New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

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DJ
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by DJ » Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:17 pm

Your car is certainly living up to the 'alia' bit of Alitalia!
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by LotusLee » Mon Nov 09, 2020 1:37 pm

That looks superb Jim :thumbsup 8)
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by IanD » Tue Nov 10, 2020 9:51 pm

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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by H8OAG » Sat Nov 14, 2020 11:07 am

Morning Jim

I was just staring at your pretty rear end.......

Is it an urban myth that the rear lights come from a Fiat 850?
The myth also went that Ford raided the same parts bin for the GT40

Bring it to Comrie soon....when its finished
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by campbell » Sat Nov 14, 2020 11:54 am

That would be a nice meet. Socially distanced teas in your yard, Iain?

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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by hendeg » Sat Nov 14, 2020 12:37 pm

Fully clothed!!!
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by renmure » Sat Nov 14, 2020 6:15 pm

I'm not sure my pretty rear end will be going anywhere near Comrie. Well, certainly not until Spring. :wink:

Anyhow.. an update that's nearly all good... but not quite.

I went down to observe the IVA test. Because it was a factory built car the time allocated was 2hrs rather than the 4hrs-plus that's required for owner/builder tests. Before the test the guys at Listerbell only had a concern about the CO2 emissions readings but on the day the tester was fairly amenable to adjusting things to get the right result. It sailed through everything else... until the very end when it failed, according to the figures generated by the rollers and computer, on an issue with the front / rear brake bias. My technical nous isn't the best but it seemed to be that the rollers were saying that the rears would lock up long before the front.

This was a bit of a shock to Craig, the man behind Listerbell, who had set up the brake system and had set things up exactly as all the other cars that had passed IVA. He's also fairly experienced with other makes of cars and race-car set-up so was a bit gobsmacked. You aren't allowed a driver adjustable brake bias system for the IVA but he was given a bit of leeway to adjust things so jacked up the side of the car and checked that brake pressure could lock the front wheels but still allow the rears to "just" rotate. He took the car out into the carpark and practiced heavy braking and it was clear that the fronts were locking up first and he adjusted the brake bias to give even more emphasis to that for the purposes of the test. Unfortunately, much to a lot of head scratching, the computer again said, No.

The result is a partial pass with only the brake system to be retested for a full pass. Craig suspects either user error by the tester or a calibration issue with the test equipment but you can't really argue the toss of that at the time. He is going to take the car to a local MOT station with a similar roller set-up on Monday to get a different perspective on it so I'll update that later.

For what it's worth, the car weighed 960kg with a full tank of fuel and the exhaust noise test was 96db with the IVA friendly exhaust (he reckoned mine would be around 108db with the Group 4 exhaust)

I actually quite enjoyed the day. The car got loads of positive comments and a number of folk came over from other parts of the centre to see it. I also followed Craig and the trailer back to the Listerbell workshop after the test and could see loads of cars on the road slowing down to take a look and lots of cameras poking out of windows taking pics. I may have to get used to a bit of attention.

Have to confess that sitting in the drivers seat, even stationary, felt really weird on the "wrong" side and it felt like a very deep dashboard and a long way back from the windscreen. I'd also no idea where the front of the car was but I guess the quad-pod lights should help there. I think it still looks a bit "cute" without all the rally regalia and race decals but they are all ready to go on. Anyhow.... progress is progress :)

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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by campbell » Sat Nov 14, 2020 7:13 pm

Jim

This just gets better and better.

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Scotty C
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by Scotty C » Thu Nov 19, 2020 2:14 pm

I really like the way the decals look just now.

Fingers crossed you get things sorted soon.
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by renmure » Thu Nov 19, 2020 3:52 pm

Scotty C wrote:
Thu Nov 19, 2020 2:14 pm
I really like the way the decals look just now.

Fingers crossed you get things sorted soon.
The session on the rollers at the MOT station was put back till tomorrow so I'll know more then.

Because I've always mentally pictured the car as a full rally-rep I think it looks quite naked without the race decal set so am going for the full shock-and-awe effect from the outset. 8)

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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by mik » Mon Nov 23, 2020 1:24 am

Why didn’t you tell people it was ready!

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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by ScottJ-PS » Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:57 pm

I think it looks good as it is and may look a bit OTT with full Alitalia livery. Suppose you can always remove the decals at later date if it is too much of a good thing .

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renmure
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by renmure » Mon Nov 23, 2020 9:18 pm

ScottJ-PS wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:57 pm
.... and may look a bit OTT with full Alitalia livery.

OTT is the plan :thumbsup
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by douglasgdmw » Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:04 pm

I agree - OTT is the best way forward.

You will stand out anyway, so may as well make it an even bolder statement :)
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Re: New(ish) car .. not really Lotus Content and a long wait..

Post by renmure » Wed Nov 25, 2020 8:11 pm

So.. things are still moving forwards.

Tomorrow the car is off back to the paintshop to be flattened and polished as the final part of the paint job then it will go back to Listerbell sometime next week. The IVA retest for the brakes is on Monday 7th Dec. It's only the brakes being retested so I believe that should be a formality and the paperwork so it can be registered as a new car can be done that day. After that it will be back to LB for the decals and all the post-IVA modifications to make it a bit more rally-spec wild then a quick trip back to the rolling road to have the tuning set up on the new, more aggressive cams.

Re the brakes. The car went to an MOT station for a session on their rollers and brake testing equipment. I think the general consensus seems to be that all the time the car had been having the rolling road sessions previously had helped bed in the rear brakes and obviously made them really efficient. In comparison, the fronts hadn't been bedded in and were only gently used, up to 30 mph, for the speedo calibration runs. So, the IVA equipment showed an imbalance in the front/rear efficiency. Anyhow... that seemed to be the accepted wisdom and having now bedded in the fronts all is good......... fingers crossed :D
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