Emira track impressions

[dbjames]

Was finally able to take a day off work to get my Emira on track at Mid-Ohio... my run group was the first of the morning (roughly 46 Fahrenheit out). First couple laps, I drove very reserved, as it was a cold track, and wanted to ensure everything was up to temp. As soon as temps looked good, I started to push a little bit (~half a lap), maybe driving 6/10 (didn't even sniff the rev limiter)... the car abruptly went into full limp mode; had the "Engine reduced acceleration" & "ESC Service required" notifications pop up on the dash. Luckily, was able to get the car well off the racing line before it fully shut down/avoiding complete disaster involving other participants. After trying several times to wake the car back up/start it, I ended up having to be stretchered off the track back to the paddock... my day of excitement & fun turned into ~15 minutes of being on track.

The only "performance" mods I have are GRP titanium exhaust + 3rd cat delete and Milltek valve controller. From what I've gathered from this forum, the Milltek valve controller wiring can overheat/melt and cause similar issues, so wanted to inspect - got the car in the air, removed the rear diffuser, etc. to gain access to where it was mounted... everything looked, and felt the same as the day it was installed. After I buttoned everything back up, and let the car sit for ~1hr, decided to wake it up and got all the same fault codes. Also checked the battery, and it was producing proper voltage. At that point, I threw in the towel.

Fortunately, managed to get the car to the nearest Lotus dealership... needless to say, I am severely disappointed...

Sorry to hear this...Please let us know what the problem was when you know

 

[Dino67]

I topped off the PAS fluid (which was empty) and the steering rack works fine when there's fluid, but it's gushing out of the pump, so it's pretty clear that I lost the pump, and not the rack. Not sure how Lotus will handle it yet as my appointment is tomorrow.

Did this get resolved? How long were you without your car? I'm having the same issues. PS fluid leaking out the bottom and spotting the back and trunk lid.

 

[OppositeLock]

Did this get resolved? How long were you without your car? I'm having the same issues. PS fluid leaking out the bottom and spotting the back and trunk lid.

It took about a week, most of it was waiting for the part to arrive, and about a day for the tech to do the work and test drive the car. It was covered by warranty. They changed the pump, flushed the fluid, and the car is totally fine so far.

 

[crashprash]

PAS Pump failure is a known issue by my dealer. My car had the same issue and had to get towed to the dealer

 

[OppositeLock]

Today, I had a glorious day at Laguna Seca. I ran on Nankang CR-S tires, which are simply awesome. They seem to have at least 1 more track day left in them, and I ran my best Emira lap so far, a 1:44.69



I'm learning that you have to drive this car quite differently from the Elise. Let momentum carry you where it wants, and since the car is so well planted, you can carry more speed into turns than you think, it's just hard to tell how close you are to the limit due to the overall vagueness of the chassis as compared to the Elise.

 

[p4ulh]

Brilliant. What size Nankang tyres please? I can’t get them to match here in the UK.

 

[OppositeLock]

Brilliant. What size Nankang tyres please? I can’t get them to match here in the UK.

We have OEM sizing available in the US. They're hard to get - they take weeks to special order, but I am able to get them.

 

[mr.suntorytime]

Today, I had a glorious day at Laguna Seca. I ran on Nankang CR-S tires, which are simply awesome. They seem to have at least 1 more track day left in them, and I ran my best Emira lap so far, a 1:44.69



I'm learning that you have to drive this car quite differently from the Elise. Let momentum carry you where it wants, and since the car is so well planted, you can carry more speed into turns than you think, it's just hard to tell how close you are to the limit due to the overall vagueness of the chassis as compared to the Elise.

once you put in a grp/carbon seat you will have that communication with the chassis. makes a huge difference.

 

[jp129]

Yes, I have to echo that changing to a track seat will enhance the chassis communication.

I took my driver Tillet seat out this weekend to give to the upholster as a model and the OE seat is forcing me to recalibrate my driving entirely. Dampens everything and even requires me to use more effort to use the clutch/brake pedal. OE seats are couches!

 

[MTV]

I really should stop reading this thread giving me too many ideas.

 

[OppositeLock]

Interesting. I have logger traces from last November running Laguna, and I was mistaken, the video I posted wasn't my quickest lap. The best I ever did was on Cup 2R's in November, at 1:44.23, so nearly half a second faster. All the differences are in the cornering speeds - consistent, tiny differences in exit speed, so I'm carrying more speed on the straighter sections. For example, I carried 2kph more coming from 11 onto the main straight, and 4kph more through turn 5 which is really important since that's the uphill drag strip.

