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I've been working with R3 Motorsports in SoCal (located in Van Nuys and Willow Springs) to build up a couple 2007 Lotus Exige's for SCCA T2. We have also been running them with the good folks at Lotus Challenge Series during development, and hope to continue to run with LCS and SCCA and perhaps some other series in the future.
We ran the first car in Group 1 at the regional double SF at Laguna Seca this weekend. Not a lot of track time, but still a ton of fun (1 practice, qualifying, race, qualify, race over three days).
The car got a lot of attention in the garage as everyone seemed excited to see a Exige in SCCA. Folks were surprised at how well prepped the car was... most folks expect T1,2,3 cars to be a pretty rough mix of stock components and safety gear, but since the Lotus comes from the factory bare bones, its easy to build a nice and clean race car that looks way more sorted that any other Touring class car. We ran with radios, fuel cells, fire suppression all dialed, exhaust at 103db, then restricted down to 101db or so thanks to a fine double walled, adjustable dryer vent tube, and a nice coolsuit system. We actually have to work to get up to the 2090 weight limit. Everyone smiles when they see the car and it was enthusiastically received by the other SCCA members.
So, I should have looked at average T2 times for Laguna and I should have had the lap timer working. I went out in practice and shook the car down and scrubbed in the Hoosiers. We were getting some understeer as it exited corners so we played with ride height and sways then went out to qualify (always fun to change settings right before qualifying). The car was loose on turn in but this was able to be dialed out by a change in driving/braking... and was way more fun. So, I qualified conservatively while sharing the track with 40 other cars (there was only one other T2 entrant... a super nice guy in a factory built WRX STI). The run group has everything from 600 hp+ NSX's, full on Mustang, Panoz, Viper Cup racing cars, 996 and 996 Cup cars, GT3 RS, RX7's, RX8's, a super cool brand new wide body M3, a world challenge CTS-V, and some guys in Miatas and older Porsches... so a variable of 20 seconds a lap on some of these cars. (but very good race craft all the way around and I never felt that folks were "still learning" proper racecraft). In qualifying (which felt like driving an Audi R15 through GT2 traffic) we set a new track record for T2 at Laguna... ever. The big HP cars were all surprised to see a T2 car giving them a run for their money. No one was angry, but a lot of folks scratching their heads when a T2 car showed up in there mirror or was not able to be dropped. Needless to say, I was having a ton of fun.
I ended up setting new T2 track records in both races; the best time I turned was a 1:39 something. (I won both races too, but that was less rewarding as we only had 2 cars in the class). I started the two Group 1 races (nearly 40 cars) in P13 and P11, and finished in P7 and P9 respectively. The track was cold both days with some drizzle on Saturday... but I've raced in much worse at Laguna. It was fun trying to run with the Viper's Panoz's and the wide body M3 feller. It was even more fun fighting for Turn 2 at Laguna with those giant cars... you can pretty much stick the Lotus anywhere you want in the corner and chose your line... a luxury that big heavy cars don't have. And you can outbreak anyone even with stock Exige brakes. The whole weekend, we had no contact, and not a wheel off... although some Vipers and Panoz's came within a few inches of an little love tap side by side through corners. I think I need an orange flag like ion a little kids bike.
We have more work to do on the car... data, standard fuel starvation issues, interior panels, learning the set up, etc. And I have a whole ton to learn on how to drive the car as I still consider myself a newby in the Lotus. However, this was a very positive sign and the car is garnering lots of positive attention.
I would encourage all you Exige owners to grab the 2009 SCCA GCR and start sweet talking your spouses to let you build up your cars (and Elise folks in T3 as well)! R3 can get the car built and get SCCA Tech'd for you... or even manage it as an arrive and drive. We need more cars participating. And if we get equally prepped cars for SCCA rules, we can run together in other series as well as a true spec/drivers series which would be even more fun for us all. I think the hardest thing for Lotus owners is that we all want to add more cool bits and pieces to the car either for go-fast sake or for "coolness" sake... but to get good racing series built up in SCCA, NASA, Lotus Challenge Series, I would encourage folks to build towards a spec. In the long run, we will establish a better, more sustainable environment long into the future for racing these amazing cars if we can move from ultra prepped time attack car to a very fast, fun to drive spec'd car that truly pits driver against driver and encourages improvement of skill over improvement of power. Just look at the number or Miatas and Porsche Cup cars running at nearly every track in the US nearly every weekend... they accomplished this by adhering to specs and equalizing cars.
Thanks to Ryan Negri and Rudy Courtade at R3 motorsports for the setup and support, thanks to Lotus Cars North America for rising to the challenge and helping me this last week on some items, thanks to Jim Navarro and Lotus Challenge Series crew for helping get Lotus racing legitimized and evangelized (and Glen for encouraging me to share my SCCA adventures), and my awesome fam for letting me spend Fathers Day at Laguna Seca. And I am sorry that our cars go so fast and may cause SCCA folks to scrutinize us more closely at future events.
