nibnob21
Premium Member
Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
User status: Offline
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Sexy knob mate.
Small tasks like that are always my favourite.
MX5 Project Thread
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3CorsaMeal
Member
Registered: 11th Apr 02
User status: Offline
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I would have placed it dead centre on the circular mat, but that's just me
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Chris C
Member
Registered: 2nd Jan 05
Location: Hemel Hempstead
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Wasn't Steve a knob polishing expert ?
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I attended a Lotus on Track Croft trackday yesterday, so a wee update to talk about that.
Set off nice and early, collecting my passenger for the day Simon en route. We then headed off to meet some North Yorks Lotus owners club members who would also be attending. About 20mins into our trip, Simon noticed my EML had come on  First time I've had it in the Lotus, and it would be on the way to a bloody trackday 
Initially the car felt fine, then realised I wasn't getting any power and the car wouldn't rev above 3-3500 RPM. Bugger! We limped to the NYLOC meet and had a poke around in the engine bay, nothing amiss but left my code reader at home.
Simons' brother lives about 10mi from Croft, and had a code reader so we decided to limp onwards to his house to see what was going on. What felt like an eternity later, we got the code reader plugged in and pulled code P2138 which was a throttle pedal position sensor issue.
Stuck my head into the footwell (harder than it sounds) and saw nothing odd, gave the wiring a wiggle and then we cleared the code with the reader. The EML then stayed off for the rest of the day, with no evidence of the symptoms returning. One to watch I think, and my code reader has earned a permanent slot in my trackday toolkit.
Also somewhere on the journey there, I picked up a stone-chip that looks like a house brick has been dropped onto my bonnet
Eventually, we got to Croft and got the briefing sorted and the day underway!
Weather had been looking bleak all week, but we actually got a bit of blue sky and the damp track was drying quickly. On our sighting laps, there were massive puddles on the inside apex' of most corners but they soon dried out with the exception of "Sunny Out" which stayed wet almost all day!
Onto my first proper laps, this was the first "virgin" visit to a track I've had since Oulton a couple of years ago(?) in my Subaru. I was a little slow identifying my interpretation of "the line" and I was veeeery slow in the morning. Just before lunch we had a bit of a downpour, caught us whilst we were out on track and it didn't take much rain at all for the car to start feeling very unsettled on the faster corners, of which there are a few at Croft.
After lunch and fuel, it was dry and sunny again and would remain so for the rest of the day.
I started picking up a bit of confidence and adjusted my lines on a few corners considerably, I never felt good about "tower" though so that'll be focus of next time around, and the fast esses to Barcroft section made the car feel very "unsportscar-like"...
The esses are very fast, many cars can take this flat I believe but I was trying to glide through with neutral throttle in the 85-95mph region. Upon turn in, the grip would be delayed slightly as the weight transferred over and then I had similar on the second of the esses in the other direction. Barcroft felt better but by the time the car settled on exit of that you're balls deep into the braking zone for Sunny. Very exciting stuff and a brilliant track layout, but really tested my commitment and has left me feeling lacking in that area.
I'd like to think some car tweaks will raise my confidence with the higher speed stuff, reduce body roll a bit and make the weight transfer less dramatic - but obviously it's mainly a "me" problem.
Despite my concerns in the faster stuff, the car was bloody fantastic under braking, REALLY good. Initially I was mimicking other drivers on the braking points on the big braking zones but concentrated on finding my own sweetspot. When leaning on my brakes properly and getting close to the braking/grip limit, I found myself going far too slowly at corner entry, so gradually pushed back my braking distances and it felt like I ended up being close to getting it right on some corners, some of the time  Both Simon and myself felt a bit car sick towards the end of the day, probably related to my braking exercises!
Some time mid afternoon I had a solo session, and I think I said this last time at Blyton but the car feels so different when only 1up. I really couldn't tell the difference in the Subaru but the car feels better in all areas without a passenger. Physics I know, and seems an obvious thing to state - but with my finger in the air I'd reckon the passenger was worth at least 1.5-2secs to me yesterday.
I feel like I was making gradual improvements through the day, but I'm still nowhere close to my potential yet. Somewhere mid-afternoon I had a really bad session, the car just felt numb and all over the place but after a short break all felt fine again. Tyre pressures were nowhere out of the ordinary but I was getting loads of rubber marbling on the tyres, whether a characteristic of the Avons or Croft I'm unsure, but perhaps my tyres just got a bit messy and it reduced grip a bit until they cleaned up.
We called it at 16:30 just as the rain came back, but already I cannot wait to go back.
Tiptoed home, and parked the car up after another safe and successful track day. It wasn't a day I came away from feeling like a godlike racecar driver, it was actually quite humbling but it's given me plenty to work on for next time.
I have some GoPro footage to sort, will post up later.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
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Next time you book on let me know 
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anthcorsa
Member
Registered: 18th May 07
Location: Middlesbrough
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Absolutely georgous that car!! Pure track weapon. These expensive to buy?
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chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
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circa 15k
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by chris_uk
Next time you book on let me know
Will do 
quote:
Originally posted by anthcorsa
Absolutely georgous that car!! Pure track weapon. These expensive to buy?
Cheers man. As Chris said, £15k is a good figure - would be a very good price for one the same spec as mine. The 111R like mine seem to be hovering around £17k, but some of the other specs can be had for low teens.
