"Hopeless" Exige 350 Sport

[Mattmahope]

At last! Some small progress to report. The TVS1900 kit ended up being massively delayed in shipping from Australia and only finally arrived at Komotec last week. Daniel and team are still working at the moment but running a reduced staff and hours for obvious reasons, so work on my car is also delayed. However, the car went into their dyno yesterday to do some baseline running and mapping to fix some of the bugs before they install the kit. Should provide a useful point of reference to compare to once the kit has been installed.

 

[MrP_]

Glad its moving! Suddenly thought of you last night when I was doing bits on the car that you're is stuck in another country and at least I could still do stuff to it-  hopefully you can get it back sooner rather than later 😀

[Mattmahope]

First glimpse of the TVS1900 unit. It’s a beast!

[alias23]

So excited by this!!!! Also shows how Komotec direct can literally provide any option to the market ... Great news Matt and hope this pandemic finishes soon so you can get a season out of this beast!!!

[Mattmahope]

Updated dyno results with a bit of mapping but still my original hardware. A healthy 401PS.

[Mattmahope]

After what feels like an absolute age (my car has been in Mendig since mid January), the new TVS1900 kit is finally installed!  I am really pleased with how it looks in the engine bay from the the limited pictures I have.  And it certainly does the numbers on the dyno - 493hp and 523NM of torque.  The kit is capable of plenty more but we have kept to reasonable levels to avoid the need for forged internals and gearbox work at this stage (at least hopefully!).

My biggest concern is that the clutch will hold up.  I fitted a new Evora 400 clutch in October 2018, which seems to cope fine with the EX460 kit, although mine has around 50NM more torque, so will be right at the limit.  I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on alternative clutch options from anyone running big power/torque on their cars.  From my research it looks like Exedy and XClutch are the two obvious candidates, although finding a clutch that is able to deal with track driving and that much torque (and potentially more in future) on one hand, while also having good road manners on the other hand, might be a bit challenging.  I couldn't help but notice that Exedy do a very tasty looking carbon option, although I remember all those tales about the Carrera GT's clutch when that was released and not sure I fancy having to warm it up each time I start driving! Still pretty cool though...

http://www.exedy.co.uk/products/mt-sports/hyper-carbon-d

[Mattmahope]

You can see two traces on the dyno chart.  The black lines are from the full power run, which will be available in "Sport" and "Race" modes.  The red lines are the reduce power setting in "Touring"/"Road" setting.  This limits power to around 400hp and torque to around 450NM, which I figure is ample for most normal street driving and should hopefully improve fuel economy slightly.  Switching to "Sport" mode gives me access to full power but still with full traction control.  Going into "Race" mode retains full power but slackens off the traction control, which can be adjusted via the rotary dial and switched off entirely if required.

Here are a few pictures of the installation.  While it has taken an incredibly long time, Komotec has been brilliant and Daniel has kept me fully updated on progress.  He is still working on ironing out the last few "bucks" (as he calls the "bugs") in the mapping but assures me that the car will be fully ready for collection by the bank holiday weekend.  I really couldn't be more excited.  The wait has been long, the process has not been without difficulty, but I hope ultimately it will all be worth it!

[KJD]

Excellent. Proper numbers those Matt.

Should be a right giggle when you get to give it a squirt.

[tim_marra]

The install looks interesting, I thought the CC TVS1900 needed the slatted carbon hatch for clearance?

[Mattmahope]

1 hour ago, tim_marra said:

The install looks interesting, I thought the CC TVS1900 needed the slatted carbon hatch for clearance?

I have the standard 350 Sport slatted hatch which is fine.  The Harrop CC TVS1900 doesn't sit quite as high as other charge cooled versions since it doesn't use a sandwich cooler below the supercharger.  I think it may even fit under the standard S glass hatch, but I'm not certain about that.

[MrP_]

Looks bloody brilliant @Mattmahope! 

[W31SSN]

Great numbers there. Love the idea of switchable maps to the track and on the track. 
I was booked in with Komotec pre virus, for their 490 package (using the 410,430 supercharger unit). Would be interested to hear your reasoning on opting for the 1900 unit and price differences. When I contacted Hoffman’s, just supplying the unit was pretty hefty. 

[Mattmahope]

2 hours ago, W31SSN said:

Great numbers there. Love the idea of switchable maps to the track and on the track. 
I was booked in with Komotec pre virus, for their 490 package (using the 410,430 supercharger unit). Would be interested to hear your reasoning on opting for the 1900 unit and price differences. When I contacted Hoffman’s, just supplying the unit was pretty hefty. 

The main reason is that if I wanted the 410/430 supercharger unit, I would have bought a 430 Cup!

My Exige is very much a personal project car.  I have done all the work in stages and tried to always go for the "best of the best" option wherever possible.  To my mind the Harrop TVS1900 supercharger is the best unit out there and gives me flexibility to go for even more power in future with forged internals etc.  My installation takes the best bits of the SSC kit and the best bits of the Komotec kit (plus a Zircotec-coated full 2bular exhaust) and puts them all together in one car!

