Braking distance for an 88 Esprit Comm Ed

[88CommEdEsprit]

Hi,

I'm a "newbie" to this list although I've owned my 88 Esprit Commemorative Edition (#76) for almost two years (I bought it on eBay!). I also own a 76 Eclat and a 69 Elan +2S (both of which I've been restoring for longer than I care to remember!), an 87 Toyota Celica convertible with 210,000 miles (the first car I bought when I arrived in the USA in 1987), and a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STi. So I like 4 cylinders!

I'm wondering if anyone out there has a copy of the 20 April, 1988 issue of Motor or Autocar? On page 147 in "Lotus Esprit - The Complete Story", it mentions that this issue of both of these magazines contained a road test of the "new" Esprit, and I'm anxious to get my hands on any braking data for the 88 Esprit. In particular, the distance for a 60 - 0 mph stop. This data is not listed in the workshop manual or any other technical publication/magazine that I have, and I need it to try to convince the "boys in blue" that their radar gun was behaving somewhat erratically when they cited me a couple of weeks ago. Or if anyone can think of any other place where I can get this data, feel free to respond.

Thanks,

Stuart Shellswell

[s4simon]

Well I've just scanned through the write up and there ain't too much on the braking from 60 - 0. Zip actually.

Here's what I have.

Autocar Road Test 1988

Lotus Esprit Turbo

Braking

Response (from 30mph in neutral)

Load / g / Distance

10 lb 0.40 75 ft

20 lb 0.70 43 ft

30 lb 0.95 32 ft

40 lb 1.10 27 ft

50 lb 1.20 25 ft

There's also a test on brake fade, but does not include distances.

I have another 3 or 4 brake tests from different Esprit models and they all run exactly the same tests - ie. braking response 30mph - 0 and the brake fade test from approx 100mph (10 runs).

[88CommEdEsprit]

Thanks for checking, Simon, I was afraid that might be the case. I've had an e-mail from Justin (ozontour) in Australia who has an 88 US-spec Esprit -- he's going to see what he can dig up from a few magazines that he has on the car.

[s4simon]

I've just come across some more braking info.

Bad news is that's it's from the S350.

Braking distances (in the wet)

From 30mph - 11.4 m

From 50mph - 27.8 m

From 70mph - 58.8 m

60 - 0 mph 3.2 seconds

Autocar Magazine 1999 (Road Test No. 4363)