Canyon Red Exige V6 Cup

[Arun_D]

Oh Gary @550superfast , what an experience! Glad it was just that. I've had no such issue with my electrical cutoff, but I'll be mindful of this in the future.

Coincidentally that's the same place my tyre failure occured, just after the first right-hander you describe.

Annoyingly in the process of finding the issue, I have noticed my rear left TTX damper had been eating itself during the day, due to eccentricity between the helper spring platform and damper body. This had not occured on my previous days on track since having these fitted, but the Nordschleife it certainly a big test for suspension components. That said, having a steel platform  means the damper will be the losing part in this battle, and I'm annoyed it's happened. The UK Öhlins supplier, who I bought them from, claim they have not seen this before and suggested my car is running very low (it's set to Lotus spec at the rear), but they do seem to have plastic platforms ready for them, and from asking around it doesn't appear to be a new issue. 

So off it comes to go back for repair (with the undamaged RH rear, since there seem to be improved parts that can go on) and hopefully with a quick turnaround before my day at Anglesey late June. Somehow I need to squeeze in my new brake fitment amongst all this. 

Quite a frustrating time for me and this car, I'm looking forward to clearing this hump and just enjoying it. Nex thing is I want to be sure I'm picking the right hot pressures for the new tyres to ensure I'm taking care of them, what are other Exige owners running? From reading the Evora threads, it may suggest 30psi hot (seemingly the Exige standard for Pirelli and Avons) maybe a little low for Michelins. Speak to me, wise TLFers.

 

[nerobi]

Hey you are at Top Gear!

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/supercars/gallery-wild-and-wonderful-nurburgring-trackday-paddock

 

[KJD]

Hi Arun.

Having recently joined the Öhlins club (road use biased with report to follow if anyone’s interested), and having specifically been told which end to put the rear helpers on by Russ at MGR, your chewed damper worries me.

Was it the same side as your delaminated tyre and could the flapping rubber have knocked the damper around enough to  disturb the helper and collar and cause the prob?

Cheers,

Kieran.

[Arun_D]

5 hours ago, nerobi said:

Hey you are at Top Gear!

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/supercars/gallery-wild-and-wonderful-nurburgring-trackday-paddock

 

Thanks for the link, the car looks great!

2 hours ago, KJD said:

Hi Arun.

Having recently joined the Öhlins club (road use biased with report to follow if anyone’s interested), and having specifically been told which end to put the rear helpers on by Russ at MGR, your chewed damper worries me.

Was it the same side as your delaminated tyre and could the flapping rubber have knocked the damper around enough to  disturb the helper and collar and cause the prob?

Cheers,

Kieran.

Hi Kieran, as you know the helpers are on the correct end on mine too, and MGR have seen the photo above and commented that the spring is also fitted in the correct orientation. I will let you know how I get on, but I don't think you need to worry too much with your current usage. 

Yes it is the same corner but I don't believe the two are linked, though can't say for certain. I'll keep you posted once they're with Russ.

[NW76]

I had this happen once as well ... not on track but on the road at a roundabout that I know very well and that you can take straight if you just very agressively go over the inner curb ... which I did at > 50 mph ... car died ... pulled over, shut it down completely, and tried to restart - nothing.  ... waited a couple of minutes... started again and everything was fine ... 

 

[NW76]

14 hours ago, Arun_D said:

 

Quite a frustrating time for me and this car, I'm looking forward to clearing this hump and just enjoying it. Nex thing is I want to be sure I'm picking the right hot pressures for the new tyres to ensure I'm taking care of them, what are other Exige owners running? From reading the Evora threads, it may suggest 30psi hot (seemingly the Exige standard for Pirelli and Avons) maybe a little low for Michelins. Speak to me, wise TLFers.

 

@Arun_D 30 psi hot is what I am running on them as well ... 

[Arun_D]

Thanks Norbert

[chumaxa]

11 hours ago, NW76 said:

I had this happen once as well ... not on track but on the road at a roundabout that I know very well and that you can take straight if you just very agressively go over the inner curb ... which I did at > 50 mph ... car died ... pulled over, shut it down completely, and tried to restart - nothing.  ... waited a couple of minutes... started again and everything was fine ... 

