I’ve been offered by a good main dealer, and having test driven it am very close to buying, a great looking 240 Cup.
Car looks and feels great, done 5700 miles as opposed to my N/A cars 4300, got a couple of stone ships to the front clamshell, new rear tyres, all ship shape and bristol BUT
…its an ex-Lotus car, apparently owned by their ECU development chappie? Apparently not a press car, not a development car (no. 17 buuild plate) not Tracked? which I find a little hard to believe?
Somewhere I’m a little paranoid about the hard life it could have had?
Whats the gut reaction here to the proposistion? How would you satisfy yourselvesof its provenance? Am I just being paranoid?
Even if the car had been tracked it’s not an issue as thats what it was made to do. As long as it looks straight and feels tight to drive I can not see a problem. If it was owned by a Lotus chappie it was probably looked after by the factory. All I would say is that the price needs to be right, with the Exixe S here the cups are becoming a little more difficult to shift. I spoke to one dealer who said unless he could take a cup in for silly money he would go near it as he would struggle to sell it on with the ‘S’ in the showroom…make sure you haggle…happy hunting
I spotted that Cup too, still pondering a Cup car at the moment. I thought it must be a press car due to the number plate, which made me think it should be a little bit cheaper.
Saying that though, I think at the right price I wouldnt have a problem with it’s history and I would prefer a Cup to an S, once an S is specced up with packs and paint it is much the same price as a lightly used Cup car.
Don’t get me wrong, the car is a great bit of kit. It’s just that in my case it has been let down badly by the brakes. Having had 2 track days ruined, and had to cancel another 3, I went to Bedford on Saturday as a PASSENGER, leaving a �45K track car sat in the garage because it won’t do the job it was designed for. You have no idea how angry I feel at the moment��.
Just ask some rather pointed questions before you part with the folding. The SELOC thread raises some fundamental issues with regards to the affects that the weight, tyre choice and power increase have on the brake performance. I�m not the first one to have experienced this, and I doubt I�ll be the last.
Simon - I have followed your threads on this. I was having a fair old nightmare with my S2 111s re the discs. I have put the eliseparts ali-belled discs on my car and with the RS42 pads, feels like it is being stopped by the hand of god in comparison to previously. I know your car should work like it says on the box, but missing trackdays is far too much of a pain. A cheap(ish) option is to replace the front discs with the eliseparts ali-belled discs (or AP rotors if you feel more flush), save the front discs to put on the back when the rear discs have worn. At the end of the day, a �270 job.
No way the oem lotus discs are up to the job on a faster, heavier car like yours - they were like cheese on my car which weighs 790kg at the moment and isn’t nearly as fast.
Simon - I have followed your threads on this. I was having a fair old nightmare with my S2 111s re the discs. I have put the eliseparts ali-belled discs on my car and with the RS42 pads, feels like it is being stopped by the hand of god in comparison to previously. I know your car should work like it says on the box, but missing trackdays is far too much of a pain. A cheap(ish) option is to replace the front discs with the eliseparts ali-belled discs (or AP rotors if you feel more flush), save the front discs to put on the back when the rear discs have worn. At the end of the day, a �270 job.
No way the oem lotus discs are up to the job on a faster, heavier car like yours - they were like cheese on my car which weighs 790kg at the moment and isn’t nearly as fast.
Only trouble that is that Lotus will, in their words “invaladate the warrantee” for the fitment of non standard parts. And why shold I pay for that privilage having paid �45K for the car.
It’s good to hear from others who have experience of the same problem though.
Only trouble that is that Lotus will, in their words “invaladate the warrantee” for the fitment of non standard parts. And why shold I pay for that privilage having paid �45K for the car.
Seriously ridiculous isn’t it, not that they can invalidate the warranty on any other component. Trouble with lotus is that you will be out of warranty by the time they get around to doing anything. I am not sure there are any oem discs that are up to the job.
or just fit the 240R wheels as after 8 track days I’ve had no issues with the brakes yet, so fingers crossed the extra cooling they provide makes the difference???
Or I can’t drive the car anywhere near to the limit???
Oh and I’ve done just over 5000 miles in my 240R now, on the forth set or tyres and driven hard on track for most of those miles and not a single issue, so I wouldn’t worry about it being a development car at all. (I have had 2 additional services done though)
South240…that was my plan…but I’m still tryin to get someone to tell me the price on a set of the 5 spoke Lotus Sport 240 R wheels…but aren’t the 240r calipers different to those on the cups? they look bigger aswell as being painted…or is it just me?
and then I guess Jamie I’ll be off to Plans for an AP disk upgrade.
111r…I’ll keep you posted but I think the Cup I’m buying has drilled grooved disks on the front already. I’ll let you know Thursday.
And I think we should all remember that BMW, fabelled for their “m” cars and especaiily the M3CSL…their “track” special…well not only shite disks but also shite calipers nand its the same on all the M cars…and Porsche…well you “upgrade” to thier Ceremaics for 5k…and then get to replace the “consumables”…an all round set of disks and pads…somewhere between 10-15k…depending on how generous their feeling…and that on a 80-100k sports and track orientated special…so I think we have to take out of the box with a pinch of salt…but I absolutely think you’re right to ask questions?
My Cup with 265bhp Bemani S/C was fine at Hockenheim.
In comparison, last year my Speedster (VX220) with Pagid RS14 pads cooked its stock discs on one track day at Hock.
I’m off to Anneau du Rhin in three weeks, followed by Hock. again two days later. Will see how they hold out there.
In Switzerland, fitting non-standard discs is a big bureaucratic nightmare, but they would have nothing against cooling ducts. That would be my next move if it seems necessary.