Factory Tour Thread

[eclat2emira]

Just have to drill them out once in a while to remove build-up perhaps?

My 996 C4S discs are drilled Brembos, I have to clear out the build up at least once a year - it really gets caked and baked in there! A bit of a chore but not sure there is any other solution?

 

[NicolasB]

My 996 C4S discs are drilled Brembos, I have to clear out the build up at least once a year - it really gets caked and baked in there! A bit of a chore but not sure there is any other solution?

Stop driving! Problem solved

 

[eclat2emira]

Stop driving! Problem solved

Or keep driving but stop braking?!

 

[Eagle7]

Or keep driving but stop braking?!

You'd need a Lotus for that...

 

[eclat2emira]

You'd need a Lotus for that...

None better!

 

[Balboa]

Birthday trip to the Factory booked for the afternoon of the 1st June with the Wife. Picked my colour (Seneca) already but still holding a candle for Magma. Maybe see another from here!

Any word on dates for Driving Experience? im holding off on flying over for a tour until i can do both

 

[roundincircles]

Any word on dates for Driving Experience? im holding off on flying over for a tour until i can do both

I enquired 2 weeks back and they 'thought' June, delayed from May. It's about type approval apparently which probably connects with gaining driver insurance.

 

[Pav]

I check almost daily, still not live for bookings as far as I can see: http://www.lotusdrivingacademy.com/

Anyone have the inside scoop?

 

[TomE]

I expect they’re delayed a month, as they’re waiting for production Emiras. That’ll mean bookings opening later in May for sessions from July onwards. I’ll see if I can get a more specific update.

 

[Pav]

Thanks Tom. I think they should reserve the first places for priority deposit holders

Would be great fun if a load of us rocked up in our Emiras!

 

[Cachaco131]

Ok people. I may be in London in a couple of weeks (traveling from Us). I wan to try and schedule a tour. How do I get to Hethel from London? How much walking and how much standing is involved? I'm nursing a knee injury so want to plan ahead.

 

[NickR]

Ok people. I may be in London in a couple of weeks (traveling from Us). I wan to try and schedule a tour. How do I get to Hethel from London? How much walking and how much standing is involved? I'm nursing a knee injury so want to plan ahead.

It's easy enough. It's a train from Liverpool Street (LONDON) to Norwich. Then get a taxi to Hethel

Norwich

Greater Anglia provides train services to Norwich from all over East Anglia. Popular trains to Norwich Norwich train station is a 15 minute walk away from the city centre and just a short walk to Carrow Road, home to Norwich City FC. Below are some of the most popular train journeys to Norwich...

www.greateranglia.co.uk

you'll be sitting down all the way!

 

[eclat2emira]

Ok people. I may be in London in a couple of weeks (traveling from Us). I wan to try and schedule a tour. How do I get to Hethel from London? How much walking and how much standing is involved? I'm nursing a knee injury so want to plan ahead.

I visited Hethel on business last week, from Stansted Airport (north east of london) it is a pretty straightforward 1hr 30minute drive if that helps.

The tour involves quite a bit of walking - but not a huge amount and it is short walks berween each POI then 2 - 5 mins standing while your guide shares interesting insights into each part of the process.

I am awaiting a knee op (torn meniscus) but my knee was okay the next day - hope that all works out for you, so glad I did the tour when I was there.

 

[freefall_junkie]

I did the tour this week and it was brilliant. Having visited Hethel a couple of times in the past, my overall impression was that: a) the Emira is going to be built to far higher quality level than any previous Lotus; b) how the hell do Lotus charge only £75k for V6 FE? It looks like it should be a lot more!

So much I could comment on, but of particular interest to me were the seats as I really didn't get on at all with the seats or the driving position in the roadshow car. Some of this has been posted before, but some was new to me. The seat frames including the runners and electric motors are supplied by Lear. These are actually the same as supplied to Ferrari and we even saw a Ferrari part number sticker on one of the bare frames. To the bare frames Lotus then add some bespoke metal brackets and wire mesh to support the cushions/bolsters. The leather and alcantara is cut and stitched by an external supplier, then the final assembly is done by hand in house. It is a labour intensive process, but presumably there must have been good cost or quality reasons for doing things this way. The end result looked superb, the equal of any high end sports car, with immaculate stitching. The side bolsters are far deeper than the roadshow car.

Now, the driving position. It just so happened that at the start of the tour they were manouevering an Emira into position in front of the reception for a photo shoot related to the GT4 launch. Callum who was organising things took the time to chat to us and gave us a chance to sit in the car. This is definitely not part of the normal tour experience - we were just lucky to be in the right place in the right time. It was a pre-prod car, but the seats and driving position were already miles better than the roadshow car. I am 6ft 2 and I found there was masses of legroom with the seat right back, way more than the roadshow car for some reason. The seat was not final production spec but was already significantly lower than the roadshow car, and apparently the production seat will be lower still with a thinner base cushion.

So, my own fears about the seats and driving position have been allayed. Lotus have clearly put in a lot of time and effort to get this right and I am now confident that the production seats will be really good.

