Here's the latest driving impression from Pat Crew of SELOC, had the car at a track day Sat.
Chris
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Castle Open Day - thanks for the 111R drive
I know other posts have gone up re driving the 111R, and I'll come to that in a minute, thought I'd add my thanks to Ian and all his staff at Castle Lotus for laying on 3 111R's, lots of food and drink and the F1 sim courtesy of PG.
Good to see a dealership who are just as enthuiastic about the cars as the people who want to buy them and judging from Ian's plans for the dealership the Lotus brand will play a major role in their expansion.
111R
I waited patiently all afternoon for a turn with Mark Fullalove, having been out on track with him in a standard S2 sometime ago.
The immediate perception is that the car is well built, certainly compared to my S1, and the use of sounding deadening allows for conversation and lends an air of civility, KIV the market this car was intended for at the outset.
On paper the car has gained weight, principally because the engine is heavier requiring, if my info is correct, a reworking of the rear sub frame (feel free to correct me, I may wrong!). Mark drove intially and demonstrated straight from the off the nature of the cars engine, very much like the K series to 6,000rpm at which point VVLI kicks in, the engine note builds, quite thrashy but aurally statisfying and off you go.....
Given that the roads around Stansted were busy, Mark then demonstrated just how good the brakes are, had it been in my car, lock up would have happened. A lot to be said for ABS on damp roads.
We popped into the petrol station to fill up, at which point I had a go at putting on the roof, why oh why didn't they do this roof at the outset for the S1! Very quick to put on as it was chucking it down! Cannot vouch for how leak proof it will when parked up though.
Had a good look around the car while Mark paid up, build quality is excellent, it has to be to satisify the US market and Lotus cannot afford to get this car wrong for the US.
Interior fit is good, interestingly the mats are secured by plastic lugs that slot into the floor and require a small turn to release i.e. no glue! and floor corrossion will not be a problem! a solution for the S1 perhaps??
Seats are supportive, if not a bit fusy in finish in terms of the stitching. Strangly there was no hand brake gaitor considering that the gear stick gaitor and tunnel were all covered in leather. Electric windows were a novelty, feel a bit flimsey when pushed, but again the finish was good and the side glass seal to the rubber seemed far better than on any Elise I have seen so far.
And so to driving. First impression was that you sat marginally higher than in a S1, not sure if thats the same for the standard S2, this may be a consequence of different seats mounted on higher rails, nevertheless the driving position is still superb and familiar to anyone who has driven an Elise.
The gear change is excellent if slighty notchy, a longer throw compared to the short ratio box which was standard with my S1 111S and more precise than the standard S2 I have driven. 6 speeds is a novelty, but you're only ever likely to visit 6th when you are travelling on the m-way/interstate - take your pick!
The aspect that strikes you straight away is the brakes, having jumped out of my S1, the initial shock of having a degree of travel in the pedal takes a few goes to get used to.
Once we had a clear road, I took the car to 85mph+ to see how well it came to stop when you stood on them hard and they felt very reassuring and not as fitchgety as S1 brakes. Braking coming into RAB's as you would approaching a chicane on a track and they provide a lot of feedback, more so than I was expecting and only in the most severe of instances would you provoke ABS to kick in.
The actual engine is as everyone as described, anything below 6,000 in any gear and it feels like a standard S2, anything above and a smile appears.... It caught me out though when I went to overtake, as I thought 3rd, as I would in my car would be sufficient to get by, when I should have dropped to 2nd. It revs very freely and throttle response is superb compared to my S1, a little light on the speedo comes on to tell you that it might be an idea to change, somewhere around 8,500.
Suspension is again superb, not the conditions or circumstances to provoke it fully, but felt even more planted than a standard S2. Tyres maybe a bone of contention for the US market, the Potenzas that come across from the standard S2 are superb for day to day use on UK roads. It appears however that the US Yoko specced tyres have a softer shoulder and more give, the idea being that they will be more compliant for pothholed US roads, not sure of the logic there given the state of UK roads!!! I know a lot of the US cars being ordered are coming with the Sports pack which gives them the A048's, they will see a noticable difference in grip between the two!!!
Overall impressions are of a car that sits happily in two camps, it has to if its to crack the US market, refined enough in character to attract owners of Boxsters/TT's/ etc but with bags of Lotus character once you unleash the engine and explore its handling.
Our Us members maybe bemoaning the fact that they have not had there cars yet, but I believe thats for a good reason. Any build quality gremlins will have hopefully been ironed out of the production line by the time the US cars start pitching up. The last thing Lotus needs is relability problems with a new car launch.
As it stands the car is spot one for the market intended, given the success the car will no doubt be it will lead onto the more hard core developments that have come about later in the standard S2's life as in the 135R. For those wanting a more hard core look there is the new Exige, however, I suspect that it may end up going down the same route that I did with the S1 and find itself with a supercharger.......
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