Roadtrip! Taking the Noble across America

[Randy Chase]

Excellent advice Tandem. Thanks!

from:Tallahassee, FL to:33.733477,-83.435669 to:Deals Gap - Google Maps

[Beanie]

Boy, I'd put a day or two of just plain sightseeing in there somewhere, even though it sounds kind of lame.

Edit: Sorry, I was just going by the first post. Major change of plans. It looks like you are making a side trip to Daytona Beach and will be going right through Jacksonville.

[RacyTracy]

On the 14th, if you drive Detroit to Joliet and spend the night there, there's a gambling boat in Joliet, if you're into that.

Also, if you want someone to photograph your Autobahn experience, I'm available. No charge, of course...

[Randy Chase]

Originally Posted by Beanie

Boy, I'd put a day or two of just plain sightseeing in there somewhere, even though it sounds kind of lame.

Edit: Sorry, I was just going by the first post. Major change of plans. It looks like you are making a side trip to Daytona Beach and will be going right through Jacksonville.

And its changed since then. Latest plans are I am flying into Tallahassee this Thursday. The car was transported from Daytona to Tallahasee on Friday and is being tuned right now.

ChaseCam Roadtrips <--- going to try to keep this up to date as I go.

So no Jacksonville otherwise I would have made a point to meet up.

As far as sightseeing, the entire trip is mainly sightseeing. Otherwise I would drive straight on the freeways and be back in San Diego in two days.

[mopho]

Sounding like quite the adventure Randy, makes me feel better about my first few days and problems with the Seven

Good luck!

[Randy Chase]

I am back.

Some pics from Tail of the Dragon, full res are on the gallery.

[NCZ06]

Hey Randy - glad to see you made it back home. We're now famous on the killboy blog!

[Randy Chase]

Sweet Last time when I came thru with the Elise, Killboy gave the car a nice write up.

killboy.com - Your High Quality Photos from the Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap

[Randy Chase]

Nice shot

[Randy Chase]

LOL

I just saw this shot on his blog, it was farther down. It is caption-
No Pressure or anything...

[AgentTripleX]

Originally Posted by Randy Chase

LOL

I just saw this shot on his blog, it was farther down. It is caption-
No Pressure or anything...

I'd be a little intimidated.

[91MR2]

Looks awesome.

[91MR2]

Looks awesome.

[MickOpalak]

So how does it drive???

[Randy Chase]

I drives like an Elise with slightly more weight and a 500+hp. There are a lot of similarity in the Elise and the Noble as far as handling. Both are designed to be very compliant so they soak up the undulations quite well. To me, the Lotus was a tad more nimble. The Noble makes up for that with awesome acceleration and brakes. Which I was using a lot more of on the Tail of the Dragon.

Mick, when you and I were on it in 2004, I felt that a lot of the curves were more speed maintenance. In the Noble, the acceleration is so much more, that I have to brake so much harder approaching the next corner. And I have to modulate throttle also to watch the throttle induced oversteer. It was pretty easy to spin the tires.

[Randy Chase]

Originally Posted by NCZ06

Hey Randy - glad to see you made it back home. We're now famous on the killboy blog!

Just wanted to mention that the three Elise drivers with us were all quite fast and adept, but special note on the skills of NCZ06. It was fun following him.

[Vishus_1]

Does the Noble have some kind of starshield on it? I hope it doesn't get damaged from such a drive.

[Randy Chase]

Originally Posted by Vishus_1

Does the Noble have some kind of starshield on it? I hope it doesn't get damaged from such a drive.

Mine does. But even when I took the Elise through Tail of the Dragon, the Starshield was damaged and had to be replaced. I did some wear and tear on the car from the trip. We hit a dead Possum on Tail of the Dragon, causing a little nick in the front splitter section. Took a few rock hits on the windshield on the freeways coming home.

[MickOpalak]

What about the interior? More or less claustrophobic than the Elise? How are the sight lines? A lot of blind spots? What about the clutch/shifter? Any storage at all in the vehicle?

[Randy Chase]

Differences in the cars? The interior on the Noble is slightly larger, so a bit more rommy, specially with a passenger. The seats are not as close together.

Sills are lower in the Noble so ingress/egress is easier. Also there is a full rollcage around the doors and windshield so it is easy to grab onto.

More plusher interior in the Noble. Less transmitted noises and less direct heat being transferred.

Seats are more padded in the Noble, very comfortable. I like being able to rest my right arm on the padded and covered center console. Which makes shifting quite nice since the shifter is a very short stubby deal.

Not claustrophobic at all, but then I don't think the Elise was either. Nice in the Elise to be able to remove the roof, I do miss that a little.

Sight lines and visibility are almost the same. I have good visibility out the rear between the clam upswept lines and the wing. A bit of a "letterboxing" effect which is handy at night if there are bright lights behind me. A small head movement and I can see quite well. Side mirrors are a bit limited, just like the Lotus. I wanted my Multivex mirrors. Backing out, just like the Lotus. Side mirrors have interior adjustments, but I can't reach the passenger one from my seat.

Car is a bit wider. With the 6 point harness on, I can't reach the passenger side mirror, window, or the radio (it has a remote control). With a lapbelt on (car has both sets of belts on both seats), I can reach the radio, swap CDs. But I can't roll down the passenger window.

Noble has very good AC and heater.

Noble sound system is good.

Noble is a touch quieter than the Elise, specially in the gearbox noises that the Elise made. The stock exhaust on the Noble is very quiet, perhaps a bit too much? The main noise is all the wooshing from the blow off valve.

Clutch is similar. Heal and toe is easier than my Elise. Accelerator pedal on the Noble seems more flimsy. Shifting is shorter and more precise in the Noble. Except that 5-6 are quite notchy and take more effort to engage.

Noble's brakes are awesome.

The only storage is behind the seats. It is a little more than the Elise there and the passenger seat moves. There is also a shelf area behind the seats. No trunk. So the Elise can haul more than the Noble. I was able to fit small duffel bags behind the seats in the Noble.

Both cars have the laminar heat flow from the front radiator coming around the cockpit. Both cars have the issue of heatsoaking from long drives. The Noble does not have the sills heating up, but the center tunnel does, but since it is force air cooled, that is not too bad.

Power steering on the Noble is quite nice. When I lost the belt in Atlanta, the car was almost impossible to drive in a parking lot.

I like to gauges in the Noble. Oil pressure. Oil temps. Coolant temps. RPM. Speed. Odometer. Boost. I want to add a clock (I added on the Elise).

The full rollcage is handy for attaching things to. It is 100% covered in Alcantara so you don't even see it really.

The fuses are inside the car, so that is handy.

The clams hinge open on the Noble, another handy thing.

Getting the belly pan off the Noble makes the complaints about the number of fasteners on the Elise diffuser, laughable. I counted 134 screws.

Noble is harder on the brakes and creates more dust that gets on the side of the car.

Elise windows roll all the way down. I can live with the Noble only rolling half way down, but I wish they would go all the way down.

No manual locks in the Noble. If the alarm does not work, that is a problem, but there is a work around for that, which I had to use when my battery was dead.

Access to the battery in the Noble is a little harder as it sits on the belly pan in the middle of the car.