Phaeton91

Thruxton skid pan experience in my Evora. Not sure if this is the right place but happy for it to be moved if necessary. When my wife asked what I wanted for Christmas I opted for Thruxton’s “skid pan experience in your own car”. Quite reasonable in price, I wanted to get a much better feel for what the car does past the limit of grip. I’ve done a bit of drifting before in MX5s and 350z’s and was expecting something a bit between that and the circular skid pan at Benz world which is really a wet donut circuit. Thruxton is quite different. It’s not flat for a start and so you get adverse camber, and either the road falling away or climbing with little or no grip. The grip or lack of it is also inconsistent all the way around the circle. This is intended to introduce real world sudden momentary loss of grip as one might experience on a roundabout or a bend. Hence, the objective at Thruxton is to just drive at a steady speed in a circle and aim to react to what the car does, with the freedom to then try all of the drive modes in a highly controlled environment. The car’s reaction could be a combination of understeer, oversteer, complete loss of grip under braking or a combination of all. Speed wise, we are talking about 2nd gear and at no point did the revs get beyond 4k. Due to the highly polished surface, this is supposed to mimic a much higher speed loss of grip. I initially kept the sport button off. The traction control works by braking the appropriate wheel to try and bring the car back in line. I very quickly wanted to get out of normal mode because the ABS was kicking in constantly. The problem though was that it hardly corrected the car at times due to there being complete lack of grip (ABS needs at least some grip to work) and the vibration from the brake pedal just got annoying. In handling terms the car was very understeer prevalent even with brand new Goodyears on front and part worn PSS on the back. The rear would also then come round but when the rear did go it wasn’t too snappy. In Sport mode the ABS is still quite active. I’m sure the slip tolerance is much higher but I still felt that it was trying hard to control the skid but not achieving much because there was such a lack of grip. Potentially, winter or all season tyres would have made a huge difference just to be able to get some purchase on the front end, but again, understeer was very prevalent unless being very provocative with the accelerator. Race mode, turns all the traction off it seems. I didn’t hear the ABS kick in to correct a slide although ABS definitely remains on under braking which is a relief (and maybe even a legal requirement). I didn’t get any sense that Race mode learnt from the first oversteer event - perhaps it was just too slippery, but it was actually a much more enjoyable experience doing the circles in race mode simply because the car was not seeming to work aimlessly to correct slides. I’m sure if there was some grip, or if perhaps I was on winter tyres, it would be different, but as a result of this I stayed in race mode for much of the time. There are also parts of the P shaped circuit which are wet but not icy smooth and on the occasions I tried to kick the back out with moderate revs. I was surprised how stable the rear was - again, understeer was order of the day, unless I had a lot of angle in the steering. In summary, very low grip induces mainly understeer which was not too scary. After a few understeer moments and initially trying to add more lock, the thinking brain kicks in and straightening the steering helps get things tidy again. Trying to turn in on adverse camber have even more understeer to the point it was uncontrollable and the car just kept going straight. Unless of course, the front near side wheel hit the slippery patch mid turn - this gave immediate understeer but then as soon as the rear touched that same patch (signifying black ice) it all switches round pretty quickly. Because of the time of day (8.30am) I had the whole thing to myself to do as I pleased and I think I really got a better feel for the car than I would have got in 1000s miles of normal driving. Hopefully I will never experience slip levels like that on the road but it was well worth doing and for £125 it was good value I felt. It was also not hard on the car due to low speeds and the highly polished surface. I’d recommend it therefore.

I can echo this. The idea was that I would be able to use the rear seat for occasional with the kids (10 and 13) when I bought, but the 13 yo has never sat in the back (he now has size 10 feet) and the 10 yo has only been in a few times. He’s never looked comfortable because: Roof line is low. It’s quite dark in the back - more so than the 911. The engine is closer (I think) and so it’s a bit more noisy and hot. That said, the flat bench means that it’s great for increasing general luggage capability. I think though it comes down to the thing I often think which is that one of the things I love about my Lotus, is that it’s not a Porsche. .

