Emira track impressions

[NorCalEmira]

Look no farther than formula 1 for the apex of engineering. Mid engined (ahead of the rear axle)with a significant rearward weight bias is what you'll find.

 

[gcmak]

Using all the track, love to see it.
Driver knows how to be patient and get the car to rotate too, really nice.

 

[Tracked Emira]

Greg emailed me today that hopefully adjustable upper control arms may be ready by the end of the month.

 

[seriously]

Greg emailed me today that hopefully adjustable upper control arms may be ready by the end of the month.

I assume this is an impactful mod. I’m surprised this is so little camber flexibility out of the box.

 

[OppositeLock]

So, on a different topic, I logged my coolant temperature (OBD-II ECT channel in AIM). We had 102F outdoor temperature, and I was pushing hard. The coolant temperature started out around 195F at the beginning of a session, over a couple laps rose to 211F and then stayed between 211F and 219F for the remainder of the session.

The entire time, the instrument cluster display showed a flat 200F.

So, now, I have definitive proof that this car has "idiot gauges" which don't show real temperature, but rather a faked one to make you feel secure or something.

 

[jp129]

You have AIM hooked up to your car? What protocol are you using and do you get majority of the channels available? I see the Evora as an available protocol in RS3, but curious what protocol gets you the most data.

My data from an ELM OBD2 dongle and racechrono backs up your observation about the ECT display. I too only see 200F on the dash even when racechrono sees 200F beyond. I'd like to wire in an AIM SOLO 2 DL but wanted to see what data streams we can capture.

 

[OppositeLock]

I'm just using the OBD-II feature in the Solo 2 DL, generic CAN, and it works great. It supports limited channels; RPM, Speed, TPS, PPS, ECT, IAT, Fuel Level, MAF, MAP.

There's no Emira specific mapping of ID's, so maybe the car exports more. I've not had time to investigate.

 

[jp129]

Is boost pressure, afr, or ign timing available?

I have a lot of hours on the AIM PDM32, but new and ignorant to the Solo line. I suspect it's all in the RS3 config like the PDM32?

 

[OppositeLock]

MAP gets you boost pressure if you can figure out what the ambient pressure is (it's related to temperature and altitude). In my car, it goes from ~2 (meaning -12psi vacuum) to 20 (meaning about 6psi of boost) on the track.

Yes, Solo2 DL is like any other full featured AIM product, it's got the same expansions, works with the data hubs, it's just not a dash. It's fully configurable via RS3. If you can figure out the CAN ID's you want to log in the Emira, you can create a "Custom" ECU which requests those channels via the OBD/CAN protocols, I just don't know what they are.

 

[jp129]

Thank you for confirming. Looks like I'll move fwd with the Solo then. I swear this forum just bleeds my wallet dry

 

[gcmak]

So, on a different topic, I logged my coolant temperature (OBD-II ECT channel in AIM). We had 102F outdoor temperature, and I was pushing hard. The coolant temperature started out around 195F at the beginning of a session, over a couple laps rose to 211F and then stayed between 211F and 219F for the remainder of the session.

The entire time, the instrument cluster display showed a flat 200F.

So, now, I have definitive proof that this car has "idiot gauges" which don't show real temperature, but rather a faked one to make you feel secure or something.

I also noticed a discrepancy between the screen + what my solo was displaying (one of my Solo screens is setup to monitor vitals). I have the i4 Emira. Separately, on the road I have a bluetooth OBD reader which connects to my phone and there's a CarPlay app...it also shows different values from OBD vs dash.

In the very few reported cases of a coolant line rupture on the i4s, the owners reported temps that suddenly go from normal to red overheat. I'm more inclined to think Lotus has just programmed the display to be vague.

 

[OppositeLock]

It's standard to program displays (even analog gauges, which are all just digitally driven) to display a consistent temperature, voltage, whatever, because people are silly and complain to dealers if it ever deviates from the center. If something is actually wrong, idiot mode turns off and it shows you that there's a problem, but it's not useful in letting you know whether you're on the upper or lower side of normal. I, for one, would like to see if I'm approaching the red before it happens. Without intermediate readings, an idiot gauge is just a warning light.

 

[netsinah]

A question for you "track-rats": my last time in the Emira (3rd day; spread out over 2.5 months) on the track this past w/e, I came away with tires that picked up what appears to be "track asphalt" that seemed to be melted in uneven patches/lengths, onto the tires. This didn't happen the first 2 times, even though my first track day was very dry with a hotter track (it was warmer out and more people on the track) and tires that got hotter than this past time.

