New-ish Elise 111R owner in Herts

[westy]

Hey guys thought it's about time I introduced myself as I've been lurking for a while.

Picked up my 06 Elise 111R in August off a certain Mr Blackham. Got very lucky, literally just started looking and he was just getting delivery of a car in pretty much the exact spec I was after.

Car is mainly for track use and so far I've done 4 track days. 2 at Bedford and 2 at Snetterton and the car has behaved flawlessly. Just so much fun to drive, especially through the twisty bits 😁.

Over the past few months I've made a few track focused upgrades.

• RS14 pads and upgraded brake fluid first.
• Fitted new Clubsport spec Nitron's and rear toe link kit. Had the geometry setup and corner weighted.
• Harness bar, Corbeau Le-pro and schroth harness.
• Baffled sump, upgraded oil pickup and upgraded oil gear.

I'm lucky enough that Datum Motorsport (Who run a number of Lotus Cup cars) is only about 3 miles from me, so they've been a great at helping me choose and fit the upgrades.

Pretty happy with how the car is at the moment, probably not going to do any more track days until next year now.

Some other upgrades I'm considering next though.

• Lotus supercharger and EcuMaster ECU -  Datum recommends this over the Hanger111 kit as it's a direct bolt on and doesn't need any other mods to fit etc. (I plan to return the car to stock when I sell it, so going for reversible upgrades)
• Probably a set of track wheels, maybe TD 1.2's with R888 rubber, with 6" or 7" fronts so I can run a slightly wider tyre. Need to research if I'll get any clearance issues.
• Thinking about a GT4 or Elise cup wing and a front splitter to balance it out. But not 100% sure about that right now.

So hopefully get a chance to meet some of you guys at some point if you're into track days.

 

 

[ChrisJ]

Welcome Steve.

Nice to have another Herts member. I've added you to the monthly PM list. We do have a meeting coming up on Sunday. There are a few regulars who go on track days.

 

[westy]

Thanks for the invite Chris. I'll see if I can get along this Sunday.

I'm going to the classic car show at the NEC on Saturday so might need a lye in on Sunday 🙂

[Hangar 111]

38 minutes ago, westy said:

Hey guys thought it's about time I introduced myself as I've been lurking for a while.

 

• Lotus supercharger and EcuMaster ECU -  Datum recommends this over the Hanger111 kit as it's a direct bolt on and doesn't need any other mods to fit etc. (I plan to return the car to stock when I sell it, so going for reversible upgrades)

 

Welcome Steve.

In the interest of balance, if you are using the car on track, the Lotus factory setup is very expensive for something that heatsoaks very quickly - for a road car, it works fine, but with no provision for intercooling, it gets hot quickly on track, and you end up pretty much back were you were on power as the ECU has to protect the engine (or if it doesn't, you get a loud bang!).

Dave

[TheKevlarKid]

I'd be looking at  torsen diff before any other mods, Datum can help you there!!

[westy]

28 minutes ago, Hangar 111 said:

Welcome Steve.

In the interest of balance, if you are using the car on track, the Lotus factory setup is very expensive for something that heatsoaks very quickly - for a road car, it works fine, but with no provision for intercooling, it gets hot quickly on track, and you end up pretty much back were you were on power as the ECU has to protect the engine (or if it doesn't, you get a loud bang!).

Dave

Dave, appreciate the feedback. I'm not 100% set on a supercharger yet, still having a lot of fun with stock power.

Looks like a bit more research is need by me. Does the Hanger kit need much modified to fit it ?

Only thing probably putting me off is the cost to supercharge what I have is I'm then getting me close to Exige S kind of money. Might be worth it if this was a long term car but I tend to change my track car every few years. 

 

[ramjet]

Welcome to TLF Steve.  

So where are all your photos?

Any questions or issues with using the forums, feel free to ask one of us mods. We're here to help.  

[westy]

Here's a few photos from some recent track days

 

 

[Bibs]

Very nice Steve! Welcome to TLF