S2 240 vs S3 350 (Updated with Wet Track Thoughts)

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rawsco
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S2 240 vs S3 350 (Updated with Wet Track Thoughts)

Post by rawsco » Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:20 am

So here’s my initial thoughts after the change over. I remember clearly, back when I chopped in a BMW 335i for the S2, letting the little fizzy 1.8 come up to temperature then flooring it in 2nd down the slip road onto the M6. My response was a rather loud and involuntary holy fcuk, Miniblonde’s mother’s did the same when I took her out later that week to scare her sh*t. The Sport 350 had exactly the same effect in almost identical circumstances, holy fcuk, it really is that much quicker than the S2 (Don’t panic, Miniblonde’s mother has not been terrorised yet she may not survive the 350).

Dynamically it’s all there, the trailing throttle understeer the rattles the squeaks the transmission noise etc etc, but open the windows and start to drive it like Walshy told me to drive the S2 and the thing comes alive and very quickly demonstrates that Lotus still make world class cars. It still rotates just like the S2 on entry but the 350 is more open to some power on oversteer on corner exit than the S2, it has the torque to break traction and easily get the rear moving. The traction control softly flattering my ham fisted loud pedal mashing. And it is loud, with a Larini exhaust it sounds spectacular and every bit a mini super car. Pedal mashing a plenty. You feel the extra weight but it brings a security and solidness that the S2 didn’t have and this in my opinion makes it the better road car especially coupled with the grunt from the v6 2000rpm upwards. I also notice the roll bar in the rear, the additional support through tighter corners offering confidence and keeping the rear of the car from squatting diagonally and unweighting the opposite front, presumably helping to bring the rear into play on corner exit a bit more.

The additional mechanical grip easily accommodates the extra mass and I’ve never felt the car carrying too much speed into a corner through lack of braking, or felt the mass overwhelming the P Zero Corsas, it always pulls up hard, turns in enthusiastically with weight on the nose and transitions beautifully to mild oversteer, this is in contrast to the frustratingly planted rear in the S2 on corner exit.

The car was set up by Hoffmans and has a fairly aggressive Geo which is probably helping close any gaps in the dynamics front with the S2, additional -ve camber all round and some toe out on the front I’m told.

Im confident I’ll enjoy the S3 more, I’ll certainly do more road miles, maybe at the expense of track time I think, which to some extent was the point, the S2 was, for me just a bit too focused, buzzy and rattly for road runs and needed its neck wringing to get the best out of it.

I’ll hopefully get booked onto SIDC in September and do a comparison with respect to track driving, for now its 1-0 to the S3 for its on road manners. I suspect track driving will be closer…

In the wet the 350 was mighty impressive, it was much more stable than the S2. I found the s2 twitchy and potentially a little snappy in the wet especially coming out of Clarks, the V6 is much more predictable and possibly less exciting (in a good way). I did feel that the car had a little more understeer off throttle and trail braking in comparison or maybe just neutral. The S2 definitely had oversteer on corner entry which occasionally needed correction. I never felt the 350 asked for any correction on corner entry although you could rotate it, it had a brilliant balance into and out of Macintyre would arc beautifully round with a lovely transition to mild oversteer on exit. On throttle application the trailing throttle understeer definitely is more pronounced but the solution was to just press the throttle harder. I found it challenging to apply enough throttle to punch through the understeer but not too much to overcook it and trigger TC/ESP (I was using sport mode). Clarks especially, too little throttle and you’d understeer wide and need a slight lift, too much and the ESP stepped in. But when you get it right it was sublime. The S2 never really did anything other than neutral / understeer out of clarks. My balls aren’t big enough to turn off the safety electronics, so if you overcooked it then you could feel it grabbing brakes to straighten you out but I get the impression it would have been more forgiving that the S2 and certainly manageable. Once I take a few brave pills and its dry I’ll have a go with the electronics off.

With respect the the understeer, I suspect some tweaking of the tyre pressures may sort it. I called Hoffmans Motorsport who did the geometry on the car and they recommend 28F and 34R hot, I ended up running 28F 32R due to letting too much out at the start. Those pressures from Hoffmans seem right.

Geo as follows:
0.5 Toe out on each front (not sure of the unit, assumming mm).
1.5 Toe in on each rear
-1.25 (might be -1.75 I’ll need to check the geo sheet) camber on the front
-2.25 camber on the rear

Love the car, the throttle response is savage and always takes me by surprise.

Car has a few standard lotus niggles so it’ll be going back to the selling dealer shortly so won’t be going back on track till these are resolved, dry track day review still to come.

In summary Its a one all draw, yes the S2 probably felt slightly lighter on its feet and the more aggressive Geo in the V6 probably compensates for some of the gap dynamically bringing it closer than it might otherwise be.

Thanks to Jonny Gordon at David Hayton for a great sales experience and delivering a car as described on a distance sale.
Last edited by rawsco on Fri Aug 24, 2018 1:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Rawsco
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campbell
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Re: S2 240 vs S3 350

Post by campbell » Wed Jul 25, 2018 1:16 pm

Mouth watering review.

Well done on all counts Ross
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Re: S2 240 vs S3 350

Post by scott_e » Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:34 pm

:thumbsup great review , really interesting stuff.

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C7Steve
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Re: S2 240 vs S3 350

Post by C7Steve » Wed Jul 25, 2018 6:41 pm

Thanks for the write up and glad to hear that you’re enjoying the car. :thumbsup


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Last edited by C7Steve on Thu Aug 30, 2018 2:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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BigD
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S2 240 vs S3 350

Post by BigD » Fri Aug 24, 2018 1:33 pm

Good review and similar to my thoughts when I changed from my elise too.

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Re: S2 240 vs S3 350 (Updated with Wet Track Thoughts)

Post by pete » Tue Aug 28, 2018 2:41 am

Good read
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Re: S2 240 vs S3 350 (Updated with Wet Track Thoughts)

Post by jossm » Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:05 pm

Out of interest...why are you going back to where you bought it from to get niggles fixed instead of leven lotus? Any chance I could come and listen to your exhaust still not sure what route to go.

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rawsco
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Re: S2 240 vs S3 350 (Updated with Wet Track Thoughts)

Post by rawsco » Tue Aug 28, 2018 7:06 pm

jossm wrote:
Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:05 pm
Out of interest...why are you going back to where you bought it from to get niggles fixed instead of leven lotus? Any chance I could come and listen to your exhaust still not sure what route to go.
Purely from a they sold me it therefor they should fix it lots of obligations on the retailer in addition to the warranty under consumer rights act.

No bother welcome to have a listen, in my opinion it sounds great, it’s not valved but is very quiet when pottering about.
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