Emira track impressions

[Tracked Emira]

These cars handle heat well, I've tracked in > 100F days. Let it run a few minutes after you end a session so it can shed the heat, and you won't have heat soak problems. I think this was my 6th track day in this car.

This isn't a light car, and I don't know what caused my power steering to fail. Maybe it was tracking, maybe it was a manufacturing defect, maybe something else failed which led to the power steering failure. I'll know more once I get it to the dealer, since hopefully warranty will cover this. It's too early to make any broad conclusions about the steering rack, IMO.

Don’t tell them you track it because they said no to me at a dealership near Pocono raceway when my challenger power steering went. I towed it to my local dealership, but knew them and they covered it

 

[OppositeLock]

It's pretty obvious when a car has been tracked, even if I don't tell them I can't possibly clean off all the evidence. I won't be volunteering this information, but I won't deny it. However, I'm pretty damn sure my power steering started to fail en route to the track, because the back of my car had spots of liquid sprayed on the back, it just had no symptoms inside when that was happening.

 

[Ceej]

this is the third person on this forum I’ve read about having power steering failure. @VF Tuner said theirs failed at 300 miles. Can’t remember the other username that had issues. Starting to wonder if this is a bigger problem than just a few fluke cars.

 

[jabingb]

Good report, was planning on attending with my T4 but covid and flu shots on Tuesday scuttled that plan. Would like to converse with you and @gcmack off line, probably through GGLC channels..

 

[jp129]

It's pretty obvious when a car has been tracked, even if I don't tell them I can't possibly clean off all the evidence. I won't be volunteering this information, but I won't deny it. However, I'm pretty damn sure my power steering started to fail en route to the track, because the back of my car had spots of liquid sprayed on the back, it just had no symptoms inside when that was happening.

Very unfortunate to hear you've experience steering/hydro issues. It would be very helpful to hear what's the cause/result of your failure when you get it back. Hopefully it's something quick and easy and you can be back on the track soon.

 

[OppositeLock]

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.

Here's what a really sick power steering pump sounds like when there's fluid in the reservoir.

 

[p4ulh]

I've just done my first Sonoma Raceway event in the Emira.

The EBC RP1 + Girodisc Rotors are fantastic.
Tires this time were Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R (Porsche version)

First off, I love these tires! Man oh man are they better than the LTS Cup 2's, and Super Sports and the Dunlops that I mentioned. I see why those Porsches are so fast, it's the tires! They cost a small fortune, though. Wear is pretty even so far with maxed out camber.

I managed a 1:53.9, which I'm pretty happy with, since it's my first time with this car at Sonoma. There's lots more time at the table, I'm making errors in the esses, chickening out in turn 10, and really bungling turn 2.

It was also nice to meet @gcmak in person.

Sadly, my power steering failed in the 3rd session, so I had to go home early.

That’s great, I’m going to try the Cup 2R next spring in the UK which will be tested with the Nitron Electron which should be ace. I have done 11 track days in mine with the Nitron 3 way 46mm on the last 3 Trackdays with the Jubu cage which has been a game changer on track.

 

[F1 SML8R]

I ran Cup 2R's on my Carrera T and was shocked at the grip differential to the Porsche specific N1 variant which is already somewhat stickier than the standard Cup 2. As soon as I burn through my Cup 2's on my i4 , I'm definitely experimenting with the Cup 2R on the Emira. Especially on the i4 which tends to have more torque at the beginning of the torque/power curve.

 

[okyou]

I've just done my first Sonoma Raceway event in the Emira.

The EBC RP1 + Girodisc Rotors are fantastic.
Tires this time were Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R (Porsche version)

First off, I love these tires! Man oh man are they better than the LTS Cup 2's, and Super Sports and the Dunlops that I mentioned. I see why those Porsches are so fast, it's the tires! They cost a small fortune, though. Wear is pretty even so far with maxed out camber.

I managed a 1:53.9, which I'm pretty happy with, since it's my first time with this car at Sonoma. There's lots more time at the table, I'm making errors in the esses, chickening out in turn 10, and really bungling turn 2.