 

I can imagine the imagine the stress created by the situation ... 

[GFWilliams]

I've had a similar experience with a car cutting out before, but I couldn't have been in a worse place I think... I was in the Speedster driving along Victoria Embankment when I heard a sudden clonk sound and the engine just cut out, then there was just a little red light on the dash lit up. I didn't even know the red light exists, and it turns out it means "you're fucked".     To make matters worse, there was no way of pulling over as they'd put barriers up for a marathon the next day. Luckily I had some friends behind so we all pushed the car about 500m up the road to where we could park on the side of the road without obstructing the traffic.  Upon opening the engine lid, it was immediately obvious that I couldn't just press a switch and keep going, the fan belt had somehow managed to get under one of the wires and it had torn every wire out of the engine bay, seizing the alternator in the process.   AA recovery truck home...

Caterhams have an inertia cutout switch which occasionally needed resetting if you for example jumped the car or hit a big curb you'd need to reset it in the engine bay.    Sounds like the Lotus Cup cutout switches are a bit special.  Who'd buy a Cup anyway 🤔

[Hangar 111]

2 hours ago, GFWilliams said:

 Sounds like the Lotus Cup cutout switches are a bit special.

Also, interestingly, not race legal, because you can turn it back on again immediately on the same button!

Dave

[Arun_D]

Some photos from Friday's trackday:

 

[Arun_D]

Quick update after nothing overly noteworthy to say, other than me just trying to enjoy the car when I can. The car was at a damp day at Anglesey with Imran @alias23 a couple of months back, my first time there, but for various reasons I found it a bit frustrating as the car wasn't at its best. Long story short it required some remedial work (again) to the dampers, and a couple of other things that were preventing me from enjoying the car its full.

After another visit to @H111 to get the dampers back up to Mick Gardner Racing and sort a couple of other minor things, the car was back to rude health and ready for the recent LoT day at Spa..and what a day it was. Hands down my best trackday experience outside of the Nordschleife. Weather was scorching (in truth a little too hot) and the car was magnificent, not skipping a beat, and allowing me to lap hard all day, only moving right for a GT3RS and a 430 Cup late on that seemingly didn't realise its pace till the end of the day. After not being overly fussed at my first visit to this track in 2016, I can honestly say that Spa should be on everyone's list to drive, it seriously has got under my skin. I can't wait to go back. The only hiccup was when were nearly back home, where an O2 sensor related OBD fault flashed up whilst boarding the chunnel, causing me baby it back from Folkstone to investigate more. 

Here's a little video from Spa, I was fortunate enough to catchup with @LF1 Tom and his wife, Alex, who were driving the 220 Cup on the day. Expecting Tom to be all over the back of me after I lead us out the pits (that's a compliment, Tom, btw), the fast nature of Spa allowed me to disappear relatively fast from him, so the video starts after I took pity on him and let him pass, so I can see what lines a REAL RACING DRIVER !1! takes around a current F1 circuit. Then I got bored of being held up and passed him for the second half 😜 . He is however thankful that in trying to keep up with me, he posted his fastest lap of the day.

 

What else do you need to know?..... The brakes that @Seriouslylotus supply that replaced my original 'about to explode' discs are seriously good and look seriously sexy

 

 

Lastly, whilst having my engine light double checked after my OBD diagnostics suggested nothing wrong, I applied some man maths and joined Imran in buying a Pro-Alloy 60litre endurance tank to be fitted whilst my car was being checked over. Essentially bringing forward a large job in both our winter plans with the cars.

 

I suppose I have to get used to seeing these sorts of numbers on a regular basis (doubly so, given I've also just bought a 4.0 Supercharged XJR). This is with the engine light on but still some slivers left on the gauge.

 

 

After I feel a bad of poor luck with the car this year, fingers crossed I can go back to the Nurburgring in September for 2 full back-to-back days at DN20 and have the time of my life (enjoying more laps between fill-ups!).

 

 

Edited August 28, 2018 by Arun_D

[LF1]

Yes, yes... get you with all your power, trick suspension and race spec aero. Now get a proper standard car and I challenge you to a rematch. 