I hope to see many of you at LCS at Laguna in July... this time with slicks!
We ran the first car in Group 1 at the regional double SF at Laguna Seca this weekend. Not a lot of track time, but still a ton of fun (1 practice, qualifying, race, qualify, race over three days).
The car got a lot of attention in the garage as everyone seemed excited to see a Exige in SCCA. Folks were surprised at how well prepped the car was... most folks expect T1,2,3 cars to be a pretty rough mix of stock components and safety gear, but since the Lotus comes from the factory bare bones, its easy to build a nice and clean race car that looks way more sorted that any other Touring class car. We ran with radios, fuel cells, fire suppression all dialed, exhaust at 103db, then restricted down to 101db or so thanks to a fine double walled, adjustable dryer vent tube, and a nice coolsuit system. We actually have to work to get up to the 2090 weight limit. Everyone smiles when they see the car and it was enthusiastically received by the other SCCA members.
So, I should have looked at average T2 times for Laguna and I should have had the lap timer working. I went out in practice and shook the car down and scrubbed in the Hoosiers. We were getting some understeer as it exited corners so we played with ride height and sways then went out to qualify (always fun to change settings right before qualifying). The car was loose on turn in but this was able to be dialed out by a change in driving/braking... and was way more fun. So, I qualified conservatively while sharing the track with 40 other cars (there was only one other T2 entrant... a super nice guy in a factory built WRX STI). The run group has everything from 600 hp+ NSX's, full on Mustang, Panoz, Viper Cup racing cars, 996 and 996 Cup cars, GT3 RS, RX7's, RX8's, a super cool brand new wide body M3, a world challenge CTS-V, and some guys in Miatas and older Porsches... so a variable of 20 seconds a lap on some of these cars. (but very good race craft all the way around and I never felt that folks were "still learning" proper racecraft). In qualifying (which felt like driving an Audi R15 through GT2 traffic) we set a new track record for T2 at Laguna... ever. The big HP cars were all surprised to see a T2 car giving them a run for their money. No one was angry, but a lot of folks scratching their heads when a T2 car showed up in there mirror or was not able to be dropped. Needless to say, I was having a ton of fun.
I ended up setting new T2 track records in both races; the best time I turned was a 1:39 something. (I won both races too, but that was less rewarding as we only had 2 cars in the class). I started the two Group 1 races (nearly 40 cars) in P13 and P11, and finished in P7 and P9 respectively. The track was cold both days with some drizzle on Saturday... but I've raced in much worse at Laguna. It was fun trying to run with the Viper's Panoz's and the wide body M3 feller. It was even more fun fighting for Turn 2 at Laguna with those giant cars... you can pretty much stick the Lotus anywhere you want in the corner and chose your line... a luxury that big heavy cars don't have. And you can outbreak anyone even with stock Exige brakes. The whole weekend, we had no contact, and not a wheel off... although some Vipers and Panoz's came within a few inches of an little love tap side by side through corners. I think I need an orange flag like ion a little kids bike.
We have more work to do on the car... data, standard fuel starvation issues, interior panels, learning the set up, etc. And I have a whole ton to learn on how to drive the car as I still consider myself a newby in the Lotus. However, this was a very positive sign and the car is garnering lots of positive attention.
I would encourage all you Exige owners to grab the 2009 SCCA GCR and start sweet talking your spouses to let you build up your cars (and Elise folks in T3 as well)! R3 can get the car built and get SCCA Tech'd for you... or even manage it as an arrive and drive. We need more cars participating. And if we get equally prepped cars for SCCA rules, we can run together in other series as well as a true spec/drivers series which would be even more fun for us all. I think the hardest thing for Lotus owners is that we all want to add more cool bits and pieces to the car either for go-fast sake or for "coolness" sake... but to get good racing series built up in SCCA, NASA, Lotus Challenge Series, I would encourage folks to build towards a spec. In the long run, we will establish a better, more sustainable environment long into the future for racing these amazing cars if we can move from ultra prepped time attack car to a very fast, fun to drive spec'd car that truly pits driver against driver and encourages improvement of skill over improvement of power. Just look at the number or Miatas and Porsche Cup cars running at nearly every track in the US nearly every weekend... they accomplished this by adhering to specs and equalizing cars.
Thanks to Ryan Negri and Rudy Courtade at R3 motorsports for the setup and support, thanks to Lotus Cars North America for rising to the challenge and helping me this last week on some items, thanks to Jim Navarro and Lotus Challenge Series crew for helping get Lotus racing legitimized and evangelized (and Glen for encouraging me to share my SCCA adventures), and my awesome fam for letting me spend Fathers Day at Laguna Seca. And I am sorry that our cars go so fast and may cause SCCA folks to scrutinize us more closely at future events.
I hope to see many of you at LCS at Laguna in July... this time with slicks!
