The Evora 400 Diaries

[PaulCP]

18 minutes ago, JayEmm said:

 

I am at Snetterton for a social thing, there is a track day on so I had the 400 noise tested.....

 

 

110dB! Peaked at 119! They said I MIGHT get through on the drive by, but it was unlikely.

At what RPM?

[Gm77]

2 hours ago, JayEmm said:

110dB! Peaked at 119! They said I MIGHT get through on the drive by, but it was unlikely.

At Goodwood the other week a 400 registered 102dB on the static test before the valves opened, and off the scale after! It still got on track and had to short shift past the sound detectors. Speaking to the owner he found it quite frustrating as he was being overtaken by everyone else as he felt he had to be quite conservative with the throttle.

I'm guessing nobody has heard anything more re the exhaust modification?

 

[CocoPops]

 

[JayEmm]

So today was a very good day. Started off going to Bell & Colvill for an Evora auto back-to-back - with their LHD manual NA, then their 400 Auto demonstrator. Jamie there incredibly helpful and supportive of what I'm doing.

I also got recognised for the first time! @DanChantler from these very pages was there and knew who I was from the videos. Nice to get direct feedback, evidently it's finding the right people.

I then went off to Snetterton for a Pistonheads social. The car was 110db at 5,200rpm ish, peaked at 119dB as per my earlier post. I tried one with the exhaust valve shut but it still opens before 5,000rpm so no dice.

And, as if the day wasn't going well enough, I then got a quick photo-op with TT legend Ian Hutchinson! Which was nice.

And then driving home someone shouted "James!" and it turns out a friend of mine heard the car coming, saw it and knew it was me. He loves it and is looking at buying an S1 Elise. So I'm trying to tempt him onto the forum.

[JayEmm]

Also, further to the above, the factory have become a bit more pro-active and have invited my car and I down there next week for them to inspect my seat and subwoofer. I believe I may not be the only person experiencing issues. I suggested to them it would save time for everyone if I brought it direct to them and they agreed. So will be interesting to go down there. I've asked if I can do some filming while I am there, just waiting back on that one. Fingers crossed.

[chylld]

1 hour ago, JayEmm said:

The car was 110db at 5,200rpm ish, peaked at 119dB as per my earlier post. I tried one with the exhaust valve shut but it still opens before 5,000rpm so no dice.

So the exhaust becomes a straight pipe from 5000rpm up, regardless of the mode the exhaust is in?

[JayEmm]

That is correct, officially it is to prevent excess back pressure damaging the engine.

It can also open up briefly at lower RPM under full throttle.

By the way, the noise the car makes as you downshift with the auto box is sexual.

[chylld]

6 minutes ago, JayEmm said:

That is correct, officially it is to prevent excess back pressure damaging the engine.

It can also open up briefly at lower RPM under full throttle.

By the way, the noise the car makes as you downshift with the auto box is sexual.

Sounds like I'll need to short-shift past the db meter at trackdays... not too thrilled with that but first world problems hey? Worst comes to worst, I'll look for an aftermarket exhaust system that's quieter

Yes the auto downshift blip alone convinced me to add the 400 to my test drive list.

[Bibs]

It's a little more involved that that...

That's the correct info on the valve function from the calibration engineers at the factory.

[chylld]

11 minutes ago, Bibs said:

It's a little more involved that that...

That's the correct info on the valve function from the calibration engineers at the factory.

Has the factory confirmed that the 400 exhaust behaves identically to the Exige S? I was under the impression that they are quite different beasts.

[French Frie]

On 10/06/2016 at 11:06, NW76 said:

cant wait for a comparison with the Exige ;-)

can't wait either !

for other video topics : I'd like to watch a "real" film on an Evora GTE  ... apart from TG one, all of them on Youtube are raw videos, with bad soundtrack and/or bad filming... it deserves more than that  !

[JayEmm]

36 minutes ago, French Frie said:

for other video topics : I'd like to watch a "real" film on an Evora GTE  ... apart from TG one, all of them on Youtube are raw videos, with bad soundtrack and/or bad filming... it deserves more than that  !

Find me a willing GTE owner and someone from the factory and I'll give you a proper GTE video!

[French Frie]

@JayEmm : I won't find any GTE owner (it's a pity there's no french owner !), but there are 12 of them on this forum, so it should do the job, shouldn't it  ? someone from the factory is not mandatory, apart from telling the tumultuous story from inside ...

[JayEmm]

One thing I am trying to do is to get as many "facts" out there as I can. Not always possible, but Lotus seem one of the worse companies for rumours/half-truths etc...

I know a bit of the story about the GTE, but it would be great if someone at the factory had the full low-down. I'm currently trying to build a relationship with them, as well as the many dealers out there. It's going well, but slowly. 

[21gg]

You can happily borrow mine but I'm oop north so probably better with one of the southern owners. I'm down for goodwood fos on the sunday but its only a flying visit.

I dare say Gav Kirby / Tarmac Terrorist knows as much as any one with the history side as he has a very good relationship with motorsports.

Gav

[JayEmm]

I'm sure we can find one. As it happens, I have a master plan in place for getting "The Evora Story" told properly. Should be of great interest, especially to S1 owners.

[Danelaw]

It would be interesting to hear directly from some of the people from Swindon Engines (now Swindon Powertrains?) about their experiences with developing the 2gr-fe engine for more powerful road and race applications. They might do an interview and allow some filming as it would be promotional for them too.

[anthonyyule]

17 hours ago, JayEmm said:

So today was a very good day. Started off going to Bell & Colvill for an Evora auto back-to-back - with their LHD manual NA, then their 400 Auto demonstrator. Jamie there incredibly helpful and supportive of what I'm doing.

 

Very interested to finally see a proper 400 auto review!

[JayEmm]

Review should be up in a few days @anthonyyule. The short version is basically the auto box is improved over the IPS, particularly in sport/race mode. When pressing on its actually pretty good, I would say on a similar level to the older SMG boxes but not as vicious on the down-shifts.

It isn't going to keep anyone in VAG up at night, but for those who want an auto it's a reasonable box. One huge benefit is being a normal auto is can "creep", so for low speed maneuvering it is much easier to be smooth. Unlike many dual clutch setups which are hideous in traffic/car park situations. 

[lotusmad2001]

looking forward to this 'evora story' very interesting I read the book at the academy at hethel which was interesting.

 

Waiting for the next video to upload, looking forward to it

 

Jonny

[JayEmm]

@lotusmad2001 well you don't have to wait long, here's the next one. Just a tiny video while I work on the next two big ones (Evora Automatic comparison and 911 vs Evora)

 

[CocoPops]

Interestingly you blitzed straight to high revs. Worst thing to do for a noise test.

Everytime I do a noise test, build the revs slowly, that way you'll get a quieter result with less burble and popping etc.

[JayEmm]

It definitely wasn't a foot-full-to-floor thing - we also tried a much slower second run with the exhaust in quiet mode. Exact same result.

I do believe Lotus' quoted number was 109 anyway so doesn't seem wildly off.

[Bibs]

Were you in 'tour' mode? Less than 50% throttle?

[JayEmm]

Yes and yes. First try I had the valve open, second one in quiet mode - it opened at 4,800rpm regardless (or thereabouts)

5,200 was what he asked to test at