[Mark030358]

Brilliant...!!

 

[Mattmahope]

2 hours ago, Mark030358 said:

Brilliant...!!

 

Thanks Mark!  And thanks for your help/advice.

16 hours ago, MrP_ said:

Looks bloody brilliant @Mattmahope! 

Thanks @MrP_, that's very kind

[Markymark]

That is going to be a monster.

Would be great to get some V box acceleration figures say 100-200 km/h with that much torque

[Mattmahope]

3 hours ago, Markymark said:

That is going to be a monster.

Would be great to get some V box acceleration figures say 100-200 km/h with that much torque

Anyone got a spare a Vbox they can lend??

[Arun_D]

2 hours ago, Mattmahope said:

Anyone got a spare a Vbox they can lend??

I haven't moved on my AiM Solo 2 yet after getting the MX2E dash. It can do performance stuff in addition to track datalogging.

[Mattmahope]

Last Sunday evening I flew to Frankfurt.  I stayed in an airport hotel for the night and early next morning I took a train to Hockenheim.  Daniel and his Komotec team were at the track for the day with a bunch of customer cars, including a very racy Exige Cup R and Evora GT4.  More importantly from my perspective, they also brought my car with them for the long overdue hand-over.  I had toyed with the idea of having the car delivered back to me in England, but Daniel insisted that we did a hand-over in person.  I made it to the track without any problems and found my car waiting for me in the pit lane.  First impressions were that the installation looked superb.  The engine bay was tidy, all the parts super high quality, the new supercharger unit filled the space nicely and looked like it meant serious business!  The whole thing was at least OEM standard, if not better.

Daniel told me to go take it for a drive and then we could discuss any questions.  So I made my way down the pit lane, turned right away from the track, through the paddock and found a large empty piece of tarmac out the back of the circuit where a couple of cars were occasionally heading for some basic warm-up runs.  I did a few runs back and forth, both at full throttle and at crawling speed, and a couple of doughnuts of course.  Full throttle felt very strong but hard to get a full impression given space was limited so could only just about get into third gear.  At low speed, there was still quite a bit of the jerky/rough idle that I had before, which was disappointing.  So I went back to the garage to pick up Daniel, he plugged his laptop into the ECU and then we drove back out to the space of tarmac.  I showed him the problem and he tweaked the ECU mapping.  It certainly improved things, but it was clear that it was never going to be perfect.  This remains the biggest drawback.  The car is not happy at very low throttle openings, as you would be in crawling traffic for instance.  It splutters and turns jerky and occasionally stalls.  It is manageable, but annoying.

I spent a good few hours at the track watching all the cars and chatting to loads of owners of both Lotus and others, which was great fun.  Porsche GT3 RSs were by far the most popular weapon of choice, and looked and sounded fantastic on track, but there was a great mix of other machinery too, all of it pretty serious!  Then it was time to hit the road for the drive up through Germany to Hook of Holland, where I was catching a ferry back to the UK over night.  The drive went smoothly and as soon as the car was out on the open road it was clear that the kit ran superbly.  It felt so linear and strong - very much OEM plus in nature.  The sound was also terrific.  Less supercharger whine than before, but still just the right amount on top of a deeper almost V8 rumble at times.  As the revs rise though it really howls, even with the 2bular quiet track silencer I have fitted.  The car absolutely rips through the gears now and still pulls like a train in 6th.  Even the "Road" map with "only" 400hp feels such a leap forward because of the extra torque.  The "Sport" map adds nearly 100hp further, although to be totally honest I couldn't feel as much of a difference between the two maps as I was expecting.  That might be because it was hard to really push the limits on public roads with this much power, especially on my first drive, so I need more time to explore the difference between the maps properly.

I was absolutely loving life until I was 50km away from the ferry, when I heard and felt a light bang and then a load of rattling from behind me.  Initial thought was that something had fall off or got caught under the car.  I immediately slowed right down, coasting in neutral until I found a spot to pull over.  Fortunately there was a gap in the armco and I managed to back into a safe area.  I popped open the rear deck fearing the worst, but fortunately there was no obvious catastrophe - no fire, no oil, no pieces everywhere.  On closer inspection however, it was clear that the outer edge of the supercharger belt had frayed and a strip had ripped off and was lying at the bottom of the engine bay.  I called Daniel, who was concerned and very helpful.  He said that the car would still run as long as at least part of the belt was on but he couldn't guarantee how long it would last.  I decided to continue to the ferry as I was starting to run out of time and make a decision when I got there.  I limped the rest of the way, sticking to 55mph and avoiding putting any load through the belt as much as possible.  It seemed to work, I made it to the ferry and called Daniel again.  He said that he would come collect the car, take it back to Mendig and fix it first thing in the morning.  He also said he would book me a local hotel for the night.  I agreed to do that, rather than leaving the car there and getting the ferry home alone (I was on a tight schedule due to work but decided to juggle it as I had my laptop with me).  So I re-booked the ferry for the following night, turned around and headed back the way I had come, still sticking to 55mph and trying to be as gentle as possible.  I met Daniel at Eindhoven airport.  By this stage it was gone midnight.  We loaded the car onto his truck and drove the rest of the way to Mendig together, arriving around 2.30am.  We parked up the truck and the Daniel dropped me at my hotel for the night before he headed home himself.

