[Houston Lotus]

The 551 Lotus Elise driven by Alex Brown had a rough weekend at its debut event at Eagles Canyon Raceway. My first run session went kind of slow due to brake pad fade, which I got taken care of before the start of my second run session. The second session started out well, but halfway through I started to smell smoke. At first I thought it was the car I was following, but as soon as I saw the corner workers holding up fire extinguishers and black flags, I concluded that it was my car that had the problem. I slowly brought the Lotus back to pit lane where workers were waiting for me with fire bottles. After checking the car, the workers told me that my car had been on fire. I immediately brought the car to PST (Performance Speed Tech) who were providing onsite trackside support. PST came up with some reasons my car caught fire. The car did not go back on track for the rest of the day. The next day the car missed the morning sessions(due to the car being worked on) but was back on track for both of the afternoon ones. All in all it was a very strage weekend. Fastest time of the weekend was a 2:5.9 Not bad after missing a number of track sessions during the weekend.

Video of my first run session can be found at, Maverick PCA HPDE at Eagles Canyon Raceway March 7 on Vimeo

Also check out my blog at Alex Brown Racing

 

[smokin orange]

more details on the fire...where was it, what caused it, etc

 

[Houston Lotus]

more details on the fire...where was it, what caused it, etc

The fire was started when one of the ends of my recently installed aftermarket exhaust blew out. The screws holding it on must have come loose and the inside pressure was no longer contained. The gases that came out of the exploded end began to melt the heat shield, then the right rear inside wheel well cover, the right rear outside reflector and light, and some of the rear starshield. I was lucky that the fire put itself out before causing any other damage to the engine compartment or fuel lines. PST (Performance Speed Tech) came up with a number of good reasons how this chain of events could have happened. Other then that I had a great track weekend at one of the best tracks in Texas.

-Alex

 

[djo715]

Are you using the factory exhaust clamp? If so - there's a TSB on these being one-time use clamps - see Patricko's post here:

I know at least 2 people personally who've had their cars catch fire at the track because of this.

Cheers,
-Darryl

 

[lotusbrakes]

The 551 Lotus Elise driven by Alex Brown had a rough weekend at its debut event at Eagles Canyon Raceway. My first run session went kind of slow due to brake pad fade, which I got taken care of before the start of my second run session. The second session started out well, but halfway through I started to smell smoke. At first I thought it was the car I was following, but as soon as I saw the corner workers holding up fire extinguishers and black flags, I concluded that it was my car that had the problem. I slowly brought the Lotus back to pit lane where workers were waiting for me with fire bottles. After checking the car, the workers told me that my car had been on fire. I immediately brought the car to PST (Performance Speed Tech) who were providing onsite trackside support. PST came up with some reasons my car caught fire. The car did not go back on track for the rest of the day. The next day the car missed the morning sessions(due to the car being worked on) but was back on track for both of the afternoon ones. All in all it was a very strage weekend. Fastest time of the weekend was a 2:5.9 Not bad after missing a number of track sessions during the weekend.

Video of my first run session can be found at, Maverick PCA HPDE at Eagles Canyon Raceway March 7 on Vimeo

Also check out my blog at Alex Brown Racing

What pads are you running?

-G

 

[John]

The fire was started when one of the ends of my recently installed aftermarket exhaust blew out. The screws holding it on must have come loose and the inside pressure was no longer contained. The gases that came out of the exploded end began to melt the heat shield, then the right rear inside wheel well cover, the right rear outside reflector and light, and some of the rear starshield. I was lucky that the fire put itself out before causing any other damage to the engine compartment or fuel lines. PST (Performance Speed Tech) came up with a number of good reasons how this chain of events could have happened. Other then that I had a great track weekend at one of the best tracks in Texas.

-Alex

The easiest fix for this is to fabricate a basic L bracket that will fit on the right size hanger mount. You'll want to have the L facing downwards to that it prevents the exhaust from sliding to the right...