Thanks for the comments. After much deliberation, a few hours of you tube and same on various forums I’ve gone with Goodyear F1 Supersport on the front in place of my 7 year old (with plenty of tread) PSS. Fitted yesterday (Tyres on the Drive who I can recommend), I had a run down to Thruxton this morning. Immediate observation is that there is a substantial difference in feel between these and the Michelins. This manifests in significantly more stable steering on any road surface and the crazy tram lining of the PSS is gone whether on motorways or a/b roads. The steering wheel no longer moves continually in my hands. I’m not entirely sure if this is good or bad yet. I don’t think I’m losing important feel but I guess I’ll work that out over time but it is certainly a bit more grown up now. I still need to play around with pressures etc. In terms of decision making, I had it down to Conti 7, PS4S, PSS and the Goodyear. The biggest swing factor was the tyre reviews test where the Conti 7 won, but the presenter gave an unequivocal recommendation for the Goodyear on anything that either sees a track or is a dry weather sports car. Incidentally, my trip to Thruxton was on their wet painted skid pan in my car. Objective was to finally work out what the sport and race buttons do, plus to get a feel for how the car moves once grip is completely lost, which it regularly was. I’ll write up my thoughts later.

Picking up this thread and also @jerzybondov - how are you finding the continentals? I’m getting a bit concerned about my front tyres. There is still loads of tread but they are dated 2015! Starting to see some very slight cracking in between read blocks and want to get them changed before the summer. I still have good PSS on the back, so will likely go PS4S front but open to other suggestions too.

Says something about how right the design of the Evora was when the Emira definitely doesn’t steal the show here. Oh for those mirrors though ☹️

Has anyone successfully received their deposit back? I placed mine in July 21 but given the Emira delays ended up buying an Evora in 2022. I’ve now concluded that I’m going stick with the Evora and in February requested my £2k back. Was contacted soon after and told it would be with me in 10 days or so. 3 months, multiple emails and almost zero communication from Lotus later, I still haven’t got it. It’s gone far beyond the value of £2k for me now and is exasperation about being ignored and much as I like Lotus, my options are narrowing down. Is this a common experience?

It shouldn't be difficult to unclip the A pillar moulding trim so that you avoid having to mask off or damage the dash etc. You just won’t be able to remove the trim completely from the car without disconnecting the tweeter cables or cutting and reconnecting the tweeter wires (tweeters are glued in place).

The thread Bibs suggested is a good place to look and within there is a link to a thread in Lotus talk that may be more helpful than my notes which are for the 400. I took the option of buying a new centre brake light, boot latch and cover which allowed me to avoid removing/refitting the original items for true plug and play. However, if you do need to remove the upholstered trim on the underside of the boot lid, it looks like it is held by 7 plastic fir tree fixings which you’ll most likely need to prise apart with a plastic trim removal tool. I haven’t done it myself but am basing this on the parts manual for the Evora 400. Experience with other trim panels is that if you are prising in the wrong place then it feels wrong, but if you get the tool in line with the (hidden) fixing it pops out relatively easily. I can’t help with the light fittings I’m afraid and would recommend adding one to your shopping list of uncomfortable with cutting wires etc.

I think the seller is making the right call. It’s one thing to want a perfect car but would that crack change the driving experience in any way. Not really, so it becomes the buyers choice as to whether to get it done or not. My only concern is whether it could potentially get worse over time so even if you went the carbon vent cover route it would be prudent to do something to bond the crack so it doesn’t get bigger.

Can see how much weight there appears to be at the back now so I can’t imagine this conversion has done the handling any favours.

Great to hear. I’m new to Lotus ownership but if I can still keep going at nearly 80 I’ll be a very happy man. Congratulations!