The track started out a bit wet due to rain the night before...followed by a bit of drizzle in the early morning, but the rest of the day the track was completely dry and it was ++ cloudy and the sun escaped the clouds for about 1.5 hours in the afternoon resulting in hotter temperatures (reaching about 25 degrees Celsius, or 77 degrees Fahrenheit, for ambient air). The humidity remained high the entire day; likely higher than the prior 2 track days. I didn't notice anything weird until driving home from the track after my last run in the late afternoon: I heard an odd noise which I first thought was brakes or something warped due to heat, but then learned it was tire noise due to the extra "coating" on parts of each tire, moreso the fronts. The fronts looked to be at least a third covered.

It took me 15 minutes to drive home, with half that distance at or near highway speeds. The next morning, I drove to work and listened to this same noise, in the 25 minute drive to my local tire shop including about 20 minutes of highway speed freeway driving. So none of that dislodged my unwelcome "tire passengers".

Is it due to increased wear on my (stock OEM summer Good Years) so less tread? That seems unlikely. I'll probably need to replace them, with 2 more track days. Or improper air in my tires? (unlikely; I did check when checking the lug nut torque). Or something due to track conditions? Or higher humidity? Or a combo? Has anyone experienced that? Other than paying over $300 to remove this, are there any other easier solutions?

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures before having my tire shop remove each tire to clean off its surface; a fun job since the asphalt was really stuck onto the surface. They peeled it by hand initially then purchased a solvent, to better pry it off and dig it out of the treads.

 

[Ceej]

A question for you "track-rats": my last time in the Emira (3rd day; spread out over 2.5 months) on the track this past w/e, I came away with tires that picked up what appears to be "track asphalt" that seemed to be melted in uneven patches/lengths, onto the tires. This didn't happen the first 2 times, even though my first track day was very dry with a hotter track (it was warmer out and more people on the track) and tires that got hotter than this past time.

The track started out a bit wet due to rain the night before...followed by a bit of drizzle in the early morning, but the rest of the day the track was completely dry and it was ++ cloudy and the sun escaped the clouds for about 1.5 hours in the afternoon resulting in hotter temperatures (reaching about 25 degrees Celsius, or 77 degrees Fahrenheit, for ambient air). The humidity remained high the entire day; likely higher than the prior 2 track days. I didn't notice anything weird until driving home from the track after my last run in the late afternoon: I heard an odd noise which I first thought was brakes or something warped due to heat, but then learned it was tire noise due to the extra "coating" on parts of each tire, moreso the fronts. The fronts looked to be at least a third covered.

It took me 15 minutes to drive home, with half that distance at or near highway speeds. The next morning, I drove to work and listened to this same noise, in the 25 minute drive to my local tire shop including about 20 minutes of highway speed freeway driving. So none of that dislodged my unwelcome "tire passengers".

Is it due to increased wear on my (stock OEM summer Good Years) so less tread? That seems unlikely. I'll probably need to replace them, with 2 more track days. Or improper air in my tires? (unlikely; I did check when checking the lug nut torque). Or something due to track conditions? Or higher humidity? Or a combo? Has anyone experienced that? Other than paying over $300 to remove this, are there any other easier solutions?

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures before having my tire shop remove each tire to clean off its surface; a fun job since the asphalt was really stuck onto the surface. They peeled it by hand initially then purchased a solvent, to better pry it off and dig it out of the treads.

Are you sure it wasn’t just hot tire pickup from the marbles on the track. Would be hard-pressed to think actual asphalt deposited onto the tires. Hot tire pickup can result in tire vibrations from inconsistent contact patch as well as throw off the balance of the wheel tire and can impose a significant vibration with highway driving. Been tracking cars for years and even the guys running full racing slicks haven’t come off track with asphalt melted to the tire. Did it look like F1 tires do after the race?

 

[seriously]

I thought this kind of thing self resolved with some driving. The only black stuff I had to remove from my car was on my actual paint.

 

[OppositeLock]

@netsinah , this is normal. You picked up "clag". You got your tires nice and hot and those little rolls of rubber stuck to your tires. They will hold onto your tires for a very long time. Don't worry about it, unless it's uneven and causes a vibration, in which case you can scrape some off with a metal scraper. My tires look like they're mostly made of clag, and I drive just fine on the street with them.

 

[jabingb]

Ah clag, brings back memories of David Hobbs F1 commentary, I miss him in that role. I've had the pleasure of meeting him, once in the UK at a Lotus club meeting and again at Elkhart Lake while signing copies of his book, quite a fellow, very gracious!