 

[New to Lotus]

Cheers for the seat info that was the last thing really worrying me, I'm 6.2 and as you said the roadshow car seat position wasn't good for me, the seat didn't go low enough and you didn't sit in the seat enough with not enough bolstering.
They promised it would be much better in customer cars but good to hear some one my size as actually sat in something more production ready.

 

[eclat2emira]

I did the tour this week and it was brilliant. Having visited Hethel a couple of times in the past, my overall impression was that: a) the Emira is going to be built to far higher quality level than any previous Lotus; b) how the hell do Lotus charge only £75k for V6 FE? It looks like it should be a lot more!

So much I could comment on, but of particular interest to me were the seats as I really didn't get on at all with the seats or the driving position in the roadshow car. Some of this has been posted before, but some was new to me. The seat frames including the runners and electric motors are supplied by Lear. These are actually the same as supplied to Ferrari and we even saw a Ferrari part number sticker on one of the bare frames. To the bare frames Lotus then add some bespoke metal brackets and wire mesh to support the cushions/bolsters. The leather and alcantara is cut and stitched by an external supplier, then the final assembly is done by hand in house. It is a labour intensive process, but presumably there must have been good cost or quality reasons for doing things this way. The end result looked superb, the equal of any high end sports car, with immaculate stitching. The side bolsters are far deeper than the roadshow car.

Now, the driving position. It just so happened that at the start of the tour they were manouevering an Emira into position in front of the reception for a photo shoot related to the GT4 launch. Callum who was organising things took the time to chat to us and gave us a chance to sit in the car. This is definitely not part of the normal tour experience - we were just lucky to be in the right place in the right time. It was a pre-prod car, but the seats and driving position were already miles better than the roadshow car. I am 6ft 2 and I found there was masses of legroom with the seat right back, way more than the roadshow car for some reason. The seat was not final production spec but was already significantly lower than the roadshow car, and apparently the production seat will be lower still with a thinner base cushion.

So, my own fears about the seats and driving position have been allayed. Lotus have clearly put in a lot of time and effort to get this right and I am now confident that the production seats will be really good.

Nice write up, thank you!

 

[jamesbxxx]

I did the tour this week and it was brilliant. Having visited Hethel a couple of times in the past, my overall impression was that: a) the Emira is going to be built to far higher quality level than any previous Lotus; b) how the hell do Lotus charge only £75k for V6 FE? It looks like it should be a lot more!

So much I could comment on, but of particular interest to me were the seats as I really didn't get on at all with the seats or the driving position in the roadshow car. Some of this has been posted before, but some was new to me. The seat frames including the runners and electric motors are supplied by Lear. These are actually the same as supplied to Ferrari and we even saw a Ferrari part number sticker on one of the bare frames. To the bare frames Lotus then add some bespoke metal brackets and wire mesh to support the cushions/bolsters. The leather and alcantara is cut and stitched by an external supplier, then the final assembly is done by hand in house. It is a labour intensive process, but presumably there must have been good cost or quality reasons for doing things this way. The end result looked superb, the equal of any high end sports car, with immaculate stitching. The side bolsters are far deeper than the roadshow car.

Now, the driving position. It just so happened that at the start of the tour they were manouevering an Emira into position in front of the reception for a photo shoot related to the GT4 launch. Callum who was organising things took the time to chat to us and gave us a chance to sit in the car. This is definitely not part of the normal tour experience - we were just lucky to be in the right place in the right time. It was a pre-prod car, but the seats and driving position were already miles better than the roadshow car. I am 6ft 2 and I found there was masses of legroom with the seat right back, way more than the roadshow car for some reason. The seat was not final production spec but was already significantly lower than the roadshow car, and apparently the production seat will be lower still with a thinner base cushion.

So, my own fears about the seats and driving position have been allayed. Lotus have clearly put in a lot of time and effort to get this right and I am now confident that the production seats will be really good.

Totally agree re the information on the seats. I was on the same tour and we we fortunate that the factory workers were on some sort of holiday, so we got a bit closer than usual to some of the details. The amount of work to assemble just one seat is impressive. I really hope they can reduce the height a tad more, as it's still a bit high in the PP car (although the ones in the factory looked pretty final spec)

 

[New to Lotus]

How tall are you?.

 

[freefall_junkie]

One other thing I should have mentioned. The car we sat in had a production spec exhaust and it sounded great. A lovely deep burble at idle with a glorious howl when revved with the valve open. No idea how Lotus managed to get it through the noise regs Perhaps not be quite as loud as an Evora 410, but I doubt anyone will be disappointed with the way the Emira V6 sounds.

 

[eclat2emira]

One other thing I should have mentioned. The car we sat in had a production spec exhaust and it sounded great. A lovely deep burble at idle with a glorious howl when revved with the valve open. No idea how Lotus managed to get it through the noise regs Perhaps not be quite as loud as an Evora 410, but I doubt anyone will be disappointed with the way the Emira V6 sounds.

Emoji frustration, this comment needed an emoji with hearts over the ears instead of the eyes!

Perhaps the new e-sports car will be called the Lotus Emoji?!