ec

Could have been a fuel surge.

In answer to your question about potential for the same happening with a different brand... I've never questioned the quality of his exhaust and during my ownership it allowed me to get on track where other brands may have not. Others have criticised his stuff, but can't say anything publicly because of Jim's threatening manner, which is kinda where this has all stemmed from. The guy gets pleasure it seems from being that way and the fact he blogs his encounters with past customers, brands and fitters is truly bizarre. I took down the Facebook post this afternoon after messaging Jim to suggest we knock it on the head, however it appears he's keen to continue with his show. I'll crack on with collecting bits for my car.

Just to add in here, I did state in that forum post the exhaust was off the original damaged car and if you read the post correctly I'm not actually casting blame on the Jim. My post is about Jim's attitude to customers and his sharp tactics in dealing with negatives. As I sad to Jim after his ranting phone call, he'd have been better off saying nothing, or just saying no to my asking for assistance. I'm not the only owner to say this and many that have dealt with Jim will give a very similar account. He's threatening, sends legal letters to silence people and is generally unpleasant. I've read his rant on the website and much of it is BS. He's made up conversations that we never had and has said that he'd offered to inspect the exhaust. So far he has offered to fix the pipe FOC, but no offer to investigate the failure. We have spoken only twice on the phone since May 9th. Once on the afternoon of the fire to tell him it had happened. That was purely a conversation to tell him what had gone on and to say why, and this is where he said he's seen 3 or 4 a year in racing. I did not reference the Italian chap in my FB post because Jim had already beaten it into me on the phone that this fire was caused by heat shield removal. I sent a picture message after showing the exhaust failure. The second phone conversation was made by Jim, 11 minutes after i sent him a polite and honest message asking if he'd be willing to assist. This was a 95% one way transmission with Jim just ranting down the phone about how he doesn't make any money, doesn't care if he sells another exhaust, how Lotus make soft engine mounts and that "dealers are lying to you if they're telling you they sell track cars", doesn't have the liability insurance to cover it, laughing at my request and telling me I'm mad for asking. He also makes clear in this call that he's fully aware the exhaust was off car number 1, something I never denied and was open about. In fact, straight after that crash in 2019 he called to ask "is the exhaust alright Ed?". Since then it's done circa 35/40 trackdays on car #2 and it's been inspected during service and track prep. Lotus flagged it up for new clamps a couple of times and Jim sent me new items, so it's not like it's been neglected or left unchecked. Jim has his own exhaust ranting website in case you were interested. You're welcome to check out his slating of all other brands. You'd get the same speel off him in a phone call too, should you wish to enquire about buying one. As I said, the post was not a Jim or exhaust blaming session. Yes, the exhaust failed and it's obvious why the car caught fire, but Jim has been incredibly aggressive and this is not a new thing. There's other areas of his response that I can't be bothered to go into in great depth because there's no point. Something about a gearchange at 2m32s? No idea what that's referencing. And there was no excess noise from the failure. I can only assume the pipe parted coming out of the last carousel at the end of the lap, which is a high stress exit and is hard on the car. Anyway, you'll make your own mind up