Emira track impressions

[Syzygy]

Ace track write up! I’ve done 6 UK Trackdays in my Sport V6 manual and last 3 I had fitted the Tillett B10 seats which greatly improved feeling and holding me. I’m looking forward to my April Castle Coombe rack day as I now also have Pagid Rs29 pads and fluid upgrade, 46mm Race Nitrons, View attachment 61032a full race exhaust with additional cans for quiet tracks and an Eventuri intake. I’m excited!

What do you think of these pads? I've been eyeing these as well. They're the ones on the JUBU website right? Sounds like you may not have track impressions yet of these, if not how are they on the street if you've been driving it? Thanks in advance

 

[Honcho]

Excellent write up! Even with the sport suspension, I feel the car has more sway than I’d like. I echo that the stock seats are not great for track purposes.

I haven’t noticed any drop in power issues mid corner. Bypass valve seems to function in a linear fashion with the throttle. Perhaps the bypass valve is faulty? https://www.emiraforum.com/threads/loss-of-power-supercharger-bypass-valve-issue.4966/

I’ve been running DS1.11 pads FRP3084W / FRP3083W. Great consistent pedal feel and modulation on track. They can be a bit harsh to modulate when cold on the street. Stock fluid was okay first track day, but needed upgrading second track weekend.

Totally agree about the suspension. It's way too soft. If going for Nitrons and you don't like hard suspension I’d ask them for spring rates between club sport and fast road. Fast road is too soft for the track.

 

[OppositeLock]

I ordered the ClubSport suspension already, we'll see how that goes. It's about 50% stiffer than the sports suspension.

 

[Ceej]

What do you think of these pads? I've been eyeing these as well. They're the ones on the JUBU website right? Sounds like you may not have track impressions yet of these, if not how are they on the street if you've been driving it? Thanks in advance

I have RS-29s for my m2 and love running them. Excellent modulation and consistent feel. The wear rate is great as well. Will say though they seem rough on rotors. Classic track pad squeal on the street.

 

[p4ulh]

What do you think of these pads? I've been eyeing these as well. They're the ones on the JUBU website right? Sounds like you may not have track impressions yet of these, if not how are they on the street if you've been driving it? Thanks in advance

I got mine and fitted by “Back on Track”
Motorsport in Guilford Uk and pads are the same as with Jubu. I’m yet to do track but on road they are better than stock with better feel. And mine are yellow that match my callipers.

 

[Honcho]

I ordered the ClubSport suspension already, we'll see how that goes. It's about 50% stiffer than the sports suspension.

FYI..

Spring Rates:

Touring Front: 55 Nm/mm
Touring Rear: 110 Nm/mm

Sports Front: 60 Nm/mm
Sports Rear: 115 Nm/mm

Nitron

Fast Road: 71/116
Club Sport: 107/151

 

[jp129]

I ordered the ClubSport suspension already, we'll see how that goes. It's about 50% stiffer than the sports suspension.

Very keen on hearing your feedback of the CS package.

 

[Neily]

Good description of your Emira track experience!
I expect my ride to arrive this spring, and I ordered the "touring" on purpose. I can live with a little less "track" performance for a more livable (I am married) road experience. I have a "track prepared" Exige S for the really hard running track days. Good info about the stock brake fluid and pads. I race a 240Z and Lotus Series 2 Seven, and use Motul RBF 660 with excellent results. I think a little more reasonable in cost than the Castrol juice.
One curiosity though, a RHD Emira in the Bay area? Are you that committed to clockwise circuits? Just wondering!

 

[OppositeLock]

I have a perfectly sorted Elise that I can track hard, but I can only keep one Lotus, so I'm selling that one, hence, putting some improvements into the Emira. It's not a RHD car though, the US doesn't allow importing cars not built for the US market.

 

[Emira123]

I've just done a second track day in my Emira and I'm starting to develop opinions, some good, some bad.

I'm coming from an Elise, which I've had since 2008, and tracked more times than I can count. My Elise is set up really well; Nitron suspension, LSS supercharger, harnesses, LSD, all the standard reliability improvements, etc, and I've got a LOT of seat time - 3 engines worth.

So far, I've only had the Emira at Laguna Seca. Once on a cool, dry, windy day and once in the rain, but it cleared up in the afternoon.

My Emira is the V6 6MT, with touring suspension.

First track day:
- Goodyear F1 Supersport tires (I destroyed the fronts)
- EBC SR11 pads
- Brand new, OEM brake fluid
(best lap, 1:45.2)

Second track day:
- Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 LTS (OEM sports tire)
- EBC RP1 pads
- Brand new Castrol SRF brake fluid
(best lap, 1:43.9)

For comparison, the best I've done on my Elise is a 1:38.9 on Yoko A005, and a 1:42.0 on Toyo R888R. I am still learning the Emira., though. it's lines are different. It's a big, fast sumo wrestler compared to the nimble runner that's the Elise.

The first day was my first time ever tracking the car. I heard that the OEM brake pads don't hold up, so I put in some EBC SR11's, and figured fresh factory fluid would be ok. The fluid didn't hold up and the pads were too powerful. The F1 Supersports are good for 3-4 laps, then they get too hot and greasy, but boy is it fun.

You can toss the Emira around just like you can toss an Elise, however, comparatively, the feedback is lacking, and at the limit through a corner, you get a "floaty" feeling, where the Elise feels like you are stuck on a rail. I didn't know if this was due to the tires or the touring suspension, so for my second track day, I bought a set of Cup 2's, since I completely destroyed my fronts in that one track day, and they were definitely better. More grip, more heat tolerance, slightly better feedback, but the car remains "floaty". I think a stiffer suspension would improve this feeling, however, the level of grip is quite high despite the soft suspension. I don't think a better suspension would improve cornering much, just the feel.

