Lotus Exige Cup 380

[Swiss380Cup]

And @Nightfire there's a thread to compare GT4 and Exige.... to me the GT4 is a Boxster ladies car with a wing..... with a lot of useless things inside...... starting with stereo, a/c, insulation, carpets, navigation, etc. etc. etc. etc. and regarding performance the same 380 Cup with the correct output which can easily be obtained after a software update, the Cup should be ahead. Who would want to have the same car as the hairdresser down the street (nothing against hairdressers....)....

But if you prefer the GT4 please yourself and do buy one... or since you're in NATO, buy yourself a HUMMER with machine guns on top and go out on track blowing away all other cars, you'll be ahead no question.......

[The Pits]

Panamera Turbo is faster than the GT4 around the NS too. So should GT4 owners get one of those instead? If not, why not?

A Golf GTI Clubsport has done a time within a few tenths of a Murcielago LP640. Not that VW would ever cheat of course but even if that were true, does it lessen the LP640?

Is the Carerra GT really rubbish and slow because the Alfa Giulia QF has gone quicker? How about the 911 GTS Sport Auto time of 7.24, matching the 600bhp GT2 RS, beating the Lambo Aventador, Ferrari Enzo, Pagani Zonda, thrashing the Carrera GT. Nearly 20secs faster than a Cayman GT4?!

One or two armchair drivers here ought to question some of these times before declaring one car superior to another based on nothing more than a Sport Auto laptime.

[CRM82]

Don't know why the discussion went on the GT4 comparison. But if I go back a few pages I see first all excited about this NS lap going to be shown soon, then all pissed about the actual lap, then all discussing why this car is great or not.

Now, my point of view, a benchmark is relevant only when it is meaningful, and this is the problem with Hethel lap time: it does not mean anything - we have zero references. NS is the place where all major car builders goes, so I think Lotus should go there (and not send a car magazine to do that work) and record the best lap time they can. There are all the possible type of turns there, uphill downhill, and a long straight. It does not require humoungus preparation, and for sure they can do better than any magazine. 

Then I suggest they check all cars on the dyno before shipping, particularly 100k+ cars because, a lack of hp is a real major issue and cannot happen systematically.

If they do not do that, then they have to live with consequences... 

[Barrykearley]

It’s not an f1 car..... it’s a road car designed to be used daily.

What’s more important is driving experience and what the individual desires.

having driven Porsche’s - I’d frankly rather slam my cock in a door

[The Pits]

NS laptimes will never be meaningful until the car makers stop cheating. Motorsport is all about cheating and getting away with it, right the way up to F1. So it's not going to stop. But we can start by assuming that they are all cheating and enjoy the ring lap videos for what they are, good entertainment but not take the times too seriously.

All this 'my car is faster than your car' stuff based on ring laptimes is laughable. What matters is how fast you can drive your car. Not many here can go under 8 minutes in anything so this is why the way the car drives is so much more important. Hilarious all these people slating the Exige on some quarters of the internet when they can't get near its potential anyway. Total armchair experts. As such, their opinions are just noise. What matters to me personally is how my car performs relative to other cars on trackdays. Lotus cars seem to perform very well in this regard which raises some interesting questions on its own. But out there in trackday land they seem to be performing much better relative to other cars than they do in Sport Auto's hands. And this is on many more tracks than the Lotus test track.

[CRM82]

4 minutes ago, Barrykearley said:

It’s not an f1 car..... it’s a road car designed to be used daily.

What’s more important is driving experience and what the individual desires.

having driven Porsche’s - I’d frankly rather slam my cock in a door

Yes sure, we all need 200kg downforce and a big rear wing in our road cars.. 

[French Frie]

at a charity event(Telethon), I had the opportunity to meet the owner of this brand new Cup 380 ... He was pleased with his purchase, and I was impressed by the CF parts quality, and even more impressed by the fact that I found the CF seats quite comfy and adapted to my quite large hips  ! I won't have chosen this colour combo, but each to his own ...

[C8RKH]

Lovely car that and I love the colour combination. Striking! 

