Esprit on Track

[Bibs]

Who has the minerals to take their Esprit on track?

How do you find it, what tracks are ideal to explore the car and any hints/tips on prep/driving etc?

[Advantage]

[Quicker]

Certainly have had all my cars at the local tracks - some during driver training events, some for open lap days. I auto-crossed for a number of years in the Lincoln, not in the Espirt. Never had a deep enough pocket book to do it more seriously - although there is a fairly large group that does the Lotus Challenge series here, and everytime I watch this ->

want want to give it a go...

Here's what I have found (I have a 89 SE):

- the Esprit does pretty well as a mommentum car, and after you get a couple of good laps in a row, it can get to lap times that are respectable

- by modern standards, the Esprit does not have enough power in the straight ways for most of the modern cars on the track (porche, corvettes, vipers, mustangs, ....etc).

- the stock braking is very weak and for a car the should be really good in the corners, you loose some of that with the weak brakes. I upgraded to the PNM Hi-Spec setup and it did make a big difference

- there is a fair amount of cross-flex in the chassis

- the notchy shifter is problematic for me in 'panic' situations...

[neal]

I find the Esprit V8 is more suited to a fast flowing track and therefore much more satisfying to drive. It's not that it's bad on slow twisty stuff but the lightweight Caterham's, etc., will run rings around it. And it's very frustrating on the slow corners since it seems to take forever until you can feed the power back in. But on a fast track it can hold it's own much better against the lightweights because of the better power and aerodynamics (a Seven has the aerodynamics of a brick). It's not a competitive thing (well not entirely ) but if you're constantly having to let other cars past it really upsets your rhythm and enjoyment and you won't experience the best the car has to offer.

So my favourite track is Silverstone GP - it's very fast with a good long straight and you won't go below third gear. Plus the runoff is pretty forgiving. Goodwood is also good but dangerous. If you ran off on some of the high speed corners (100mph+) all you would find is a bit a grass then a bank of earth Bedford GT is also good with a large variety of corners and fast straights, it's also probably the safest track with loads of run off (though last time I was there, I somehow managed a close encounter with one of the few tyre walls )

Things to bear in mind - NOISE. The standard V8 exhaust reads around 97dB which is fine. But with the Lotus sports exhaust you'll be lucky to be below 105dB. Straight pipes are 110dB+.

Also, be very careful not to cook the front brakes. The problem is not so much the size of the brakes or their stopping power, but simply they cannot dissipate the heat quickly enough (though the S300 should fair better since it has brake ducts). All the discs I've checked, both OEM and aftermarket have a relatively small air gap between the two faces. The is fine for the road since you don't want the discs to cool down too quickly or they would drop below the optimum working temperature. Also, they're more durable. Even the S350 AP rotors - if I recall each face is approx 11mm with a 10mm air gap in between. In contrast an identically sized AP racing rotor would be more like 8mm-16mm-8mm to maximise the cooling on the track. So bring along an infrared thermometer and/or use green/yellow/red temperature paint on the discs. But you'll struggle to do more than 10-12 miles before the discs hit the wrong side of 500'C.

In any case at around the 10-12 miles, the AP twin plate clutch will overheat and begin to slip. If this happens get off the load pedal and make your way gently back to the pits. You do not want to damage the flywheel - last I heard they are 1200 quid to replace Once the clutch has cooled down it will be fine. GTO actually do cerametallic plates for the Esprit AP clutch cover which I'm going to change to when my OEM clutch wears out. It should stand up better on the track (though I'll probably look like someone from Driving School when stuck in traffic on the road). I'll also look at fitting AP racing discs to the front at the same time...

[oneshot]

Only done the driver training at Millbrook but that certainly showed up the cars abilities. Car will slightly understeer at the limit of adhesion and has a slight lift off oversteer.

The alpine circuit was good to test out the handling and car balance. The car felt good and planted.

[red vtec]

I would like to track mine in the Future, My friend drove it the other week, he used to race in the Ferrari Historic and was impressed by the car and reackoned it would be good on a track.

Think the main thing as Neal mentioned is being able to cool the brakes to avoid fade. I have upgraded to Hispec on the front with grooved discs and harder pads, a vast improvement on the road, but for track I would add some kind of ducting to cool them.

The rest I would think is a case of making sure fluids, hoses, connectors are all in top condition.

[neal]

Think the main thing as Neal mentioned is being able to cool the brakes to avoid fade. I have upgraded to Hispec on the front with grooved discs and harder pads, a vast improvement on the road, but for track I would add some kind of ducting to cool them.

Ironically fade might be a good thing if it set in as a warning just before the discs overheated. However, most track day/race pads can easily withstand temperatures which the discs cannot. When the discs begin to overheat it doesn't affect the braking and it's easy to just continue unaware. But the surface of the disc will begin to break up and/or crack and you get uneven pad deposits across the disc. Once that's happened it's downhill even if you're just using the car on the road. The pads will continue to lay more and more material onto the deposits and the end result is shocking brake judder.