The second track day, it was pouring wet (which makes for great pictures!), and in limited grip conditions, I actually loved the car. It's very predictable at the limit, and I had it in the normal track mode, with some level of ESC enabled, but I never felt it engage, since I'm used to driving an Elise, and I've learned not to get it into situations where you need saving. You can decide whether you want understeer or oversteer with corner entry and throttle. In a slippery turn, the back wants to be in front, just like in an Elise, but if the track is dry, it has an understeer tendency, so my guess is that this has to do with the big difference in tire width between front and rear. Rain is the great equalizer and it changes everything.

In an Elise, with its tiny brake pads, your braking limit is the force the brake can produce if you are running good tires. In the Emira, it's clearly front tire grip. When I first ran with the SR11's, I really couldn't modulate the braking very well. The slightest tap of the brake, once hot, would cause ABS to kick in because the Supersports couldn't manage the torque generated by the brakes. The second track day, once the road dried, the less aggressive RP1 pads were a nice pad. For the first half of the session, the brakes are wonderful, but then, as they get really hot, they start to overwhelm tires again. It's a strange feeling; either the initial brake torque becomes astronomical, or the car decides to "assist" your braking in some way. I've done this a lot, I know how to trail brake, and I had a difficult time trail braking this car becuse the initial brake part is too high, it just makes you slide in a turn.

Brake fluid is important. The OEM brake fluid, even when brand new, results in a spongy pedal. Castrol SRF didn't have this issue.

Heel-toe is kinda difficult. I'm now getting it successfully 4/5 times, and it's less of a heel-toe, and more like using the outside of my foot on the gas, and the inside on the brake (I've got big feet).

I've ordered a set for forged wheels and Dunlop Sport MAXX Race tires, but they didn't make it in time for this track day. I will run them next time and see what difference they make.

One big downside I encountered is throttle linearity, but when coming off the throttle! There's that little supercharger bypass valve solenoid you can see working in the window, and sometimes it decides to close when you are letting go of the throttle, and that makes the car feel like the engine turns off. Once it opens again, there's a surge of power. This isn't good, you want linear throttle when you are managing a corner with throttle steer, and it seems somewhat random when it happens. I don't like it.

I'm on the fence about whether to keep running this suspension, or go with some nitrons. I don't particularly enjoy very hard sprung cars, and it doesn't really help with grip, more with feel. I'm half considering the Nitron FastRoad setup, which will probably help turnin quite a bit, but I doubt it'll help cornering forces.

Looking in AIM RaceStudio, on a slightly damp track, I got more linear and lateral acceleration on the Cup 2's than the Supersports, which makes sense. The Cup2's are still super comfy on the street. I don't want to compromise the streetability of this car.

It could use a bit more camber. I've worn the outsides of the tires quite a bit more than the insides.

I think the Emira can be quite a bit faster than the Elise. I'm comparing a nicely tuned up Elise to a stock touring Emira. It'll never feel that nimble though.

The seats suck for the track. I was flopping around inside.

Some cool photos from a wet track:

View attachment 60645View attachment 60643View attachment 60644View attachment 60646View attachment 60647

You always want to change brake fluid on any stock car if you drive fast on the track. The lotus is a very tire dependent track car. If it doesn’t have cup 2’s it’s going to be very slow around the track since it needs to rely on cornering so much. With cup 2’s it handles great. I don’t think there’s much else to add to the car to make it faster unless you tune it though. It holds up well against the c8 on track.

 

[Ceej]

Having tracked mine a bit more as well, I find the car favors understeer quite a bit (sport suspension, cup 2s). Even with front camber maxed out. Feels like it needs more negative front camber. Any aftermarket solutions out there for this yet?

 

[OppositeLock]

Maybe it needs wider rubber in front.

 

[Ceej]

Have you fit wider rubber?

 

[Beachbum]

Maybe it needs wider rubber in front.

This is beginning to sound like the old Elise discussion. Think a lot of people who tracked them ended up on wider tyres

 

[OppositeLock]

Have you fit wider rubber?

I haven't yet. On my next track day, I'll be using some Nitrons combined with a solid alignment/corner balance and grippy tires. Might be good enough. I don't particularly mind this understeer tendency because it can be managed.

 

[jp129]

I haven't yet. On my next track day, I'll be using some Nitrons combined with a solid alignment/corner balance and grippy tires. Might be good enough. I don't particularly mind this understeer tendency because it can be managed.

Keen to hear your experience on the Nitrons. You opted for spring rates in between fast road and clubsport right? What tires will you be running?

 

[OppositeLock]

I got the clubsports. They recommend a rebuild every 10 hours of use on track, but I'll do it once a season. If they are too stiff, I will ask to lower the spring rates then.

The tires are Dunlop Sport Maxx Race on forged wheels from Greg's Race Parts (they actually look too nice to track, but they're lighter and cheaper than OEM, so i'll run them).

I'll know on may 5th - my next track day. Hopefully my Aim Smartycam will work this time and I'll have some video.

 

[sendmeows]

Are you able to pull telemetry with the aim? When I asked aim they said to try the Evora. If not they would need a loaner car to add the system configuration.

 

[OppositeLock]

No, Evora doesn't work. I just use the generic OBD-II and it's good enough for me. It gets RPM's, throttle opening (which isn't same as throttle pedal) and a few temperatures and fuel level.

 

[jp129]

@OppositeLock are you still on the stock oil pan?