Scottish Elises

After getting pads fitted I took Mac for a burly in the hope he could identify the source of my creaky rattle noise. Noise only happens once the car is hot so soon as the oil was up to temp I gunned it a bit to make sure it was hot enough.

Soon as I get on second cam Mac exclaims, "God, you and Ed are really sh*t drivers!"

Apparently the acceleration of our Exiges, sorry, S2 coupes, is a huge step up from Macs car, he reckons we should be lapping KH a good bit faster then him

Mac, surprised you havent been in an Exige yet, you're welcome to drive mine next trackday. If I am daft enough to let McApe drive it I would be happy to let you have a shot too.

*cough* feel free to return the favour when you get the Caterham

At the last SIDC day I ended up jumping between several cars; Ed's, Tom's and Mac's.

I did not feel that Mac's was that much slower than the xige. It felt well sorted, and nicely communicative. I found it easy to drive on (and beyond) the limit, but also drive (IMHO) fairly quickly.

Each car had it's own very distinctive character, each with positives & negatives. My ideal garage would have all three in it .

I didn't think the 111R/Exige felt that much quicker than my car and the paper figures don't suggest they are either. I think the switch to 2nd cam suggests there's more happening than there actually is. None of them have ever pulled out a huge gap on the straights at KH so there's not much to choose. Also I reckon Mac's car is slightly quicker than mine due to the gearing, lighter and more bhp (although I don't know what mine has now).

Mac seemed to think it pinned him the the seat more, maybe he was just winding me up

I was of the belief that there wasnt that much difference either.

I thought Ed's car was quick on the way back from Newcastle.

but only on second cam, it's the change between the two cams thats impressive. Until that point it aint that quick. I recon the low down power on my little (lighter) car would give them a fright on real roads... not so much the track.

Ask AndyG, I was keeping him honest on Saturday.

John Reid wrote:I thought Ed's car was quick on the way back from Newcastle.

but only on second cam, it's the change between the two cams thats impressive. Until that point it aint that quick. I recon the low down power on my little (lighter) car would give them a fright on real roads... not so much the track.

Ask AndyG, I was keeping him honest on Saturday.

Its only when you can really use 2nd cam that the diff is evident, which was the case last time I was on track with Si at KH, and with John yesterday.

Always interesting to see the wee differences, but ont track the difference is really on the straights, which can't equate to that much time over a lap. Make a mistake and its going to be pretty close

I reckon a car feels quicker from the pax seat than one you're used to from the driver's seat, it's to do with things being a direct action from your inputs whereas as pax you're not fully aware of what inputs are being made...

Just a theory



Having just read that over, it may well make no sense whatsoever but only to my weird mindset

rossybee wrote:


Having just read that over, it may well make no sense whatsoever but only to my weird mindset

I got what you meant straight away

rossybee wrote:I reckon a car feels quicker from the pax seat than one you're used to from the driver's seat, it's to do with things being a direct action from your inputs whereas as pax you're not fully aware of what inputs are being made...

Just a theory



Having just read that over, it may well make no sense whatsoever but only to my weird mindset

Me too - Perhaps it was just be flexi neck, but I did feel like I was getting pinned to the seat when the second cam kicked in. I might also have been that I'm still a bit nervous driving that road and it seemed like warp speed.


Also for a swap kenny - no problems - it's not like we would need to move the harnesses too much either



Mac

Thats spot on Ross, it always feels faster to me when I am in the pax seat as opposed to driving.

Its probably for that reason that I have hardly ever been on the road as a passenger with a fast Elise driver, plus the fact that I would always sooner be driving my own car.

tut

Agree totally. It feels miles faster when you are a pax , and the loss of control makes it even more so.

Second cam feels pretty potent when you first experience it too...thats what sold me the 111r!

I am always surprised how little difference there seems to be in real straight line performance between all the various Elise/Exige variants. At the recent SIDC day I was following Robin in his 135R, and it seemed just about as quick as the Exige on the pit straight, although admittedly I had a pax and he didn't. I have also previously followed Mac around for a few laps, and his heavily tweaked S2 seemed as quick as the Exige in a straight line up to about 70ish, with my car only slightly reeling him in a bit at the end of the straights. Always feel faster as a pax though, especially with the second cam kick.

Mark