Chris J

Hi all I'm currently the proud owner of Kalli's old red N/A Evora with it's rather lovely carbon-tipped 2bular exhaust. I'm keen to get out on track at least once or twice as it's quite obvious that driving on the public roads aren't exactly stretching the limits of the old girl but the huge elephant in the room is whether I have a hope of passing any track day noise tests. A search found one thread which suggested with the 2bular for the supercharged Evora / Exige it was a no go but nothing definitive there for the N/A. It also suggested that you might need to run in 'loud' mode as having the valve closed for stealth could cause engine problems. Anyone got any experience? I'd be looking most probably at Castle Combe as my nearest where there's a 100db static test (4000 rpm). Thanks!

I've only one suggestion, depending on budget either the Torridon hotel or the Inn next door. Food at the hotel very good, rooms nice enough in the grand country hotel style, if you stay at the Inn to save a few pennies you can still book in for dinner at the hotel. Parking, not really a worry. Not really compatible with driving early the next morning but they have a fine selection of whisky at the bar which is very reasonably priced. They seem to have picked up on the NC500 thing on their website as well... https://www.thetorridon.com/nc500/

Mine is a 2010/11 as well. Maybe it's a character trait of the older cars...

Mine is heavy compared to my old Elise. When I get back in my Skoda my foot goes straight to the floor there's such a large difference...

Having just seen this, how on earth do Lotus manage to get so little positive publicity for this sort of thing? There was a brief mention in the initial 311 press of new composite which passed probably 99% of people by but you know if anyone else was doing it they would be screaming 'carbon fibre' from the roof-tops and the masses would be oohing and aahing about how high tech it all is, instead the image of fibreglass cars put together by turnip farmers using 20 year old technology continues on...

In the short term I would almost certainly try the Aston, just because as you say, who doesn't want to scratch that itch. But then after a change I suspect i'd be back in the Lotus fold in a year or 18 months. I don't know what you do or intend to do in the way of track driving, for regular track use I'd go with the Exige and for mainly road with occasional track I'd go back to an Evora with an SR or 400...

Maybe it's an alternator problem and not being charged properly?

+1 Spoiler looks very nice!

Had the door apart tonight (using this handy guide - http://www.tintdude.com/forum/index.php/topic/73109-lotus-evora-panel-removal/ ) and there was a small gap in the sealant in the bottom corner of the door curtain. Also signs of water ingress there. Dried it out, applied silicone sealant and duct tape and we shall see if things improve. Worryingly it looked like there might also be water getting inside the door at the front of the window glass, will have to keep an eye on that too and figure out what could be done there.

Can't help on the the problems, but I would suggest one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/ieGeek%C2%AE-Wireless-Diagnostic-Scanner-iPhone4S/dp/B016I5WYVS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454014199&sr=8-1&keywords=obd+ii+bluetooth+adapter or a bluetooth version depending on your variety of phone (wifi version a must for iPhone) and then Torque app for Android or an equivalent for iPhone. I presume the OBD port for the Evora must be accessible, in my old Elise it was just under the dash. For a tenner you can check and clear codes, it becomes a 5 minute job, normally followed by more informed internet searching to find what a code actually means... Thinking about it, ref the battery CEL, was the battery disconnected for charging, my Elise used to throw a CEL probably 50% of the time when the battery was disconnected and reconnected. It then cleared itself I think after starting the car 5 times.

My bin liner water collection solution picked up approx 1/2 a litre of water entering through the door in last night's admittedly torrential rain. Unfortunately didn't stop the mildew starting along the doorsill underneath due to the general damp atmosphere. Not particularly looking forward to coming back and opening the door after being away at work for 2-3 weeks.

Thanks Michael The drain holes don't seem to be blocked as whenever I open the door in the morning there is a waterfall out of the bottom of it, but then my Skoda is just the same so I guess I will be talking to the nearest not very local dealer about the internal door shield at some point!

It looks on my passenger side like one entry point for the water into the door is through the waist seal at the base of the passenger window - the seal shows approx 6" length in the centre of the window where it isn't touching the glass (couldn't get the camera to focus well enough to show it) and there is a gap of 1-2 mm between the window glass and the seal. So any water can just run down the window into the door. The driver's side seal looks ok though. This might explain why there is much more water coming in on the passenger side! Presumably the seal can be replaced, however I'm a little concerned that as the seal looks fitted ok on the door shell it might be the shape of the door shell that is creating the gap, if so hopefully there is enough scope when fitting a new seal for it to be fitted to the glass shape, if you see what I mean. PS Apologies for any confusion with the name, I'm unlikely to be found talking about Esprits if that helps!

I've been taking a closer look at mine and the water is somehow getting inside the door and coming out onto the sill via the fixings in the bottom of the door trim and also the gap between the painted door and the door trim. Current attempted workaround to collect the water is a bin liner and towel on the door sill, attempting to direct the water into the base of the bin liner in the rear footwell... Also thinking about making a small drain hole in the bottom of the door seal as there is normally a puddle at the lowest point of this. Amazing how all the different threads I read everyone seems to have a different way for the water to get inside the car. Only Lotus!

I'm having issues with mine (2011 NA) through this wet December (picked the car up from B&C in mid Dec). Wet door sills which start to grow white mould if the car is left for a couple of days with water sitting on top of the door seals. Also found tonight the carpet behind the passenger seat is sopping! Presuming since the car is parked facing slightly up a slope with passenger side uphill that most of the water has come through the passenger door. I thought the Elise's well known condensation issues would go away with the car but they have followed to the Evora!