First track experiance with Elise report

[rwarden]

I just got back from Watkins Glen this past weekend, running my new Elise with the Alleghany Porsche Club. Overall, I'm very pleased with the car, but I need to tweak a few things (it never ends ) I have some in-car video, so I'll see if I can upload a lap or two somewhere.

For background, I've been running my Boxster in DE's for the past 7 years - probably 35-40 schools in total, the past two years or so in the A (advanced) run group.

Praise:
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-Excellent handling. The feel through the wheel, and through the seat of your pants as to what the car is doing is excellent. It doesn't get any better than this. Better than the boxster, which is no easy feat.

-power. Better than my 2.5L boxster, but I knew it would be already

Issues:
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- top end power. At the top of the Esses, my boxster would be at 110-115mph, 125mpg at the end of the straight before the bus stop. In my Elise, I was at 125mpg at the top of the esses, but only ~128-130mph at the end of the straight. I have to shift into 5th at the top of the esses and the power is gone. It's like hitting a wall. Almost no velocity increase along the straight. I guess I'll need to look into a turbo or SC if I want to run at these big tracks. Perhaps a lower 5th gear would help? That said, the increase in speed through the esses is simply amazing.

- pedal position. I did the accelerator mod which helped my H&T considerably. I need to widen the accelerator pedal as I occasionally miss the gas pedal while under heaving breaking trying to H&T - my foot is not side enough. This costs valuable time. Or perhaps I can drill out the brake pedal pad and move it a bit to the right?

- brakes. Not the rock feel of the Boxster. My boxster has 996 brakes, and Porsche makes the best brakes so I would expect this result. My elise was running stock pads - I will upgrade the pads to race pads and put in SS lines. My complaint is the pedal feel - lots of travel, and I detected a bit of fading (or perhaps it was the much lighter elise front wheels losing traction sooner, but APS did not ever kick on once?). My car sat on the dealer lot for 9 months, so perhaps I need to flush the fluid. This might be a perception issue as well - this car is so much lighter, I can stop so much later, so perhaps I'm not leaving enough room! Don't get me wrong - the brakes on the Elise are great, but I want them to be even better. I'll try new pads, new fluid and SS lines and see where it stands.


Lap times (what really counts)
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My typical lap time at the Glen in the boxster were around 2:27-2:28. My all time best was 2:24 - hit only twice.

My typical times in the stock elise (non-LSS, but LSS A048's and BWR ARB) was 2:26, hitting 2:25 twice, but never anything lower. I was much more consistant in this car than in the boxster, which is a huge compliment to the elise considering this is the first time I've had it on a track. I was driving the elise with caution (8/10ths?) as I really didn't want any blue paint on my brand new car. When I drive the boxster, I have it at 10/10th, dancing with the available traction all the time. I imagine I can take time off my lap times with the Elise as follows:

- 2-3 seconds once I start to drive the elise at 10/10ths
- 1 second due to sticker tires on the Boxster (Michelin pilot sport cups vs. A048's). Rear track brace and Hoosier's here I come.
- 1-2 seconds due to better suspension in the boxster - I have Bilstein PSS9's on the Boxster which had previously cut 3 seconds from my best time vs. the original stock boxster suspension.

In general, I'm very pleased with the Elise. It's a real "hoot" to drive - very much like a large go-kart. If I were racing and not in a DE, there would have been multiple opportunities to pass people coming into the corners or even in the corner - the Elise has much higher cornering speeds compared with all the other cars there - except for a Caterham super 7 and a fully race preped 914-6.

-R Warden

[Terry]

When you hit the redline at the top of the esses in 4th, you're doing around 117 mph, regardless of the speedo. If you want to be humbled, check some of the lap times that the best Elise drivers are doing. I believe 2:21-22 or better on A048s, 2:18 on Hoosiers, from Mark Starr's posts last year. This year will undoubtedly bring faster times as guys get more comfortable and push harder.