It was also nice to meet @gcmak in person.

Sadly, my power steering failed in the 3rd session, so I had to go home early.

It was so good to meet you in person too! See you at future events, hopefully with both of us in our Emiras!

 

[David s]

That’s great, I’m going to try the Cup 2R next spring in the UK which will be tested with the Nitron Electron which should be ace. I have done 11 track days in mine with the Nitron 3 way 46mm on the last 3 Trackdays with the Jubu cage which has been a game changer on track.

Sorry. Nitrons or the jubu cage?

 

[Ft.S]

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.

I have been trying to figure out a cost-effective way to log data and video with the Emira. I have used so many different options in the past through tapping into the CAN bus, but with the Emira that does not seem to be the best solution right now, at least not without spending few thousands. My only need is to get basic data/video.

I emailed AIM regarding the applicability of SmartyCam 3 Corsa for this purpose. This is the response I received:

As of today we do not have a publicly available ECU driver for the Emira. The Emira has implemented a CAN FD network as the primary data transmission which is not a compatible format for our hardware at the moment. Normally we can locate secondary CAN communications busses that do not implement CAN FD but since this is a new development the process will take some time.

Standard OBDII data is available and you will have access to these channels:

• RPM
• TPS
• Coolant temp
• Lap times
• Air temp
• Vehicle speed
• MAP or MAF (not available on all models)

This type of data transmission is not something that the SmartyCam3 Corsa can do on its own. You will need a data system to correctly manage this. Our most common type of hardware to fill this need is the SOLO2DL however we have many dataloggers that can also perform this action and much more.

So, I will be purchasing the Solo DL and pairing it with my existing GoPro 8, and see how it works at the end.

 

[OppositeLock]

Have you tried Harry's Lap Timer as a datalogger? Combined with a GoPro, it's pretty nice, then you can use RaceRender to overlay the data onto the video if you want to. It's a far cheaper option.

What AIM gets you is their RaceStudio, which is pretty nice at comparing laps, seeing where you goofed up, etc, but it's got a very steep learning curve.

 

[Ft.S]

Yes, I tried that one too very briefly. There are so many options for collecting the data/video, but actual analysis afterwards or on track is very cumbersome and/or costly. I have used Race Studio since its first version, so I am comfortable with it, I think that is why I tend to lean towards AIM frankly, everything else seems rudimentary and technical support/documentation is superb. Probably one exception is VBox, but that is also so expensive.

Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[OppositeLock]

Here's the kind of cool stuff RaceStudio can do. I now have laps from Sonoma in my Elise SC and my Emira. This is a comparison of my best Elise lap (1:57.997) and my best Emira lap (1:53.875).

The top graph is distance over time, so basically speed. The middle graph is lateral acceleration, the bottom one is longitudinal acceleration. The Emira covers distance faster pretty much everywhere on track compared to the Elise, but I labeled 3 interesting points on this graph.

1. The Elise accelerates earlier, harder coming out of the carousel
2. T7 hairpin. The Elise makes up 0.45s on the Emira in this one turn
3. T11 hairpin, The Elise makes up 0.25s on the Emira in this one turn

Everywhere else, the Emira is faster. Makes sense, light weight is better in hairpins, power/weight ratio is better everywhere else.

The first image is a thumbnail which hopefull expands to full size.

It's cool how close the two cars are to each other, however, for some reason, the Emira feels much more stable.

 

[PS.08]

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...

 

[JonFuller]

That's a bummer!

 

[jp129]

Reduced accel sounds alot like the MVC. I can't comment on the ESC service though.

 

[Ft.S]

Reduced accel sounds alot like the MVC. I can't comment on the ESC service though.

What is "MVC?"

 

[jp129]

Miltek valve controller

 

[OppositeLock]

Sorry to hear that, @PS.08 , I hope it's simply the valve controller as well. I learned on the back of my Elise, which I tracked for many years, that you don't want to mess with stuff that is monitored by the ECU in Lotus cars. They're very picky and diagnosis is annoying without generic scanners supporting our cars.