So, the Nankangs, while feeling excellent, are a _tiny_ bit slower than the Cup 2R's, but their wear characteristics are far better, so they're a fantastic deal. I don't need that last 0.5 as I have a working man's budget and no sponsors

 

[LotusTaylor]

Today, I had a glorious day at Laguna Seca. I ran on Nankang CR-S tires, which are simply awesome. They seem to have at least 1 more track day left in them, and I ran my best Emira lap so far, a 1:44.69



I'm learning that you have to drive this car quite differently from the Elise. Let momentum carry you where it wants, and since the car is so well planted, you can carry more speed into turns than you think, it's just hard to tell how close you are to the limit due to the overall vagueness of the chassis as compared to the Elise.

Great video! Can I ask how you managed to get the track & telemetry data in your video? I am looking to do the same for mine but haven't figured out how.

 

[OppositeLock]

AIM Solo 2 DL v2 as the data logger, and AIM SmartyCam 3 Corsa. The data logger is great, and the AIM cameras do the overlays automatically, but they are very difficult to configure properly - I've had no video from several track days due to that. They can only be configured with AIM's Windows application, so you need to bring a laptop to tweak settings. In the past, I've used Harry's Lap Timer on my phone with a bluetooth OBD-II dongle with a GoPro and used RaceRender to take the data and overlay it onto video, it's a much cheaper option.

 

[Ft.S]

AIM Solo 2 DL v2 as the data logger, and AIM SmartyCam 3 Corsa. The data logger is great, and the AIM cameras do the overlays automatically, but they are very difficult to configure properly - I've had no video from several track days due to that. They can only be configured with AIM's Windows application, so you need to bring a laptop to tweak settings. In the past, I've used Harry's Lap Timer on my phone with a bluetooth OBD-II dongle with a GoPro and used RaceRender to take the data and overlay it onto video, it's a much cheaper option.

I did not need to do much with Solo DL. I configured it to use "ODBII CAN" in its software, plugged it in and just worked.

 

[OppositeLock]

Yeah, logger is easy, but the SmartyCam triggers are annoying. I've always gotten telemetry, but had the video go missing a number of times.

 

[Ft.S]

Yeah, logger is easy, but the SmartyCam triggers are annoying. I've always gotten telemetry, but had the video go missing a number of times.

Ahh, I understand. I use GoPro and sync the vid/data afterwards. It is a bit more work for sure.

 

[LotusTaylor]

Thank you for the responses, and thanks for the detailed approach. I’m currently just using LapTrophy app to record the data (timings/telemetry/gps) data from my sessions, and I have 3 cameras set up to record the actual footage from different angles. If I understand correctly, you don’t import the overlay to be configurable in something like FCPX, but it’s done my importing the video clip for the camera angle you want, and then exporting it from the telemetry software itself?

I’ll do some more research into your suggestion so I understand properly, so thank you

Hopefully I can figure this out quickly as I am doing a track day at Spa Francorchamps this Friday and would love to get the telemetry data for that.

 

[Ft.S]

Thank you for the responses, and thanks for the detailed approach. I’m currently just using LapTrophy app to record the data (timings/telemetry/gps) data from my sessions, and I have 3 cameras set up to record the actual footage from different angles. If I understand correctly, you don’t import the overlay to be configurable in something like FCPX, but it’s done my importing the video clip for the camera angle you want, and then exporting it from the telemetry software itself?

I’ll do some more research into your suggestion so I understand properly, so thank you

Hopefully I can figure this out quickly as I am doing a track day at Spa Francorchamps this Friday and would love to get the telemetry data for that.

I am not familiar with LapTrophy, but it appears to be a phone-based app. I am not sure what it can export as data. I am not sure what FCPX is, Final Cut Pro?

In my case with AIM, the data from the inboard unit uploads to RaceStudio. This app allows for detail analysis of the data. In the case of @OppositeLock, using SmartyCam, the video data is also automatically transfered to RaceStudio and sync (when the camera(s) do capture the sessions). Because I use a different camera than AIM one, I export data from RaceStudio to RaceRender, and import the video file into it as well, then manually sync data and video, which is not difficult.

RaceRender not only allows for data/video sync, but also provides several templates on how to display the data on the video, see example:

​

Once all of that is done, I export all of it to Apple Movie. There I can manipulate the quality of the video, add effects and text, etc. And once all of that is done, I export the final vid of select sessions. As you can tell, this takes several hours, sometimes it is worth it, most times it is not. The reason for me to get the AIM Solo DL is that with minimal configuration, I get ODB data, and if that is not enough, I can hardwire CAN bus and get a lot more detail data from the vehicle. The analysis of the data is the value, not necessarily the data/vid sync part, again for me. The other part that is of value with Solo DL, its GPS has a 25 Hz refresh rate, which is much higher and accurate than phone-based GPS at 10 Hz.

In your case, I do not know how you will export the data and overlay it to the vid without an intermediary software that can import the data from your phone and cameras, and export it to Final Cut Pro.

 

[crainp]

Garmin Catalyst, takes all the work out of it.

 

[Ft.S]

Garmin Catalyst, takes all the work out of it.

True, but there is no analysis capability or vehicle data integration and 2x the price of Solo DL