I need to do a long report. There is a lot to mention! I need to post pics and then some videos. I have some videos of a federal car being driven in anger!
But I can't.. I need sleep.
I do want to share some things. First...
HOLY CRAP! WOW!!!!!
That is the most important thing. I had some expectations. The car was not an LSS car and was on street rubber. I expected more understeer and not as much grip as I would have liked.
However, the car performed fabulously. It stuck like a well prepped race car, far better than I expected. Handling was near neutral with just a touch of understeer and I could easily create more or less understeer with my driving, and I could easily create oversteer too.
Backing up a bit... we had a Lotus Autocross day. A mix of cars including Elans, Esprits, etc. Most cars were in the 46-50 second range. The fastest other car was a race prepped Europa on race rubber that got down to a 41 second time.
Kiyoshi drove very well and I think got down to a 42 second time. Clyde was impressive, quickly picking up the sport. I mean he did very well. He got down to a very good time.
I think I had fast time of day in the Elise. 41.33 seconds.
What it did extremely well was slaloms and transitions. Just keep your foot in it and twitch the steering wheel and the car just skirted around the cones.
The power was very cool when it the power band. It was okay before it.
Car felt very good. Starting it is an odd thing. Shifter was kinda average, but perhaps is more improved now....still lightyears ahead of the early Elise I drove. A couple times I had trouble getting it in gear, but understand it was during a fast and furious race.
Launches abouve 5k rpms seemed to involve some smell from the clutch. Not sure how often I would want to do that.
Brakes showed zero signs of fade after repeated hard use.
Noticed that the back of the helmet seemed to lightly scratch the leather seat's headrests. Not sure if there is a way to mitigate that. Perhaps with some leather conditioner it will come out?
3M film is a good idea if you want to wack cones in the car.
Did I mention I really liked this car? And it was not the LSS version!