catch hell from the big cars. We calculated how much we could afford to lose per stage and gritted teeth. We had another stage cancellation due to spectator crowd issues which helped the effort. We ended up winning the class by about half a minute. We were seeded at 49 out of 90 starters, ended day one at 27th and moved up to about 20th by the finish. Bearing in mind there were about 20 4WD cars in the event, 10 of which cost a half-million bucks, I’m quite pleased. Chris Meeke won in an S12 with Paul Bird second in 07 Focus and Paul Bourne third in an S9. Vauxhall 1600 to follow shortly.
A couple rally Lotus observations:
- Buy Proflex shocks. I ran standard spring rates on the rear and 150lb on the front. The ability to adjust for individual stages is paramount.
- Little steering wheels with flat bottoms suck, get a proper wheel.
- Elise parts 100mm wheel conversions are great but take time to work out the wheel diameter/offset/KPI or you will get allot of steering feedback.
- The standard brake balance is perfect, slightly smaller master cylinder improves feel and effect.
- Fill all six headlight holes with HIDs and forget a lamp pod.
- This chassis could be spoiled by too much torque, choose your engine carefully.
- Elise Parts seats are great but buy some back and kidney pads from Demon Tweaks as well as thicker thigh bolsters.
- These cars can be driven as sideways as an Escort and just as forgiving. SIDEWAYS
- There was a queue of people at the finish taking pictures with the car, definately a chick-magnet. Don’t carry the wife to the finish.
Pics and video to follow, thanks to all who helped with info.
Excellent report & result - well done, & thanks for sharing 
Entertaining and informative
Point 2 says little steering wheels SUCK!
What is little, 280mm or 300mm?
Would you call a 330mm Sparco/Momo as proper?
Waiting for your videos and pics!!!
Joseph
Enjoyed the read and well done!
[quote=Joseph]Entertaining and informative
Point 2 says little steering wheels SUCK!
What is little, 280mm or 300mm?
Would you call a 330mm Sparco/Momo as proper?
[/quote]
The “flat bottom” refers to the steering wheel, not his personal anatomy 
Im more interested in the shock and spring rate combo you are using. Seems to me it should be perfect for road use?
[quote=Mr Pesky][quote=Joseph]Entertaining and informative
Point 2 says little steering wheels SUCK!
What is little, 280mm or 300mm?
Would you call a 330mm Sparco/Momo as proper?
[/quote]
The “flat bottom” refers to the steering wheel, not his personal anatomy [/quote]
Ok, HEHE 
[quote=Joseph]Entertaining and informative
Point 2 says little steering wheels SUCK!
What is little, 280mm or 300mm?
Would you call a 330mm Sparco/Momo as proper?
Waiting for your videos and pics!!!
Joseph [/quote]
Steering handle OD is 320mm and it is a Momo from Elise Parts. The bottom half is tapered rather than oval and the bottom is flat. I don’t know if wheels are measure CL or OD but I think a round 330mm OD wheel would be perfect.
That would depend on the road. Half the roads we rally on are like Ireland, much bumpier than Manx. The problem is the springs are so soft the ride height is seriously affected by driver/co-driver weight. Since ideally 1/3 of shock travel should be rebound and 2/3 bump you really need to measure the ride height on the front with the passengers in the car. There is allot more room at the back to adjust the rake (and attendant weight dist.) than there is on the front. I also don’t know what S1 spring rates are from the factory. I’ve been told the S2 front rate is 200lb but that car is allot heavier than the S1.
Some pics here. I ran day one with no splitter (road conditions) and day 2 with a splitter shortened by anout 35mm.
pics
Thanks. Believe me our roads are probably worst than what you rally on. Im quite surprized you are running so soft spring rates considering everyone and his dog (on SELOC) suggests much much stiffer rates for nitrons/Ohlins.
Im interested in a purely road biased setup and rally setups are probably the best you can get for the road. Im always impressed with the little roll and huge travel they get even at low ride heights.
[quote=CIN] Im quite surprized you are running so soft spring rates considering everyone and his dog (on SELOC) suggests much much stiffer rates for nitrons/Ohlins.
[/quote]
Theoretically, the harder the spring rate and a/roll bar rate on a corner, the greater the weight transfer to that corner and the greater the grip. This, unfortunately assumes that the grip in the road and tyre is unlimited, and therefore assumes increasing weight thereon will help. If your road or tyre is crap there is going to be a point at which the weight transfer from the inner front to the outer front is going to increase beyond the point at which the tyre/road can hold it and you will lose grip completely.
In GpN rally cars we use heavy bars/springs on the end of the car we want to LOSE GRIP. This is possible because public roads don’t have an infinite amount of grip despite how good the tyre is. In the case of the GpN car we’re trying to balance the overall handling of the car within the technical regs. that may not aloow other chassis changes the tuner might otherwise choose.
In the case of the Lotus I have the added problem of maintaining the overall stability of a very small wheelbase/track. If by softening the springs I lost 10% of the available grip but gained enough stability to increase cornering speed by 20%, I am left with a net gain (especially in very high=speed bends).
Tarmac rallying really is quite different to anything that occurs on a race track but is much more applicable to the real world.
Linky to pic
[quote=Monkeyman][quote=Joseph]Entertaining and informative
Point 2 says little steering wheels SUCK!
What is little, 280mm or 300mm?
Would you call a 330mm Sparco/Momo as proper?
Waiting for your videos and pics!!!
Joseph [/quote]
Steering handle OD is 320mm and it is a Momo from Elise Parts. The bottom half is tapered rather than oval and the bottom is flat. I don’t know if wheels are measure CL or OD but I think a round 330mm OD wheel would be perfect. [/quote]
Thanks for the info, i ordered the Lotus Sport removable Steering Wheel Kit 