When do you think a limited slip will be offered?
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I picked before the end of the year. 
And I would not be surprised to see an October car with it on US soil.
And I would not be surprised to see an October car with it on US soil.
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craigy, its an autocross thing.
I spun the inside rear on my Elise test drive when accelerating in 1st gear while turning right at a stoplight. I was kind of trying to do it and with better driving probably could have avoided it...but I still was able to fairly easily provoke it.
In local autocrosses I regularly spin the inside rear on my Spyder (not nearly the car an Elise is of course) and the guys who have LSDs are much happier and it is almost universally thought that the LSD equipped cars are faster.
In local autocrosses I regularly spin the inside rear on my Spyder (not nearly the car an Elise is of course) and the guys who have LSDs are much happier and it is almost universally thought that the LSD equipped cars are faster.
Quaife's excellent gear type limited slip is available right now (for 1200) for the Lotus's Toyota gearbox. I have one in my M3's rear end and it's great. Acts like an open diff going into turns and smoothly, quickly and progressively locks up as required powering out of the corner.
Stan
Stan
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When I talked to the dealer about it yesterday, he said Lotus is working on it, and expected availability is March '05. Price unknown.
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When Lotus tried LSD on the Elise it made the handling rather, let's just call it, 'interesting'...spindoc said:
But.. And this is where the confusion comes from...
Lotus (and most european Elise owners) use the car on tracks for what you guys in the USA call 'road racing'. Aka, high-speed track work, 100mph flat-out corners and such... And this is the situation where an LSD was causing handling issues when Lotus tried them on the original Elise.
A lot of guys here who are looking for an LSD are talking about 'autocross' in the USA, which (as I understand it) is a low-speed type event where a course is set out using cones on a parking lot and has many tight turns. In europe these are usually called 'slalom' events, but very few of those around.
It's a different type of use, but I can imagine Lotus being very careful before they offer LSD as they can't have people experience unpredictable handling when they do take an LSD-equipped car to a road-race style event..
Bye, Arno.
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They do offer a LSD as a track option for the Exige, which seems to have a very similar suspension setup to the Elise with Sport Pack. They probably wouldn't have it for the Exige if it didn't make an improvement?
please elaborate on 'interesting'. It may be just me, but i've always thought that an LSD would help on any car, whether it's being used for the track or auto-x. I can see it helping in auto-x more so than anywhere else...with all the tight turns you're trying to pull out of. I just can't imagine what the disadvantage would be on a track
how does it make the handling unpredictable?>>>When Lotus tried LSD on the Elise it made the handling rather, let's just call it, 'interesting'... <<<
If the handling did decline, there is no reason this MUST be the case. You can simply retune the car. It might also prefer to be driven in a different manner than an open-diff Elise. And again note that the different limited slip approaches act differently at a car's limits. As far as I know there are at least two styles of limited slips that can be used in the Toyota box. A clutch type diff and a gear type diff. Maybe there are others, or multiples in each style.
I had to retune my M3 when I added the Quaife. For the same amount of rear roll stiffness from the springs and sway bar, it wanted less to come from the sway bar and more to comefrom the springs compared to a good setup using a clutch type diff. This coincides with theory too.
Stan
If the handling did decline, there is no reason this MUST be the case. You can simply retune the car. It might also prefer to be driven in a different manner than an open-diff Elise. And again note that the different limited slip approaches act differently at a car's limits. As far as I know there are at least two styles of limited slips that can be used in the Toyota box. A clutch type diff and a gear type diff. Maybe there are others, or multiples in each style.
I had to retune my M3 when I added the Quaife. For the same amount of rear roll stiffness from the springs and sway bar, it wanted less to come from the sway bar and more to comefrom the springs compared to a good setup using a clutch type diff. This coincides with theory too.
Stan
I'm confident that Lotus knows a thing or two about handling???
The Elise has been out for 8 years now and they still don't offer one in the car. Think there is a reason for this??
From what I've been told the LSD's cause interesting handling traits on the exits of corners as it begins to "lock up".
One thing you will find with this car is that you can actually feel a 1lb change in tire pressure. It makes a big difference.
The only time I have spun my inside rear in the Exige is one turn at Gingerman (T3) where the car is in a full power-on drift and there is a large "run-off" patch of concrete at the exit. As the car comes up on the very grippy concrete and the concrete "catches" the car the inside rear will sometimes lift. I suspect that with the stiffer springs I'm installing it will cure this issue.
The Elise has been out for 8 years now and they still don't offer one in the car. Think there is a reason for this??
From what I've been told the LSD's cause interesting handling traits on the exits of corners as it begins to "lock up".
One thing you will find with this car is that you can actually feel a 1lb change in tire pressure. It makes a big difference.
The only time I have spun my inside rear in the Exige is one turn at Gingerman (T3) where the car is in a full power-on drift and there is a large "run-off" patch of concrete at the exit. As the car comes up on the very grippy concrete and the concrete "catches" the car the inside rear will sometimes lift. I suspect that with the stiffer springs I'm installing it will cure this issue.
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The concrete patch is the issue. At SCCA nationals, the entire surface is very grippy concrete and running on sticky Hoosier tires, inside rear wheel spin becomes the limiting factor.
Aren't they offering LSD on the Exige as an option now?
I definitely understand the sensitivity of the Elise to any changes.
My understanding is that they are satisifed in Hethel with the testing and setup of the cars with LSD and are only working out the agreements with the supplier.
Aren't they offering LSD on the Exige as an option now?
I definitely understand the sensitivity of the Elise to any changes.
My understanding is that they are satisifed in Hethel with the testing and setup of the cars with LSD and are only working out the agreements with the supplier.
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