Evora GTE Registry

[NW76]

How much do the want for it? Any idea yet? The rebuild cant be cheap if its properly done and your still buying a heavily damaged accident car ... 

[Snoopy1969]

As far as I know there is no Price calculated now, as I know the guys that work on the car I have no doubt that it is done v e r y properly. Also I believe that is was not damaged "that" heavily (new rims, new front) but I have no detailed knowledge on that. I have seen Elises "rebuild" by them after a much worse accident (for example: new Chassis needed) and that cars were "better than before"

[TBD]

2 hours ago, Snoopy1969 said:

As far as I know there is no Price calculated now, as I know the guys that work on the car I have no doubt that it is done v e r y properly. Also I believe that is was not damaged "that" heavily (new rims, new front) but I have no detailed knowledge on that. I have seen Elises "rebuild" by them after a much worse accident (for example: new Chassis needed) and that cars were "better than before"

Since they paid quite an uplift for the wreck I'm really looking forward to their final pricing. In any case, the work they are doing has my full support (and is helping our court case against the leasing company).

I still wish I had had the chance to keep the car as we all wanted. 

[NW76]

@tbd Thomas: do you still know where exactly you "lost" the Evora?

I also had a big  aha moment, when I drove home from KT last week around Cologne in pouring rain. I was pretty careful with my Trofeos in the rain and despite the fact that I was only doing approx 100 km/h, still almost lost the car. I had a big oversteer moment that the DPM alone probably wouldnt  have cought. Luckily after heavy corrections I ended up catching the car but in the process moved from the middle lane to the right lane. Thank good that I had no car (or truck) right next to me...

I cant stress enough that the Trofeo´s are very dangerous in the rain... even 100 km/h can be way too much already...

 

[TBD]

1 minute ago, NW76 said:

@tbd Thomas: do you still know where exactly you "lost" the Evora?

I also had a big  aha moment, when I drove home from KT last week around Cologne in pouring rain. I was pretty careful with my Trofeos in the rain and despite the fact that I was only doing approx 100 km/h, still almost lost the car. I had a big oversteer moment that the DPM alone probably wouldnt  have cought. Luckily after heavy corrections I ended up catching the car but in the process moved from the middle lane to the right lane. Thank good that I had no car (or truck) right next to me...

I cant stress enough that the Trofeo´s are very dangerous in the rain... even 100 km/h can be way too much already...

 

Yes I do, Kreuz Bliesheim. In fact I have a map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xXELjlTUtcLf1woNN7qOWvQFdYw&usp=sharing

The GPS-data was recorded on the GTE's head unit, which I finally received from Komotec a few weeks ago. You can see, we were actually driving quite restrained at 130-140 km/h when it happened - actually surprisingly slow for aquaplaning with relatively new Michelins.

[NW76]

Interesting ... not far away from where this happend to me... 130-140 km/h would have been absolutely uncatchable with the Exige...

[TBD]

Just now, NW76 said:

Interesting ... not far away from where this happend to me... 130-140 km/h would have been absolutely uncatchable with the Exige...

But yours were Trofeos, though it is true that I was unable to catch it.

[NW76]

Absolutely - the Trofeo´s are very bad in the wet... I will not drive anymore in the wet with them, if I can avoid it ... thats my lesson learned... the 120km from KT home were a very long drive in the rain...

The Michelins are a lot better acutally.

[Snoopy1969]

@tbd

@nw76

I guess you, Thomas, have not been on semislicks, Michelin Cup?

I guess you, Norbert, want to replace the Trofeos by M. Cup? or "normal" / no semislick Michelins? 

At least, I guess, the essence of your experiences is that for normal road use / allreound tire a trofeo or Michelin Cup should be avoided and even a "normal" UHP Tire should be treated carefully in the wet

[TBD]

3 minutes ago, Snoopy1969 said:

@tbd

@nw76

I guess you, Thomas, have not been on semislicks, Michelin Cup?

I guess you, Norbert, want to replace the Trofeos by M. Cup? or "normal" / no semislick Michelins? 

At least, I guess, the essence of your experiences is that for normal road use / allreound tire a trofeo or Michelin Cup should be avoided and even a "normal" UHP Tire should be treated carefully in the wet

Michelin PS2 - as on the 400.

Daniel wanted to mount Trofeos on the Ex460, but my only answer was No! 

 

[Snoopy1969]

@TBD

wise, esp North-german weather is no semislick area (myself born in LG remember a lot of rain .... ;-) 

[NW76]

The Trofeo Rs are phenomenal in the dry and on track ... I will stick with them as they are so sticky ?? and just avoid driving in the wet ... the Exige is not my daily its just a real sportscar for me that I take out for fun ... 