[LF1]

The first lap from another perspective:

 

[Piers]

Great thread Arun, just read it from end to end.

Hope to see you soon, miss our daily waves!

[Arun_D]

On 17/09/2018 at 22:58, Piers said:

Great thread Arun, just read it from end to end.

Hope to see you soon, miss our daily waves!

Definitely @Piers, we'll have to get on a LoT day at Goodwood together next year.

Last one of this season was the weekend just gone at Silverstone GP, catching up with @alias23, and meeting @vd9 and @Tex for the first time (also featuring @mcx in attendance, coming up to say his in his stealth bomber Cup). 

In preparation, a couple of weeks ago I joined the growing number of us deciding to invest in datalogging hardware for performance reviewing, and using @Jack, @NW76 , @550superfastand @W31SSN's comments in the dedicated thread, decided to buy an Aim SoloDL2 logger, mostly down to the Solo products' plug and play nature.

A quick scan of the interior identified a couple of fixings under the HVAC controls that I could potentially mount a simple L-shaped alu bracket too, and after a bit of DIY metal fabbing and some coats of black Plastikote, I had a smart mount sorted that was out the way enough but remained visible, with easy access to the OBD port (as the Solo2DL comes with a OBD connector to not only get ECU outputs like engine speed to support the user-defined pages or onboard shift lights, but more importantly provides constant power, meaning no charging or hardwiring into the loom). The unit itself has a steel backplate which is screwed to my DIY bracket, to which the Solo simply docks to via a pair of strong magnets and thumbscrews for security.

Once at the circuit, powering on the unit for the first time allowed it to work out where it was in the world, and  it automatically asked me which flavour of Silverstone circuit I was planning on driving.

Apart from that, it's just a case of keying on and driving out the pitlane to trigger datalogging for every session automatically, and by the time you're back in the garage after a session, you have a list of laptimes to review. Couldn't be simpler. Of course, live laptiming is frowned upon in a trackday environment, and although the unit can show laptime readouts  on-screen and live deltas via it's array of LEDs, you can also set up other pages (via the software) to show ECU variables or just GPS speed, or set the LED array to work as a set of sequential shiftlights, which I currently have. Irrespective, you'll always have your times ready to review when you're back in the garage, and saved in the units memory for post-trackday review.

The day was fine and dry, and myself and @alias had plenty of fun, with Imran finding an appreciation for Silvertstone GP he hadn't before. We had a lot of close driving together through the day, which only reinforced my opinion that trackdays are rubbish without friends.

Such is life on a trackday, you're rarely able to find a clear lap in order for you to exploit your complete potential, and my best of the day was a 2.32.7, knowing that I had potentially better laptimes in me later in the day when things were quieter, were it not for the odd dozy driver who doesn' t look in their mirror etc etc. This is where the supplied analysis software becomes useful. With this, I was able to import the session containing my best lap, and my last session of the day where I knew the clearer track allowed me some fast sector times. This is done over wi-fi and is very simple. With this, the software can collate the best sectors of the two sessions (or indeed any number of sessions you decide to pull in, as long as you ensure the start/stop beacons are aligned) to come up with your 'theoretical best' laptime, which in my case was a 2.27.2.

A theoretical improvement of 5.5secs felt about right given the level of traffic I had to yield to on average, which I felt was a pretty good capability, given @GFWilliams's ideal times are about 5secs faster still with his EX460. All in all I'm looking forward to gatehring more data at other tracks and finally be able to give people definitive answers when they ask me what laptimes me and my car are capable of, and using the tools like sector comparisons to improve driving technique (also coupled with proper training). 

More importantly, I've had another great year with my V6 Cup (albeit including ups and downs), which is now just off 3 years old. So shortly it will  back to @Hangar 111 for a service and MOT, ready for more fun in 2019. Thank you again to Dave and the team for looking after it.

Bonus shot of the car back at the factory last week, where categorically it was the best looking car onsite (blinkered proud father etc etc)

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Bibs

[alias23]

10 minutes ago, Arun_D said:

The day was fine and dry, and myself and @alias had plenty of fun, with Imran finding an appreciation for Silvertstone GP he hadn't before. We had a lot of close driving together through the day, which only reinforced my opinion that trackdays are rubbish without friends.

