The Evora 400 Diaries

[Bibs]

As I've mentioned a couple of times, the valve shouldn't open before 5,500rpm at less than 50% throttle. 

[CocoPops]

And whether it's closed or open, use as light throttle as possible to raise revs to requested revs.

trust me, I've done enough noise tests with my supercharged vx that would blitz the statics if rev'd quickly, but be suitably under if rev'd slowly and gently to the Rev point requested.

[JayEmm]

Well, I welcome anyone else to try at their local track. As I was not intending to go on track I wasn't really desperate to pass. He was pretty decent. There's about three minutes of us talking I cut out the video because it isn't needed. He did say it might get through on the drive-by, but it would be extremely close.

[PaulCP]

The guy at Snetterton is usually pretty amicable to negotiating what revs a car should be tested at. He usually asks for a certain limit but if you can show that 75% of the red line is less than that limit then he will accept it. Also he's not too fussed if you peak at 200 revs or so less than he asks for since there's always the drive by to catch you.

I always had to "negotiate" a little, particularly on evening sessions, in my SC VX220

[JayEmm]

Like I said, I was not attempting to get on the track day, I just wanted to find out quite how bad it is. 

Whilst I have no doubt my technique may be flawed for a static, the drive by is surely the trickiest test to pass. Especially at Snetterton, with a wind that can carry noise quite effectively.

I'm sure the solution to this issue will present itself soon. Lotus know their customers want to track their cars.

[Danelaw]

2 minutes ago, JayEmm said:

I'm sure the solution to this issue will present itself soon. 

Buy an S1 for track use - they made it so quiet you can take them anywhere!

[JayEmm]

As it happens, there was at least one VX220 having fun on track that evening. And a GT-R that sounded quite tasty.

I'll ask the boys at Hethel how they're getting on Monday. I don't mind volunteering my car as a guinea pig.

[JayEmm]

About to go to bed, nearly finished the edit of my Automatic Evora comparison video, just noticed I have now 300 subscribers on YouTube, so super happy with that.

That's far more than can possibly have come from TLF, Pistonheads and LotusTalk alone - so that shows people out there are looking for info on them

[JayEmm]

Anyone know any friendly M100 owners who might let me have a go in their car? They seem like another Lotus with a colourful past and a curious reputation. I'd love to do a mini feature on one.

@phil flash?

[Dave Eds]

Me! 

[phil flash]

Yeah, be a pleasure.  My latest has a 'curious past' and a 'colourful reputation'...

[phil flash]

Some think mine is a nicer colour Dave.

[clivef38]

I have one as well.

[goussama]

On 15 June 2016 at 21:14, JayEmm said:

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. 

I actually don't like the creep of the automatic in sports cars. I drove a few dual clutch cars and I loved how you have to press the gas pedal and it takes a few seconds to start moving forward and there's no creep, as if it was a manual where the clutch is engaging to go forward. Do you think this is something that can be programmable with a torque converter? (Purely curious)

[JayEmm]

Alright M100 boys, form an orderly queue. @phil flash I imagine I will see you on Monday at the Bird in Hand? and @Dave Eds I am sure I'll see you next month as well, if not before?

I will do some homework on them and form a plan. They sound like something of a forgotten car. Certainly popular in these circles though!

@goussama I imagine the creep is a function of the hardware. Personally I quite prefer it. I know they banned hills in the Netherlands in 1452, but we still have loads here. There's a town near me where the whole town is basically one big hill and parking there with no creep function is a nightmare.

[anthonyyule]

29 minutes ago, JayEmm said:

 

@goussama I imagine the creep is a function of the hardware. Personally I quite prefer it. I know they banned hills in the Netherlands in 1452, but we still have loads here. There's a town near me where the whole town is basically one big hill and parking there with no creep function is a nightmare.

when does the video go live James...... im waiting with anticipation!

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

The Dad of one of my friends bought an M100 brand new in 1990. It was a red SE (Turbo) with grey leather and the registration H2LAN. He had it delivered by truck to his home from the dealer (Leicester, I think). Bizarrely, it then sat in his garage for months and he didn't actually register it until early January 1991, because he reckoned a 1991 car would be worth a bit more than a 1990 car when the time came to sell it on. Anyway I finally got my passenger ride in 1991, with my friend at the wheel. He owned a factory fresh Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9, which had always impressed: the M100 had a similar feel, but even more so. Much quicker both in a straight line and round the bends, His dad had a Mercedes 190E 2.6 so rarely used the Lotus and sold it on after a couple of years.

According to the DVLA it is still around but on SORN (MOT expired Nov. 2015, so probably in someone's garage).

One little footnote: the Lotus was bought with the proceeds of selling the family company. There was an awful lot more in the pot than just the Lotus money though. I had been nagging his Dad to buy a new Ferrari 328 GTS, which he could even sell on at a straight profit if he didn't like it. Short term I was right (dealers were selling low milers for 160K), medium term he was right (they dropped to 25K), and now long term I was right again (they're back up in the 150K bracket),

[JayEmm]

@anthonyyule in the next day or two. Uploading is the longest part of the process, but the video is edited and done. It came out longer than I expected (20 mins or so) but I imagine anyone watching a gearbox comparison video probably wants a bit of detail so it's like it is. I think it's quite an enjoyable video, it was a hell of a day between annoying traffic and abysmal weather - but it got done

[CocoPops]

Come on, get a decent net connection

 

[JayEmm]

I pay £130 a month for it, but it's still not decent!!

[CocoPops]

Omg! What is it?

(assuming some kind of commercial leased line for that price)

[JayEmm]

You would think, wouldn't you!!

Nope, it's a satellite connection. The joke is I don't even live in the highlands, the cabinet that serves my regular broadband actually has fibre to it. Unfortunately BT have either forgotten about us, or don't care. The cabinet is 3.5km of cabling away from my house, so by the time it reaches me I'm lucky if I get 0.5mbps down. It was 1.5 when I moved in four years ago and has steadily got worse. I spent years trying to get it sorted, but nobody wants to. So I got satellite, which is sort-of better - but hideously expensive. There's another system being installed here, but annoyingly it needs line-of-sight to our local church and I live in a bungalow opposite a lot of fairly tall houses so I'm knackered for that too!

[CocoPops]

4g?

[JayEmm]

Sadly mobile signal here also flaky, it has improved dramatically but inside my property I'm lucky to get any signal. It's a 60s bungalow so fairly solid walls.

[Danelaw]

23 minutes ago, JayEmm said:

I pay £130 a month for it, but it's still not decent!!

We have poor broadband here, but well within a year we should be on the B4RN network - see http://b4rn.org.uk/

This will gives us a symmetrical (up and down at the same speed) 1 Gb/s service for £30 per month including VAT. It is a community network with diverse routing for resilience, but we have to do the work ourselves. Well worth it in my view. Other places are being held back by providers trying to milk their assets whilst most politicians don't understand enough about the differences between true fibre broadband and what our telcos are allowed to call 'fibre broadband' even though it's clearly coming down old copper wires.

Well done for producing and uploading these videos despite your limited broadband options.