Finally Got A New Toy To Replace The RX7

[sciff5]

Finally got it out on track,
First time to this track, but had a good time. Actually had a couple "moments" on the track and luckily found my biggest on on video from a car chasing behind. He seemed more enthusiastic about it then I was Lol. Is that a "bug-aboo" chant?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ9J_KIpsA8&feature=youtu.be&t=555

And From in the car (not soo much drama) The A052s are pretty progressive during breakaway but I'm not honestly sure what caused this slide so I just let the cars behind me pass and let the tires cool off a bit.
https://youtu.be/gxqygDy3rfs?t=440

That thing understeers like crazy.  It looks like you are braking pretty late and deep into the turns as well.  braking and turning is never good on a racetrack

Do the braking in a straight line, apex late, and accelerate past the apex and she won't oversteer at all. I think I just initiated the turn too quickly/sharply off the braking becuse it slid through the whole corner.

[freeskier7791]

Finally got it out on track,
First time to this track, but had a good time. Actually had a couple "moments" on the track and luckily found my biggest on on video from a car chasing behind. He seemed more enthusiastic about it then I was Lol. Is that a "bug-aboo" chant?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ9J_KIpsA8&feature=youtu.be&t=555

And From in the car (not soo much drama) The A052s are pretty progressive during breakaway but I'm not honestly sure what caused this slide so I just let the cars behind me pass and let the tires cool off a bit.
https://youtu.be/gxqygDy3rfs?t=440

That thing understeers like crazy.  It looks like you are braking pretty late and deep into the turns as well.  braking and turning is never good on a racetrack

Do the braking in a straight line, apex late, and accelerate past the apex and she won't oversteer at all. I think I just initiated the turn too quickly/sharply off the braking becuse it slid through the whole corner.

Ah that makes sense I would assume this thing is twitchy

[largeorangefont]

Do the braking in a straight line, apex late, and accelerate past the apex and she won't oversteer at all. I think I just initiated the turn too quickly/sharply off the braking becuse it slid through the whole corner.

Yea, it looked like you were braking too late and put too much steering wheel in trying to get it to turn... once it slowed enough, the front grabbed and sent the car sliding.

[sciff5]

I need to make up for some lost time so today I did a Trackcross event. $75 and no flagger duty at my favorite track.
The track was actually flooded by a local river ripping entire portions of the track up. The hight of the water was over 6 feet in some spots.
Someone actually caught the start of the flooding. This is the track...

During flooding:

After Flooding:

Now just a little over a month later they've cleaned up the track completely (parts of the track that weren't ripped up were buried in over a foot of fine silt) have the area graded and ready for repaving.
So I was absolutely estatic that it was open even if we were using the go kart infield track to bypass the section that was washed away.




And a lap of the track When a lotus feels like a bus, you're on a tight track:


Car ran well, needs more front end grip, but I can place the weight on the rear under full acceleration and it just sticks. So brake late apex late and keep the weight on the rear and theres just endless grip.
I was getting a very stiff pedal on the same spot in the track. I thought I was fading the pads, but on one of the laps the stiff pedal broke away, which revealed more travel and much more braking force. The ABS on these cars is considered somewhat of a liability, with the dreaded "ICE mode" which leads to a stiff brake pedal and no brake pressure, but the car was still braking pretty darn well, and I only got this sensation consistently in 1 braking zone (after the hairpin) headed at the cones downshifting to 2nd.

[digitalsolo]

Man that really came out great!   Are you happy with it?  It sure looks like a lot of fun!

[MPbdy]

Shit I don’t think a vette would even make it around some of those turns haha! Car looks like a lot of fun.

[sciff5]

Man that really came out great!   Are you happy with it?  It sure looks like a lot of fun!

It looks great from 10 feet but the new paint job is basically ruined. The paint was so fresh and soft that there's already hundreds of rock chips under/near the rear grills. every single panel needs to be re-done almost. So I'm still a bit pissed that the painter basically delivered me the car 2 days before the rally. There's also still a lot of small bodywork items to address as it was hastily put together so I could make the rally and enjoy it this summer.


The stereo with it's massive wiring harness is still a mess
The injectors are still acting up even though I ran some carb cleaner through them.
The front end needs more camber which will actually require milling the upright, meaning I need to pull the suspension completely apart up front and get it milled (will need to do that in the offseason)
The thermostat sticks closed some times, (and it's a massive pain to get to
And my throw out bearing just started squeeking last week.


So to me it's driving but the thought of it coming back apart is just driving me a bit crazy. It still feels kinda far from being back together and a normal car. We're still keeping our fingers crossed every time we drive it.
The Rx7 by comparison once I sorted it mechanically it never as much stuttered. It was bulletproof by comparison.

[digitalsolo]

That’s a bummer.   If you end up reworking any of the paint, you should out PPF on it.

[kinger]

The Rx7 by comparison once I sorted it mechanically it never as much stuttered. It was bulletproof by comparison.

One of the many reasons swapped 7's are so good!  Mine has had a few minor minor quirks in 3 years and 10K miles but for the most part bulletproof and no real need to pull it apart.  Halfspec did an amazing job of course but also fixed many things after getting it driving and I have got to reap the rewards of just being able to drive/upgrade the car! 

That said the lotus is definitely amazing!  I know its a ton of work but you have to be getting close!  One more winter and you should have a solid set up.  Don't sweat the paint, now you can drive it and enjoy it without worrying about every chip.  I need to change my signature my paint is NOT immaculate any more with sticky tires and all the dang sand on the roads here.  Its much more pleasurable to drive now and not worry.  I will re-paint it RIGHT before I sell it LOL  This is how I justify the chips LOL. 

Keep at it bud!

[sciff5]

Thanks guys.
I'll keep you posted, but yes when I get the paint fixed, PPF is necessary (actually comes on the car from the factory) on the front clam and at least the rockers, which flare our in front of the rear tires, and they just get absolutely HAMMERED here. I should take some photos up close so you can see it. You'd think the car had 100k+ miles already based on the number of rock chips.

I might also go with these, but can't figure out how I feel about the look:


Certainly cheaper than PPF though