THIS! 100% track time with friends! Pleasure as always my friend... 

PS> Converted on Silverstone GP and can't wait to go back!

[vd9]

Hey Arun, was really nice to meet you there. Was a very nice (even if a bit busy) day indeed! Thank you for sharing the information from AIM, and huge thank you for helping out with the OBD reader. 

[Arun_D]

17 minutes ago, vd9 said:

Hey Arun, was really nice to meet you there. Was a very nice (even if a bit busy) day indeed! Thank you for sharing the information from AIM, and huge thank you for helping out with the OBD reader. 

Nice to meet you and Stephanie(?) too! Oh no problem, Victor, the OBD tool lives in the car now after the last couple of red herring lights it's given me.

[vd9]

23 minutes ago, Arun_D said:

Stephanie(?)

Exactly 

 

23 minutes ago, Arun_D said:

the OBD tool lives in the car now

I'll now follow your example and have one in the car at all times as well. 🙄

On the topic of the data loggers - I've not managed to convince myself of need to step up from the combination of 10Hz GPS Bluetooth receiver and RaceChrono on my phone, it works fairly well as a most simple solution (for data analysis it can export the records and use Circuit Tools later on, in addition to the built in visualisation).

[Arun_D]

@vd9 See I do listen!

 

If I had managed to get Harry's Laptimer GP to communicate with my GoPro, maybe I would have been happy enough with that solution, but I tried and tried and never got it to work. I've probably stated a number of times in the 18 pages of this thread that patience is not a virtue I was born with, and the Aim is a pukka piece of kit (and who doesn't love shiny new kit?!)

[Jack]

Arun, I'm sure you will enjoy the Solo2 even more as you explore more of its features.  One suggestion,  you might want to consider creating your own sectors for the track map. 

As you can see, the AiM software will auto-select sectors based upon G's and any noted bursts of acceleration.  The result, at times, is to have numerous short straight sectors (Green) on your analysis and numerous corners (Blue and Red), some of which you may prefer to link together.  

Also, use that other port on the Solo2 to hook up a SmartyCam HD   You can create a template for the video showing whatever data the Solo logs on your video that you would like to see with no need to do any post-production work .... one example below showing  lap info as well as much data relating to engine performance.  Second photo illustrates a video template showing less data when using a Solo back in 2014, when a less comprehensive AiM driver was available...I believe I was using AiM's driver for an Evora. 

[geartox]

https://www.lotuscupeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/silverstone-1-2-september-2018-results.pdf

 

 

[geartox]

8 hours ago, Jack said:

Arun, I'm sure you will enjoy the Solo2 even more as you explore more of its features.  One suggestion,  you might want to consider creating your own sectors for the track map. 

As you can see, the AiM software will auto-select sectors based upon G's and any noted bursts of acceleration.  The result, at times, is to have numerous short straight sectors (Green) on your analysis and numerous corners (Blue and Red), some of which you may prefer to link together.  

Also, use that other port on the Solo2 to hook up a SmartyCam HD   You can create a template for the video showing whatever data the Solo logs on your video that you would like to see with no need to do any post-production work .... one example below showing  lap info as well as much data relating to engine performance.  Second photo illustrates a video template showing less data when using a Solo back in 2014, when a less comprehensive AiM driver was available...I believe I was using AiM's driver for an Evora. 

 

 

Dear Jack,

How do you get the throttle and brake inputs ? from the OBD ?

[NW76]

On 28/11/2018 at 23:21, Arun_D said:

@vd9 See I do listen!

 

If I had managed to get Harry's Laptimer GP to communicate with my GoPro, maybe I would have been happy enough with that solution, but I tried and tried and never got it to work. I've probably stated a number of times in the 18 pages of this thread that patience is not a virtue I was born with, and the Aim is a pukka piece of kit (and who doesn't love shiny new kit?!)

Thats exactly why I went for a fully integrated system as well - always had to link Harrys & GoPro manually and setup everytime I went on track. 

Now, I just arrive, make sure I have an SD Card in my Smartycam and go ... couldnt be any easier 😉