I think anything from an S1 118bhp to a big power VX like Chris' would be an absolute hoot to drive.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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chris_uk
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jul 03
User status: Offline
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For a track car you would be better spending 15k on a vx.
At work i just put a track package together for someone, a 250bhp charged car, nitron suspension, td's abd r888's, propper pagids pads etc and it came to 14.5k
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7z9RUaNMOQ
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I was browsing around Amazon as you do, and found some black gunk that claimed to restore leather somewhat, and cover over cracks/worn areas.
It was about £4 in the Prime sale, (now seems to be £7.99) so thought it was worth a punt.
My target was the steering wheel, it's on the list to get a retrim as the leather is looking a bit tatty and worn - hard to photograph but here's an attempt:
I used a trio of products, Gliptone to clean, this new Amazon stuff to restore and then the Gliptone protection stuff over the top.
After cleaning the wheel and letting it dry, I got to work with the Amazon stuff. Very runny and messy, but just kinda dabbed it on with a rag. After leaving it to dry, I lightly buffed it off and could immediately see some improvement... but not enough.
3 or 4 coats later, the wheel actually looks pretty good.
I also did my doorcards, the passenger one was particularly scuffed up (occupational hazard of being a Lotus doorcard I guess) and this stuff has at least made the scuffs black and hence harder to see. I may get some leather filler and have a proper go at them another time.
I'll see tomorrow whether I just end up with black hands after driving it, and be back to square one - but I've done a few passes now with a clean rag and I don't seem to be getting and residue. Pretty impressed, as usual though the pics probably don't do it justice!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Simon_16v
Member
Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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It has definitely made an improvement, was pretty dull before.
You could do the Clio's steering wheels if you fancy it 
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I don't think it fixes melted plastic 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Tomnova16
Premium Member
Registered: 21st Jan 06
Location: Gerrards Cross Drives: Porsche 911
User status: Offline
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we do alot of elises, the headlights ar an easy fix
Sand down the top layer back to plastic with 320 then work up to 800
mask off the clear area and spray the black section. remove the masking and clear the whole thing
http://www.lemass.co.uk/ for all your automotive/bodyshop needs
Located in Chalfont st Peter
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Cheers Tom, I'm guessing you mean from the inside out to restore the black stuff? I imagine I didn't take enough meat out of the plastic to remove the white clouding.
Mail order service? 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Tomnova16
Premium Member
Registered: 21st Jan 06
Location: Gerrards Cross Drives: Porsche 911
User status: Offline
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no all done from the top no need to split, i did four today lol
yes you can post them to me and ill sort them
http://www.lemass.co.uk/ for all your automotive/bodyshop needs
Located in Chalfont st Peter
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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My Clam is coming off for some work end of next week so I may post them over.
One of which can almost certainly be fixed from "the top" or outside, but the other I'm convinced is clouded up internally... happy for you to have a crack though
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Kyle T
My Clam is coming off for some work end of next week so I may post them over.
I posted this, as you can see.
The reason for getting my clam off:
1) Replace the radiator, as the OEM ones have a weakness in the plastic end tanks. I'd rather pre-empt a failure and get an all ally one in.
2) Replace the fan, as my current one sounds like a bag of spanners
3) Replace tow post/strut, they rust to dust.
4) Respray the front clam after "the Croft" stone
Number 4 I was a little unsure about, seemed daft to respray the front for stonechips only as these cars attract them anyway, but last night I got a real reason to get it repainted...
Rabbit strike at 60mph
The clam was already booked in for paint for end of next week, so going to see the bodyshop today to make sure they can fix it and see how much it adds to the cost... gutted!
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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VrsTurbo
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jun 10
User status: Offline
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Hows the rabbit?
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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In pieces mate, In fact I think I saw it enter a lower earth orbit
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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VrsTurbo
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jun 10
User status: Offline
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I had a pheasant take out my grill and dent my oil cooler. It smelt for days!
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tom130691
Premium Member
Registered: 13th Sep 08
Location: Daventry
User status: Offline
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have it clear wrapped after paint, had it done on my st as they chip really bad, cant tell its there
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Been to the bodyshop this morning and he didn't look too scared of the damage, said he can cut it out and layer up some new fibreglass and restore the gelcoat OK. It's not added a massive amount to the respray cost, so happy days.
quote:
Originally posted by tom130691
have it clear wrapped after paint, had it done on my st as they chip really bad, cant tell its there
I've been back and forthing on this for a few weeks now, can't decide what to do. First issue is that I need to leave fresh paint 10 weeks before applying a wrap apparently, I bet it gets chipped in that time. Second, there are loads of Lotus' with front end wraps, then a line of stonechips just above where the wrap ends Finally, it's expensive, I might as well just pay for a yearly respray... 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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VrsTurbo
Premium Member
Registered: 8th Jun 10
User status: Offline
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10 weeks? that seems odd! I've seen spanking new cars that go straight to wrap and they haven't been sitting for 10weeks
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nathy_87
Member
Registered: 14th Aug 08
Location: West Mids. Drives: koda Fabia VRS 5J
User status: Offline
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Just read this from the start and it looks an awesome motor. With the Exhausts personally I prefer the look of 111s looks more subtle. Bit of a bitch with the rabbit but he got what he deserved.
[Edited on 28-07-2016 by nathy_87]
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