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Chat with a Lotus technician

5K views 56 replies 25 participants last post by  khamai 
suspension+

after 3 hrs in the Lotus area on Sunday, here are a few observations. btw the folks were excellent and rightly proud of their cars. Thank you Tony and Roger and others!!

- think of the LSS as a suspension set up for the sticky ao48s. these are 50 treadwear rated, like Kumho victoracers. The camber on the rears was visibly increased and looks like setups a lot of autocrossers, myself included, use.

-the 10% is a big difference and makes the ride fairly stiff. as one rep noted, sports bras are recommended. not a setup for daily driving, but then again who thiks of thsi as a practical car anyhow? rumor has it that it can pull up to 1.2 gs with sticky tires- not bad for a car with license plates! [1.2 not verified yet, but likely]

-the LSS wheels are very light and are milled to achieve the final shape after spinning while cooling to reduce the porosity and inc strength

-the roll bar has attachments for the harness bar. the bar and other goodies will be forthcoming as the cars get in production.

-corner balancing isn't as critical since the chassis is built to 1 mm of spec. apparently hasn't been a big deal. good thing since adjustments aren't easy.

-the brakes are exceptional, and well cooled. no reason to run high temp fluid like ATE blue.

-the twin oil coolers may be overkill, but work well

-the Lotus ECU is from a Formula 1 race supplier- apparently very good and has a decent rev limiter. hold off on the MSD units for now until you've tested it out.

-don't strip out the blocking on the rear diffuser- it was tested for aerodynamics and that's the best setup. you'll lose downforce for the sake of looks

-you might want to pull off the front license plate for the track- the entire front acts as a wing and the intake shouldn't be blocked off.

overall I was impressed with the car. they've spent a lot of tie sorting out the cars on the track, so what we're getting is going to be a great package. I'd view the LSS as a tire option- if you want to run sticky tires, get the LSS. R compound tires are addicting, but the Advans on the 'stock' model are supposed to be pretty darned good too.
 
I'll second that. The guys I talked to are clearly into performance driving. Had great discussion about driving (think throttle steering and left foot braking), polar moments of inertia, and ground-up thinking. I really don't know how I would be able to set up the car better than they can, unless I had a staff of mechanics and a test track.

Consider this- both tire selections were developed for the car. Do you know of any other cars the can say that?
 
bling-free

The LSS wheels were developed by Lotus and they had a hand in their manufacture. They're pretty proud of the wheels.

The LSS will be noticeably stiffer, hence the sports bra recommendation. The reps all agreed they preferred the stock configuation for normal use. Then again if the roads where you are are OK, then it might be tolerable. Again, if you want to run R compounds, or 50 treadwear tires, the LSS is the way to go. As I beleive Roger Becker said, the LSS help keep the car w/ the AO48s "off its door" on a corner.

Then again, the changes aren't that radical, which indicates to me that the stock Advan tire/suspension package should be far better than most on the road, too.
 
the feedback I got at the LA show was similar- LSS is set up for sticky tires and will be a harsh ride. Take lots of driving breaks if on a road trip, women should wear their sports bras, etc.

Unless you really really need track capabilities and are shooting for the SoloII championship, the 'stock' suspension still is a fast setup. Yes the extra .2g translates into 9% higher corner speeds, driver skill and experience will make up a lot of that difference. But the 'stock' car is going to be pretty amazing I think.

I see stock cars beating highly set up cars all the time in autocross events- good driving beats equipment w/o skills all the time. and having less sticky tires will be easier to learn on to develop those skills, too.
 
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