The next day, I just left Komotec to fix the car, while I stayed in the hotel working.  I got a message around 2pm that the car was ready so I packed up my stuff and walked round.  Daniel immediately told me that they had made a small mistake in the fitting and the pulleys were fractionally out of alignment.  This had caused the belt to rub and ultimately break. He was highly apologetic and said he had given my car a full geo reset as a token gesture.  While it had certainly been a hassle for me and caused a bit of stress having to juggle work, I could not have been happier with how Komotec handled the problem.  Daniel went way above and beyond to help get things sorted as efficiently as possible, which says a lot about the man.  The set up they have in Mendig really is very impressive indeed and I am sure I will be back before too long!  Problems happen, it's how you deal with them that matters, and I can't speak more highly of the service I received.

So then it was back on the road again, and this time made it all the way to the ferry and then home without any incidents at all.  I even managed to get in a couple more doughnuts for a bunch of kids with camera phones out at a drive-though McDonalds coffee stop where there was a big piece of waste tarmac round the back.  The car felt amazing and absolutely ridiculously fast.  You can blast past virtually any traffic (even fast moving German executive wagons) in a heartbeat with just a flick of the throttle.  I am looking forward to testing it out further over the coming weekend (and in particular exploring the differences between the two maps more fully) and hopefully on a track day soon.  Sadly the Evo Magazine day at Goodwood that my wife got me for my birthday on Wednesday has been postponed, but I am sure I'll find something else before long.

Finally, in case helpful or of interest to anyone, below is a list of the current specs of my car:

Charge cooled Harrop TVS1900 supercharger kit
Komotec front mounted radiator and other hardware
Larger 76mm throttle body
Komotec EX500 larger carbon air intake
550cc fuel injectors
60l fuel tank
Moroso Baffled Sump
ECU Master EMU Black ecu
Bespoke dual mapping by Komotec
ECUMaster ADU7 dash
Lotus OEM Traction Control Adjustment Dial
2bular EPK headers/down pipe/sports cat
Zircotec Performance White coating for headers/down pipe
2bular track back-box/silencer with carbon tips
Evora 400 clutch & flywheel
Quaife LSD
Komotec Gearbox Oil Cooler
Ohlins TTX 2 way adjustable (800lb/1050lb road and 950lb/1250lb race springs)
Seriously Lotus Forged rims
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres 215/45/17 (front) 285/35/18 (rear)
Performance Friction 08 brake pads
Alias 23 side sills, full length front splitter and carbon wing mirrors with alloy stems
Lotus 430 Cup rear diffuser
DJ Racecars carbon rear wing with painted end plates
Schroth harnesses

[Bibs]

Excellent service, their reputation is very well deserved! Love the pics too, some serious hardware there as you say!

[Mark030358]

@Mattmahope Hi mate, So happy for you. I think I said a while ago after my upgrade, the KT are just fantastic, really customer focused and their kit is as you say, OEM or better. I was really impressed when I went, and given your experiences just confirmed what I have always thought, that for an expensive upgrade such as this its the only place to go.

Interesting re your low throttle openings, the Ex460 is exactly the same when starting from cold and needs say 1/2 mile to settle down (i.e. the engine to warm up) but after that is perfect. I did the Alps in mine last year and your right, the cars just rip through the gears... and the howl Is beyond belief 👍👍

cheers

Mark

 

ps you now need to get hold of Dan to make up the front and rear decals, they are exact as I sent him a template when I did mine. His work is first class.

 

[GFWilliams]

I'm glad you made the right choice with a trip to Germany, I can't wait to see your car in person!

[Woots]

Looks and sounds awesome, what a monster

[Mattmahope]

2 hours ago, Mark030358 said:

@Mattmahope Hi mate, So happy for you. I think I said a while ago after my upgrade, the KT are just fantastic, really customer focused and their kit is as you say, OEM or better. I was really impressed when I went, and given your experiences just confirmed what I have always thought, that for an expensive upgrade such as this its the only place to go.

Interesting re your low throttle openings, the Ex460 is exactly the same when starting from cold and needs say 1/2 mile to settle down (i.e. the engine to warm up) but after that is perfect. I did the Alps in mine last year and your right, the cars just rip through the gears... and the howl Is beyond belief 👍👍

cheers

Mark

 

ps you now need to get hold of Dan to make up the front and rear decals, they are exact as I sent him a template when I did mine. His work is first class.

 

Thanks Mark! As you know, you were certainly part of the inspiration behind my trip.

Can you share some pictures of your decals please?

[Suto]

Wow, great car, great upgrades!!! Seriously, love it!!