Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomasio
Yes, with the engineering costs, prototyping costs, machinist costs, materials and labor for the brackets to make the intercooler bolt onto the engine, the engine bay cover strut relocation bracket, weeks of data logging, etc. the $1285 (non anodized) MSRP is meant to offset a portion of the development costs. Call Lotus up and price a Cup intercooler: $2100+ MSRP. And, the Lotus Cup intercooler won't bolt on to your engine without modification, nor will your engine bay cover strut clear the intercooler.
It is a team effort: I'm working with some of the best engineers in motorsports. An ex Ferrari F1 forced induction engineer, Mr. Gerhard Schruf, has spent more hours on this product than I could have expected.
Can you order a generic intercooler on the Internet for a few hundred less? I'm sure you could. Will it have the same build quality? Will it have the Exige-specific mounting brackets and the Exige-specific duct rail? Will it be bar and plate construction? Will it have the plug n' play Bosch IAT bung? Will it come with adapter brackets to bolt onto your engine? Will the strut on your engine bay cover clear your Internet intercooler?
If you have more time than money, I encourage you to develop your own kit.
The reality is that if people can't justify developing these solutions by recovering some of their expenses, they just won't bother making the effort.
A sincere thank-you to those who have supported my new products... you keep the wind in my sails.  |
What I'm really interested in is the relative performance of this solution against other available solutions such as liquid chargecooling. It may help you to clearly state the pros and cons of this solution, and where it may be better or worse in relation to other solutions. What I do not like about liquid chargecooling is the additional weight penalty, although thermally it may be a more stable solution. If your solution offers 80% of the benefits of a chargecooling solution I'm a surefire customer.
And are you logging data for both stationary and on-the-move situations? Im sure you're already doing this but it may be useful to log data for various situations. One of the biggest problems with our stock setup is the heatsoak when the car sits in traffic and heat builds up. How effective is the heat removal, how much does the ignition timing improve and how does that effect the power loss compared to a theoretical scenario of no intercooling limitations vs stock vs liquid chargecooling etc. etc. I realise this may be a lot of data to collect but having all this info would definitely seal your argument.