@Cristiano - the point about the wing and downforce is moot given that a lot of owners who buy an Exige CUP do actually take their cars on the track where they do actually use the wing and the 200lbs of downforce. 

Let's stick to talk about the 380 CUP as per the thread title. There are plenty of other forums and sites where you can talk about Porsche's and their merits all day with people who actually give a shit about Porsche's. Unsurprisingly, on a Lotus forum, I prefer to hear about Lotus cars. Of course you can continue to wind us up on here about how the GT4 is such a superior car but I feel the responses you get will be less and less friendly as you push the point.

[CRM82]

Sorry man... Really I don't get you here. I did not discussed anywhere about Porsche superiority (please quote me if I did). I said that Lotus should go on NS and do laps there as other car manifacturers do (including Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Alfa, etc..) to get convincing lap time and performance comparison. The Cup 380 can clearly get a better time than the one from the Auto Sport magazine.

I drive a cup 380 and I am happy with that (also clearly said in past posts). I didn't like the 430 to be released in this time frame (people can agree or not - this has also been already discussed). Really I never said anything about Porsche superiority or better performances..

Please read better what I wrote before commenting...

 

[NW76]

@C8RKH the only one that seems to be wind up here as soon as any comparisson is made seems to be you. And your tone is a bit to unfriendly for my taste...

I appreciate an open conversation and comparisson and we all should. ?

[Barrykearley]

I’d rather not compare a British handcrafted masterpiece of engineering with a mass produce German automobile

chalk and cheese. If I had unlimited money - I’d support cars built in the uk 

[NW76]

@Barrykearley then you better walk the talk and hurry up and buy one ;-) ... 

[C8RKH]

OK guys I'll butt out respectively.  My reading of the way the thread was going was that it was going to be another GT4 v Exige, Nordschleiffe times are the god of determining how good a car is or is not etc.

TI'll admit the many references to the GT4, the NS, "kit cars", and what I read as sarcasm re the wing and 200ibs of downforce wound me up.

Apologies for any offence, but maybe, just maybe, we can reduce the Porsche love-in a little at times. I'll restrain myself.

[NW76]

@C8RKH we all love the Lotus brand... maybe sometimes even a bit too much my wife would say... ✌️

 

[C8RKH]

I agree.

[Barrykearley]

2 hours ago, NW76 said:

@Barrykearley then you better walk the talk and hurry up and buy one ;-) ... 

I’m a classic car man chap - you lot just look after them well for 20years

[Maxi_z]

 

Exige cup 380 in Italy fitted with sequential gearbox

 

Edited December 11, 2017 by Maxi_z

[Top cat]

Woah! what a difference that makes. 

[The Pits]

Good to know that the noise limits at Monza are pretty relaxed! 

[NW76]

@Maxi_z very nice ... looks and sounds like a lot  of fun!!! They should have taken yours for the NOS lap time ???

Btw: do you have to press the clutch for downshifts?!? 

[cbaileyuk]

Standard fare for V6,  2bular equipped. Noisy.

[paomanto]

Hello from the Philippines! 

[Maxi_z]

9 hours ago, NW76 said:

@Maxi_z very nice ... looks and sounds like a lot  of fun!!! They should have taken yours for the NOS lap time ???

Btw: do you have to press the clutch for downshifts?!? 

It s not my car its another exige cup 380 in Italy that is fitted with a full 2bular exhaust and they just fitted a sequential gearbox.

I don t know but I think that they should depress the clutch for downshifts

You technically can fit those sequential gearbox to not use the clutch but usually they fit the parts to upshift without clutch but not downshift

I think it was the first trackday they did with the sequential so probably the driver should get used to it and they can fine tune everything

 

 

[The Pits]

I can't imagine the cost of doing all this (Cup 430 money and more I suspect) but the results are pretty spectacular if you can find a track that will let you make that much noise. Or live near Monza.

 

 

[geartox]

14 hours ago, Maxi_z said:

 

Exige cup 380 in Italy fitted with sequential gearbox

 

 I need that in the 430 built and homologated by lotus