I am thinking of getting a second set of wheels with wets though for wet trackdays but in order to make that work properly I think I would have to get a trailer as well ... 

[C8RKH]

Or tell your wife/partmer to step up and support you by bringing the wet wheels in their car. Then they can make you lunch too on a long track day. Simples

 

[NW76]

@C8RKH you do not know my wife ... she hates my Lotus and hates when I go on a race track... she would never bring the wheels or make lunch ;-) ...

[C8RKH]

Well, a Lotus is for life, a wife however........    hahahaha   Fully understand. My wife is not a big fan of my Loti or me on track, but she just lets me get on with it which is kinda nice

[adfer]

I seem to remember that the Michelins are 10mm wider at the rear than the standard Pirellis. That's fine in the dry but I wonder about how much that extra width increases the chances of aquaplaning when it's wet.

[bingoking]

My rear tyres shredded on the inside edge within 4,000 miles and I was told that the rear camber and toe out is set up on the GTE's very aggressively to improve the handling. 

If that is the case then the tread pattern can't be square to the direction of travel and would that not reduce the effectiveness of the tread in shedding the water in heavy rain.

I may well be talking tosh and happy to be corrected!

[C8RKH]

Usually that extra 10mm of width never causes a problem.  Oh, sorry, wrong topic....

[BigErch]

Hi Brian, that was your way to Brooklands? When we were down there my tyre wore down through the radial belt too. Murrays said that the car left the showroom with 4mm so it looks like I went through that and a bit more in 1000 miles! 

[adfer]

7 minutes ago, BigErch said:

Hi Brian, that was your way to Brooklands? When we were down there my tyre wore down through the radial belt too. Murrays said that the car left the showroom with 4mm so it looks like I went through that and a bit more in 1000 miles! 

The key words in your post Archie are "Murrays said"

[adfer]

55 minutes ago, bingoking said:

My rear tyres shredded on the inside edge within 4,000 miles and I was told that the rear camber and toe out is set up on the GTE's very aggressively to improve the handling. 

If that is the case then the tread pattern can't be square to the direction of travel and would that not reduce the effectiveness of the tread in shedding the water in heavy rain.

I may well be talking tosh and happy to be corrected!

I think the aggressive camber on the GTE is a factor in the tyres ability to shed water but what effect does fitting a wider tyre have? I would have thought that less weight on the contact area between tyre and road would decrease grip, or am I missing something?

[TBD]

The aggressive camber increases tire wear, but should not have a serious impact on grip in the wet.  The 10mm increased width increases the contact area by about 3%. Water displacement is heavily driven by tread design and depth. Both are supposedly better on the Michelin, which is why Lotus chose it for the Evora 400.

[adfer]

29 minutes ago, TBD said:

The aggressive camber increases tire wear, but should not have a serious impact on grip in the wet.  The 10mm increased width increases the contact area by about 3%. Water displacement is heavily driven by tread design and depth. Both are supposedly better on the Michelin, which is why Lotus chose it for the Evora 400.

I think Lotus chose to use Michelins because they were cheaper to buy. This is the same company that decided to fit one interior boot light in the 400 where previously there were two. Sparco seats instead of Recaros, plastic grills instead of metal. I'm sure the price of tyres came before any performance advantage if indeed there is an advantage.

[C8RKH]

12 minutes ago, adfer said:

This is the same company that decided to fit one interior boot light in the 400 where previously there were two. 

No issue for me. I took the bulbs out of the boot lights anyway as I sometimes leave it open when the trickle charger is on.

The real answer @adfer is:

1. They fitted one boot light to the 400 to reduce weight - one is lighter than two!

2. Sparco seats are lighter than the Recaro's

3. Plastic grills are lighter than metal ones and they don't need to be repainted when you've been washing the car for a few years

4. Michelin tyres are lighter than the pirelli ones....   hehehe...

See, all those improvements where for the benefit of the new owners driving pleasure and to stay true to Colin's original ethos of light is right.....

 

[TBD]

17 minutes ago, adfer said:

I think Lotus chose to use Michelins because they were cheaper to buy. This is the same company that decided to fit one interior boot light in the 400 where previously there were two. Sparco seats instead of Recaros, plastic grills instead of metal. I'm sure the price of tyres came before any performance advantage if indeed there is an advantage.

In any case, the Michelins are longer lasting. The wear on the Pirelli was ridiculous (< 10.000 Km).