Ride height for track

[Illumiloti]

My dealer told me that lotus recomends a stock ride height for the track ('07 Exige S, track pack). Seems odd then that they offer a track pack featuring adjustable suspension. Thoughts?
BTW, just bought my Exige, just joined Elisetalk so be gentle! (I did do a search on this but didn't get a clear sense of recomended ride height for track)

[Lotusmotion]

Pestodude, I have an '06 Exige equipped with Track Pack. Recommended trach height is 120mm. It may be different for an Exige S.

[fins0619]

you can got as low as 110 front 115 rear.

[robb373]

I have been working on ride heights and shock settings since I bought my S 2 months ago.
Seems I get the best mix of control and traction with my front control arms LEVEL with the pavement and my rear just over level by 3 turns. this is essentially a 1/2" lower in front than the rear and when measured from the skirt just behind the front tire and just in front of the rear tire it is 5.75" from the ground up front and 6.25 in the rear.
My basis for this setup is all lap time and feel. I will be corner weighting (essentially using the height adjust ability for the reason lotus made it....to balance equal weight over each wheel, not to be a low rider)
I also was just told a better place to measure height from is the inside center of the rim side nearest the ground stright up to the center bottom of wheel well edge. When I corner weight I will remeasure and post.

Also do not go to tight on the reb/comp. I only am using 6 (front) and 7 (rear). You need it to lean a bit for traction. It should not ride like a go kart.

hope this helps.
Robb

[Illumiloti]

Great info, thanks! RE: the rebound and comp dampening...are there seperate adjusters for each? Nothing in the manual about this.

[Buz]

Originally Posted by fins0619

you can got as low as 110 front 115 rear.

Will the track pack Bilsteins go that low? I have heard 115 front 120 rear but I would go with the tie rods parallel to the ground at track weight in the front. It seems like stiffer springs than what the track pack has are needed to stay off of the bump stops at really low ride heights. Over using even progressive bump stops will ruin your handling.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by Pestodude

My dealer told me that lotus recomends a stock ride height for the track ('07 Exige S, track pack). Seems odd then that they offer a track pack featuring adjustable suspension. Thoughts?
BTW, just bought my Exige, just joined Elisetalk so be gentle! (I did do a search on this but didn't get a clear sense of recomended ride height for track)

Factory recommended track pack set-up specs can be found here.... http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19761

With that said, when I ran my previous Exige with TP, I ran more negative camber than the factory recommended and set the height up front about 5-6 mm lower than the rear. I found their recommended shock settings pretty good for the tracks that I frequent.

Unless you like bump steer , be cautious of setting the front too low w/o adjusting the height of the steering rack -- there are shims available for this purpose.

The new 2-11 is designed to run a recommended front ride height of ~100 mm, but it has a different front suspension set-up.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by robb373

I have been working on ride heights and shock settings since I bought my S 2 months ago.
Seems I get the best mix of control and traction with my front control arms LEVEL with the pavement and my rear just over level by 3 turns. this is essentially a 1/2" lower in front than the rear and when measured from the skirt just behind the front tire and just in front of the rear tire it is 5.75" from the ground up front and 6.25 in the rear.
My basis for this setup is all lap time and feel. I will be corner weighting (essentially using the height adjust ability for the reason lotus made it....to balance equal weight over each wheel, not to be a low rider)
I also was just told a better place to measure height from is the inside center of the rim side nearest the ground stright up to the center bottom of wheel well edge. When I corner weight I will remeasure and post.

Also do not go to tight on the reb/comp. I only am using 6 (front) and 7 (rear). You need it to lean a bit for traction. It should not ride like a go kart.

hope this helps.
Robb

Robb,

Good info.

I enjoyed talking to you the other day -- hope to see/meet you soon.

[xtn]

Originally Posted by Pestodude

My dealer told me that lotus recomends a stock ride height for the track ('07 Exige S, track pack). Seems odd then that they offer a track pack featuring adjustable suspension. Thoughts?
BTW, just bought my Exige, just joined Elisetalk so be gentle! (I did do a search on this but didn't get a clear sense of recomended ride height for track)

Nobody has yet addressed the original question.

The reason they recommend a specific ride height and offer an adjustible-height setup may be as follows:

1. There is no way for the factory to know the driver's weight. Adjust the ride height to be at spec with the driver and half a tank of gas in the car.

2. Offering adjustable height gives you the ability to corner-balance the car.

3. Offering adjustable height acknowledges those drivers who might have reasons to run a ride height other than the one specified.

4. Offering adjustable height is a way for the marketing people to sell an upgrade package. (I assume from a company like Lotus that this reason probably carried the lowest weighting.)

xtn

[carl]

You can only accurately measure the ride height from the chassis not from the body. The body is bolted and shimmed to the chassis and varies side to side. I made a great gauge that's simple and accurate to less than 1/2 of a MM. That's what we use to set up Jack's,Joe's, Andrew's,Richard's and Brian's cars. Also the corner balance needs to be within 1/2% thats less than 10lbs on the cross weights.I'll try to post some pictures of the procedure when I have time. carl

[J. Salmon]

Originally Posted by Pestodude

Great info, thanks! RE: the rebound and comp dampening...are there seperate adjusters for each? Nothing in the manual about this.

Check the link to the info from Jack. Nothing in the manual, but I got a separate sheet that had stuff about the track pack, including ride height, which was recommended at 120 vs. 130 for the stock setting. The pictures are better in the stuf on the link.