The Evora 400 Diaries

[JayEmm]

49 minutes ago, Gashead1105 said:

Will watch later James. Any pics from Sunday or were you just shooting video? 

Mostly video will, I believe Greg did get some photos.

I had hoped to talk to a few people and get some people on camera, particularly the other Evora 400 owners, but I wound up spending far too much time chattering, having a good time and talking about cars! Nevermind

[Stuno1]

Top work mate. Great job. Presentation like anything will develop over time. Don't script or it will sound like it is just that ... A script.

[Gashead1105]

Well, I watched it all, strangely entertaining actually. I don't think Harris or Clarkson have anything to worry about (yet!) but I've seen a lot worse (schmee automotive springs to mind!). Good work!

[JayEmm]

I'll take that as the compliment I think it's intended as Will

The intention is to be entertaining, informative, there are unlikely to be many shots of me going sideways shouting "POWEEERRRRR" but I would like to think I know one end of a car from the other, unlike some of the Supercar "vloggers" out there. Some of my videos I really want to focus on the technical aspects of what make Lotus stand out

[Gashead1105]

27 minutes ago, JayEmm said:

I'll take that as the compliment I think it's intended as Will

The intention is to be entertaining, informative, there are unlikely to be many shots of me going sideways shouting "POWEEERRRRR" but I would like to think I know one end of a car from the other, unlike some of the Supercar "vloggers" out there. Some of my videos I really want to focus on the technical aspects of what make Lotus stand out

Oh yes, definitely a compliment. Not something I'd be brave enough to do either!

[DaveC72]

James.  I thoroughly enjoyed this, thanks for taking the time and effort of putting it together.  

I actually liked the guerrilla, unscripted style - and at the risk of sounding unnecessarily hip, it felt "real".

A7S is an incredible little CSC and you've managed to get great results from it.  Did you have any grip and what lens did you use?

I think it beholden to us all to support you in your endeavour - so sign up and register people.

I'm looking forward to see how our very own "Evora reality show" shapes up and develops.

Oh, and I too am in the minority camp with the lettering

[JayEmm]

Thanks @DaveC72. To answer your techie questions, there was no grip at all on this one - just my able assistant Sam!

Lens, we had a selection but I believe almost the whole thing was shot with the Samyang 35mm. If you're interested we shot with the SGamut3.Cine/S-Log3 profile and I just used the LC709A conversion LUT as a quick grade.

[The Pits]

3 of us?!

It's the L.O.T.U.S. letters appreciation society!

More members than the Jar Jar Binks fan club already!

 

[JayEmm]

A little sneaky peek for the forum of a feature I'm currently shooting for the vlog

[Snoopy1969]

Seeing this I remember the times when an Esprit V8 was compared to a F 355........ so easy game for the 400 under objective criteria :-)

ooh and many thanks for the huge amount of time etc putting this together, I have watched the whole Thing, and, well, you will always see some guys complaining (for a short time I was thinking I am on a german Forum... ;-) - easy decision: no on e is forced to look at it, please just go on the way you want your vids!!!!

[Snoopy1969]

Seeing this I remember the times when an Esprit V8 was compared to a F 355........ so easy game for the 400 under objective criteria :-)

ooh and many thanks for the huge amount of time etc putting this together, I have watched the whole Thing, and, well, you will always see some guys complaining (for a short time I was thinking I am on a german Forum... ;-) - easy decision: no on e is forced to look at it, please just go on the way you want your vids!!!!

[mcx]

Nice video, thanks for taking the time to put it together. I have a problem now, I'm going to have to go and drive one..

[darcivic00si]

Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed the whole video. Looking forward to the next one!

[JayEmm]

Thanks Guys

@darcivic00si it's for the guys in the states that I hope the next few videos might be particularly helpful - I know there are very few cars in US dealers and not many reviews will cover boring stuff like practicality etc...

 

At least here we are usually within an hour of a dealer if we fancy one

[Bibs]

1 hour ago, JayEmm said:

I know there are very few cars in US dealers

There aren't any - Deliveries start in July/August.

[kokostrollet]

Great video and looking forward to the upcoming updates of the channel! As for the video length and format, I think around 10-12 minutes is (at least in my pov) the optimal length for a car review or update video. For inspiration, I personally think Matt Farah´s "One Takes" from The Smoking Tire is great at capturing the feeling of a car in a video format that is neither too ambitious/feeling overdone at the same time as it gives you all of the details/inspiration and information you need as a presumptive buyer. Plus the humor which I found in your video as well. Think you are off to a great start and as there aren´t many Lotus focused channels around, I am sure you will find a loyal audience along with Dr Pittenstein. 

[JayEmm]

Thanks Koko. I agree. Sub 20 minutes is the aim for all future videos, with 10-15 being the target. I'd rather have more, but smaller chunks. This one just had a lot to cover.

I'm glad you appreciate the humour, we're talking about cars and having fun so I don't really want it to get too serious. Matt's one takes are very good and I really like the guy as a presenter, not something I can say of too many American show hosts.

I've got 50 subscribers and 500 views from that one video alone, so I'm very happy so far. I'm working on about three more videos this weekend, just about to head off and shoot the Ferrari vs Evora piece.

[JayEmm]

Here's the next uploaded video. Not technically part two, more of a "bonus" video. After filming yesterday I offered my friend a chance to drive the car - he leapt at the opportunity and we decided to capture his reaction on film.

I think all of us who've spent time behind the wheel of a 400 can empathise with his reaction!

 

[Barrykearley]

 Like two kids in a sweet shop !!

love it

[Danelaw]

Shows how good the ride is as there seems to be no shake or vibration on the camera - unless this is some fancy mounts and trickery.

[JayEmm]

22 minutes ago, Danelaw said:

Shows how good the ride is as there seems to be no shake or vibration on the camera - unless this is some fancy mounts and trickery.

No, a cheap £10 eBay mount and a Sony action camera. The camera does have a steadyshot function but it was turned off so we could get a nice wide angle shot.

The car is superbly well damped. On the driveway I have a 207 Van, a Civic Type R, an E46 M3 and the Lotus. The Lotus, despite being the fastest car there is the second most compliant (the van is fairly wallowy and soft). It's miles softer than the M3 or Civic. In fact the Civic is much stiffer than the BMW.

[JayEmm]

A more boring diary update - the car is now wearing its proper number plate, E4 VRA.

My local precision engineer kindly cut the number plate bracket down for me. However, upon investigation I found that the number plate holder was actually fitted about 10-15mm off-centre. Enough to notice. Very annoying as getting it dead centre is incredibly easy. So I had to put five more holes in the front lip. Fortunately the mounting kit covers the wrong ones. Minus points for JCT600 on that one.

[Colin G]

You're more generous than I am James, I haven't let anyone drive my 400! To be fair I only ever let my brother drive my sports cars, but he's a bit worried about driving this one I think due to it being the most expensive I've owned.

[Danelaw]

4 hours ago, JayEmm said:

So I had to put five more holes in the front lip. Fortunately the mounting kit covers the wrong ones. 

You're adding lightness already!

[JayEmm]

Here's the next video in the series. This one covers the spec/options list. Given how different Lotus are from Porsche/BMW/Audi/Ferrari/Aston etc... in that regard I thought it was worth doing a video explaining the spec.

I would hope that this video's maybe of most use to the guys in the USA etc... who may not have a local, easily accessible Lotus dealer and who are trying to work out how to spec their cars.