But you're right, ducting would be ideal. I played around with it for ages but couldn't get it to work, at least not without major surgery to the car. I tried mounting the ducts below the floor or behind the radiator but couldn't get enough airflow to be effective. Also the steering rack is shoe-horned in and there simply isn't room to route the hosing through it, so I had to run the hose underneath the roll bar. With a 2.5' diameter hose that left very little ground clearance - running over a kerb or onto the grass usually resulted in it being torn away. I think the only solution would be to fit the ducts in place of the fog lights, like the S300, then route the hose up into the front trunk and then down though the wheel arches

[psteinb]

I took my 1980 Turbo Esprit on the track here in Melbourne - Calder Park. It was AWESOME. I had a great day, did about 30 laps altogether. Got it up to about 180km/h on pit straight. Full racing gear and helmet. Cost about $250 for the day - quite reasonable. My new tyres cooked a little but did well.

The most important I learnt: Don't start 'pushing' your car until you've done 2-3 slow laps... Your tires MUST be HOT.

http://picasaweb.google.com/steinbergpicasa/LotusAtCalderParkRaceway#5476198128579366370

[comem47]

Too bad the video cam has a fair bit of a focus problem. I thought I was looking at a moving white rectangle with my glasses off till it was real close!!!

[Bibs]

Neal, would Bedford be a good place to start out then? I hear good things about it and understand they're not too bad on the noise. My exhaust is 115dB at the moment which of course is too loud for anywhere but I'm either having a silencer built into it or into the car replacement pipe or will get a new one made up. I did look at the bolt on silencers from Merlin but just think that a) they won't be that effective and b) if one came off it would hurt someone!

[neal]

Definitely Bedford is a good place to start but they are shockingly strict on noise, right up there if not worse than Goodwood. The static limit is 101dB at 0.5m with 3/4 max rpm but the real problem is that the track is littered with drive by meters (since turbo cars on full chat are much louder than the static test would suggest) which they monitor fastidiously. And you can't just feather the throttle or short shift past the meters - if your car's borderline they will insist upon an instructor taking it round giving it the beans. Actually it's not Bedford's fault, all the drive by meters are hooked up to the local council and if too many trip within any given time period, Bedford have to explain themselves to the council and face loosing their license...

Regarding silencers, what you're suggesting should get you below 105dB (good for Silverstone, Rockingham, Snetteron, Brands Indy) but I have my doubts if it would be low enough for Bedford. Bolt on silencers do also help (and could make the difference between being allowed on or told to go home) but you'll have to remove any tailpipe trim to fit them. Also be sure your tailpipes are strong enough to support them, having 5kg odd bouncing up and down at the back of the car does put a serious load on the tailpipes. Finally as you say, don't just rely on exhaust clamps to keep them in place - drill a bolt through the tailpipe and silencer end to hold it on if the exhaust clamps slip.

Finally I'd suggest considering the Lotus standard exhaust, but I know that will be sacrilege to you It's incredibly efficient for its size (my 2l Alfa has three silencers, each not much smaller than the Lotus exhaust) since it not just a simple damping silencer. Instead the exhaust flow from each bank are forced against each other in a kind of mixing chamber, cancelling out the sound waves (this also explains why it doesn't sound particularly pleasing, you loose the booming from the cylinders and are left with a dull 'mechanical' sound). However, because most V8 owners have ditched theirs, it's pretty each to get a second hand one for a reasonable price. I actually have a spare one which I bought off Ebay for 25 quid (which you're welcome to borrow!) Oh, and don't worry if you're car's decatted - mine is and it makes little difference to the noise.

Edited July 27, 2010 by USAndretti42
Y'know. You didn;t really need that quote of Bibs' post.

[Bibs]

It's the SE I'll be taking on track Neal but if you're willing to part with 4 cylinders for me I'm sure we can work something out! Ken has the 350 back for now.

[neal]

Ah, well I'm no expert on the 4 cylinder exhaust but it looks like there should plenty of space for a sizable, reasonably quiet but still free flowing box. If that's not enough you could also add a second box into your decat pipe as you suggested (but I doubt that would be sufficient by itself).

[MPx]

As you know, Lionel gets on track at least once each year...but you drive faster than me anyway, so not much I can help with I suspect!

[codex]

Definitely. No doubt about it - just need to get the start motor renovated and change and oil after our 2700m europe tour this month then I'm there.

Probably start with a training day with Andy at North Wield aerodrome then off to Brands first, probably on a LOT novice day to ease in then....would love to do Brands GP, Silverstone, Donington, Anglesey, Snetterton...

[Bibs]

[Simon350S]

Bibs..

Do you sit there making these up? They are quite funny for sure!

My fave was the one about the reasonably priced run about