[skl]

Interesting comment on the brakes. I've been driving Porsches for 35+ years and nobody has brakes like they do. The Elise replaced a GT3 which had the best brakes of any car I've ever had. The Elise brakes bring it down but they don't have the rock hard feel of the 911, or the 911 (914-6) brakes on my 914. Maybe I need to bleed them as well as my car sat the dealer for quite a while as well. I see some upgrades with more front pistons are becoming available- more and bigger pistons never hurt!

[rwarden]

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/3...6364940d5c.htm

[fishguy]

Rwarden,
outstanding video!!!, nice work picking through the field!. my $ says you catch the guy who was in front of you at the last 1/4 of the video. that track looks fantastic. thanks for the heart pump this morning............next track day for me is June 10, for just a one morning event, its hot here in AZ., and things dont pick up until after the summer. i must figure out a way to sneak off for a roadtrip to somewhere cooler..............
I am sure that video will be watched (by me), at least once more . vidoe camera looks like a great investment as well........... what kind of video camera do you have, and about how much do they cost?

[PhoneBoy]

Originally Posted by rwarden

I've GOT to try this.

[slaughtr]

Looks like fun!
Here's a short, edited video of me at Miller motorsport park in Salt Lake. If nothing else, check out what happens to the Testarossa at the 2 minute mark.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...ller+track+day

[rwarden]

fishguyAZ,

thanks for the compliments. I actually didn't catch the 996 4S in front of me - he's been driving that car for sometime now and has a full coilover suspension. I fairly sure I can catch him in another year or so after I've gotten used to the Elise a bit more. In certain corners, I only pushed the Elise to 8/10th's or so (particularly the off-camber left hand corner which goes onto the "nascar straight" (turn 9).

I have a relatively old digital Sony camcoder (DCR-PC100), with an I/O Port camera mount. I'm seriously thinking of buying a chasecam since the camera is so close to my helmet in the Elise that's it's not entirely safe. That and there is no way a passenger can ride when I have the mount installed. If I bought a chasecam, I could plug it into the Sony and mount the sony somewhere else in the car less in the way...

Some think in-car track videos are vain, but I don't - I can learn a lot by reviewing the tape afterward, and then again right before I go to that same track the next year.

As for any Elise ower who hasn't had their car on the track (or auto-x) - you should absolutely do it. This is what this car is meant for - you simply can't take this car to it's limits on the street (and keep your license or brains intact )

-R Warden

[fishguy]

Originally Posted by rwarden

Some think in-car track videos are vain, but I don't - I can learn a lot by reviewing the tape afterward, and then again right before I go to that same track the next year.

As for any Elise ower who hasn't had their car on the track (or auto-x) - you should absolutely do it. This is what this car is meant for - you simply can't take this car to it's limits on the street (and keep your license or brains intact )

-R Warden

I agree its a great learning tool, to have that feedback, as well as in 20 years you will still have so much fun watching those, it will bring you back to the moment so fast like it was yesterday. i have some videos of when I roadraced motorcycles about 15 years ago. when i watch them its like it was yesterday. i was fortunate that one guy who i was very competitve with, and became great friends with, had a bunch of his airforce buddies out there stationed around various points of the track. they filmed, then edited them, and it was covered like a television crew would do. he showed up one event and said"here take this", handed me a vidoe and when i came home and watched it I was amazed at some simple things i was doing(wrong) that i couldnt see from being on the bike. I 100% agree, take the car on the track, you have no idea what it(you) can do until you drive it in this enviornment. its really what it was designed and built for. the fact that it has the abilty to be street legal is just a bonus. driving it in traffic no longer has any appeal to me after HPDE. i have my little MR2 spyder that i can use for that, glad i kept it(sofar).

[fishguy]

Originally Posted by slaughtr

Looks like fun!
Here's a short, edited video of me at Miller motorsport park in Salt Lake. If nothing else, check out what happens to the Testarossa at the 2 minute mark.

do you have any footage of the salt lake track that are unedited to show the entire circuit? I would like to see the track layout and decide if this is somewhere that is worth the long drive from southern Az to make. that would be very appreciated......... also do you have a link to the club so I can see the schedule and fees etc.......... i imagine its still nice and cool up in SLC right now.
TIA
Josh