Burgundian

Barry: Laguna is a long way from Christchurch but if you're ever in the Monterey area let me know - as a fellow 2-Eleven-driving Kiwi I'd be happy to take you out there (LS is my 'home track' and as Jack and Andy have noted, it's an outstanding venue to run this car (being less of a horsepower track)). Unfortunately I blew my engine / transmission (still exactly TBD) on Day 2 missing an upshift from 4th to 5th (found 3rd instead at 115 mph :-( Hope to have it sorted soon though. Cheers Mark

I had the same 'undriveable' experience with the stock tank, even on Yoko A048's - car would starve then spin in high G left handers unless the tank was completely full. Pretty scary as all my local tracks have such corners, some (Infineon, Laguna) with unforgiving walls nearby. Pro Alloy tank seems to have solved this. Good luck with it.

Barry I've had the Pro Alloy tank for about a year - not bullet proof but miles better than the factory tank with regard to starvation issues. I'm running Yokohama slicks and have occasionally experienced fuel cut out below one third of a tank at turn 2 at Laguna Seca - a left-hand downhill entry hairpin where you pull some significant G's. Tank install was a bit finicky and handled by my mechanic, Eric Gauthier, from Suspension Performance (eric@suspensionperformance.com) who I'm sure would be happy to help with any specific questions you might have. Btw - I'm a fellow Kiwi (though have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 20+ yrs). Enjoy the car! Mark

Ads: I can recommend the Pro-Alloy tank. All three of my local tracks (Laguna Seca, Infineon and Thunderhill) have fast left-handers and I'd be toast by now without the upgrade. Mark

I've just replaced the original set of A048's with R888's (after 1100 miles - I had hoped to fit Yoko slicks but have had trouble finding a set in the US right now). Was supposed to break them in at Laguna on Tuesday but it was seriously pissing down so drove the Elise instead (on which I also run the Toyos). As has been extensively noted the Toyos appear significantly more durable than A048's. Side walls are stiffer and tolerate lower pressures. Will report back once I have some comparative 2-Eleven experience.

Adam: You're certainly right that Turn 2 at Laguna is a special situation where high G-loading will particularly predispose the car to fuel starvation. Rather than having my gauge overstate the fuel level I've been periodically having the opposite problem, where it reads that the tank is empty when actually full. This appears to be an issue with the level sensor getting "stuck" somewhere in the tank - annoying. but not fatal if you keep an eye on mileage since refueling. I don't have any impression of the tank being loose and knocking about. But I know that Eric Gautier who installed the tank for me devised a couple of replacements for the two polystyrene isolation pads on the existing tank from 200 mm thick impact isolation foam which may be contributing to the Pro Alloy tank fitting snuggly. Mark

I had the Pro-Alloy tank installed several months ago and it has worked well. With the exception of my last outing at Laguna (where in Turn 2 there was a brief hint of starvation with the tank perhaps below a third full) I've had no issues

Gav: I feel your pain - same thing happened to me. Couldn't believe you had to buy the whole f'ing spout. Maybe you need to install some kind of tether to the cap. Mark

Manny: Looks very sweet (I have an Elise in Storm Ti so am a fellow believer...) Enjoy! Mark

Norm: I'm about your height and had the same problem. In order to mount the seat suitably far forward I found it was necessary to trim the left hand edge of the seat just slightly. It's really not noticeable after the fact. Mark

Al: Congratulations! You're going to love it. I found that respecting the break-in rpm guidelines took real discipline - good luck with it! Cheers Mark

Ads I'm planning on ordering directly from Pro-Alloy (through Suspension Performance). Looks to be a couple of weeks lead time. Cheers Mark

Ads: I'm considering Pro-Alloy too. Their stuff comes well recommended by the folks at Suspension Performance who are helping me with the set-up and maintainence of my 2-Eleven here in the Bay Area. I'll be interested to hear how your excperience goes with them. Mark

I'm not sure if the issue is unusually acute in my car but as I noted in an earlier post I've been seeing starvation at fuel tank levels significantly above half full (e.g. with as little as 2-2.5 gallons below full) in the long Turn 2 left-hander at Thunderhill. Fortunately there's plenty of run-off on the outside of this corner but at my other two local tracks that have medium-high speed left-handers (Turn 9 at Laguna Seca, Turn 6 at Infineon) the picture is less pretty. I've yet to run the 2-Eleven at these tracks but I'll be (cautiously) collecting data there over the next month. I'm definitely in the market for a decent solution to this problem as I don't particularly enjoy scaring myself anymore than my current level of driving mediocrity allows!

Jack & Bill: Thanks - the motor mounts sound like a "must-do". Will definitely follow up on this. The Larini exhaust option may take a little more investigation. Will also be very keen to hear how the replacement fuel cell works out. Cheers! Mark