As some of you will be aware I have been waiting on Ragnorak racing’s 280RR kit for ages now. Both Greg @ Hanger 111 and myself have been given on a number of occasions delivery dates for the first kit only to receive nothing!
So with it clear that the 280RR kit was unlikely to ever see the light of day I had to look elsewhere.
Switzerland
I went for the Bemani kit fitted by Kumschick in Switzerland. It has been around for over a year and has been raced in Europe so has been used and abused (85 kits have been fitted!). The kits strength is the torque. Having driven a 240R at a wet Knock Hill and a 240 Cup on the road it does become apparent that the torque is what overwhelms the driving experience.
So I made contact with Kumschick and booked the car in. The kit uses a charge cooler instead of the intercooler favoured by Lotus. The kit was engineered for 111Rs too so there is a second radiator in the floor of the car forward of the front wheels. The radiator is fed by the front air intakes and expels used air under the car. Due to this there is a couple of kgs lost in down force at the front. A second water pump is fitted to the charge cooler.
The charge cool resides aft of the rear wheels next to the cat, so not ideal but seems to be more effective than an intercooler on top of the engine! They have run a S on their dyno, it pulled cleanly and hit the claimed figures 1st time but soon as there was heat in the engine bay heat sink set in and dropped the output to 210ps! The charger is a Roots type, that runs at a fairly low 0.55 bar and the total kit adds 27kg all of which is low down.
My own little Gumball……
Set off 1300 on Friday 23/06/06 from Edinburgh
Had great fun chasing a 430 Spider down the 702
Brum toll road gone up again but well worth the £3.50 compared with 3hrs delay….
Made it to Dover to catch the 22:25 sailing
Landed in Calais at 01:00
Drove through; Belgium, Luxemburg, France and finally Switzerland my TomTom a lifesaver although, not sure why it thought we should visit half of Europe on the way down!
Stunning driving through France at 0430 with this bright pink sky empty roads…
Made it to the dealer for 0730 was already boiling so just lay out in the sun not being able to get to sleep.
They had some very nice old F1 cars and an immaculate 340R. There was also a S1 Exige with big BBS racing wheels must have destroyed the ride and had regular tyres on it?
Dropped the car off
Jumped on a train to Zurich hopped on a flight to Manchester and then Dublin was back in my bed by 10 having not slepped for 39 hours, visited six countries, 970 miles in 17 1/2 hours including waiting for /then sitting on a ferry for 3 hours. Average speed was 55mph take away the ferry and it goes to 67mph.
Many thanks to the trip sponsor RedBull
Picking it up
Two very slow weeks later and it was time to pick the beast up! Stayed in Zurich on the Friday night and Fredy Kumschick picked me up from the station in a very mean sounding Exige – mine! Asked to go through the set-up so I had a good idea of what to look out for etc if there were any problems. While they had the car I had a baffled sump, oil pressure and temp gauges and cooling ducts to the front brakes all fitted. Unfortunately my 2bular cat did not fit with the charge cooler fitted so went for the Bemani cat which unbeknown to me included manifold, and cat!
First impressions
Incredibly well put together kit – it looks like it should have always been like this! They seem to have a very sensible engineering principle of keeping the car running on as many standard bits as possible e.g. the induction kit.
This principle means that I wont be out of action for months waiting for an obscure part to be delivered. And with 85 cars (many raced) driving around it’s hard to argue.
Driving it
Feels standard up to 2500rpm then it feels like there is a lot of torque.
3000rpm it’s starting to feel silly
4000rpm f8ck me its fast
6000rpm all hell brakes loose
I found myself changing up way to early, take a while to have the balls to keep the loud pedal nailed. It makes a very mean sound, think it would test over 98db but not more than 100db. Plus lots of pops and bangs on the over run. There is also of course an evil wine (louder than on the 240r/cup) from the SC that leaves you in no doubt that this is a weapon! Also due to the sc the throttle needs a bigger prod when H&T. On road from 40mph onwards all you need is 6th! Have to feed it super at least and for hot track days they suggest BP 100 if only it was available all over and did not cost a small fortune! I am also thankful of the AC as the extra heat generated does make its way into the cabin.
Comparison
I have driven a 240r on track and recently a 240 cup on the road so here is my comparison. The 240r/cup are well packaged the wine is fairly quiet, the power is very progressive to the point that they under whelmed me. The standard cars 2nd cam kick is great fun and without the kick some of the drama is lost. The Bemani kit makes a big song and dance. Soon as you turn the key you know something is not quite normal! And while the 240 felt quick the Bechemi moves it on another level. Look forward to meeting a 240 to see just how big the gap is. Overall the Bechemi is a fair bit more focused and more likely to bite the ill prepared!
Spec
Brakes
295/290 mm (F/R) AP5000 discs on ali bells
RS19s pads
Front brake cooling ducts
Wheels
The 240R rims weigh in at 6.1kg at the front and 8.1kg at the rear, 16"x7J and 17"x8J (the 16 spoke cast Exige rims weigh 8.8 and 9,4 kg - 6.5J front, 7.5J rear)
Suspension
Plans 46mm Ohlins soon to be 450/500 spring rates (F/R)
Ride height 120/125 (F/R) (needs to be re done the added weight over the front has dropped the ride height by a mm or two.
Drive train
240R clutch
Quife limited slip diff
Bemani SC kit
Roots sc
0.55 bar max pressure
270ps (at sea level @ 30c air temp)
241 Nm
Charge cooled
Oil System
Twin oil coolers
Bechemi baffled sump
Exhaust
2bular ‘GT3’ 8inch back box
Bechemi Sports Cat & manifold
At Knock Hill
Found I need two cool down laps to get temps back down again. The brakes defiantly take a hammering. I was able to hit a higher gear on all the straights and it was great not to be caught off cam coming out the chicane in third. It most definitely lived up to hopes!
Pics to follow
Heres a vid - from the last ten min of the session, was taking it a little slower in the corners due to the light rain
Love to hear what some of the pax thought of it tonight
Roll on the KH on 19th Aug!
last night.