If the seats do not recline or have airbags, is it possible to swap the driver and passenger seat? The damage will then be on the inside partly covered by the centre tunnel. Duck tape will cover the worst of it and you’ll neither have to look at it each time you open the door nor explain it to passing admirers. You could potentially fashion some sort of covering for it (I’m thinking adapting a pair of harness pads) along with a matching one for the drivers side.

It’s quite subjective but I didn’t find it hard as such, just slow and the main reason for that is trim removal and access. I suppose it depends how patient and light handed you are and whether you have basic tools (trim removal etc) and levels of competence with trim and wiring. Before embarking on the route below, I pulled the head unit out and considered running new speaker cables from the connector blocks there but felt this was going to be far more complex. Hence I agree with your comment. From memory: Removing the sill covers (see above)is a challenge without buckling the Evora name plates, but once the metal bits are off the plastic sill covers themselves unbolt/unclip and come off easily. For driver side, The fascia trim under the steering wheel unbolts. Can’t remember how many hex bolts there are but fairly easy to access. There’s an extra bit of this trim to the side which contains the little cubbyhole. This is bolted and you’ll need to unclip the adjacent side panel before accessing the second bolt. This allows the carpet to be removed from the footwell and then the sides of the passenger compartment (after removing clips). You should now be able to see the white connector blocks at the end of the tweeter wires. You’ll have to unwrap the tape along the loom up into the dash to get to the bullet connectors. This involves contorting oneself into the footwell looking up. Once you are certain you have the right wires, you’ll have to either cut them or splice into them. I cut the wires well after the bullet connectors so I had plenty of wire left to play with and for the new connectors to be easily accessible. Given where the bullets are (right up in the dash) it would not be feasible to splice / cut before them. Removing the A pillar trims is also necessary but very simple. Once the white connector blocks are unclipped the tweeter cable feeds through easily - same for rethreading the new tweeter cable down through the dash is easy. Getting the old tweeters out of the A pillar trims was not easy at all as they were glued in. It took a drill/dremel a hair dryer and lots of gentle persuasion to loosen the glue enough to remove them with no damage to the plastic housings of the A pillar. This could not be done in the car - it’s a work bench job. Once out the plastic seats on which tweeters sit may need to be trimmed back depending upon the size of your tweeters. On the passenger side, it’s fairly similar but you’ll have to take the glovebox out which is a bit fiddly albeit not complicated. Changing the door speakers was a doddle in comparison. Overall, for the first time doing it on a go slow to avoid damaging anything, it’s a good day’s work. I also found a couple of hex bolts missing from the trim panels which I have now replaced meaning the dash is tight and squeak free again which in itself adds to driving enjoyment no end. I also rewrapped or wrapped all wires in cloth tape and all connectors in foam to finish properly and protect and also to avoid vibration. Worth doing a job properly after all. Just to add to your sound set up comments, adjusting fade to more rear bias also gives a bit more depth.

Don’t worry it’s not a dumb question - who would want to risk damaging their car or making something far worse for the sake of asking a question? Have a watch of this video. It’s not a Lotus engine but the layout and location of the MAF sensor is very similar. As electro-boy says, there are screws to undo - just be extra careful not to drop them as almost impossible to find them again. On the Lotus MAF sensor, you spray from underneath. Look carefully for the little wires and you’ll see 2 separate sets. Only use specific MAF sensor spray - nothing else, and do not touch them with fingers or anything else. Oh and I’d suggest you take a photo or close up video of the way the zip wires are tied so you can redo them the same way. The traction light is very strange in that it cuts power. Possibly for the best that it’s in the service centre for that.

My experience has been that the brake sensor is an issue for the traction control light and cruise control but not engine codes. The MAF sensor should be cleaned - do it a few times, ie, spray it let it dry and repeat a few times. It’s something you can do yourself with a can of CRC MAF cleaner spray. Make sure you get in all the nooks and crannies. Then maybe look at where you are getting your fuel from - have you changed at all. I found that it’s sensitive to fuel choice and I now only use shell v power. Hope that helps - it’s a relatively low cost exercise to check this route out.