Goodwood - updates and info

[richbrown]

Interview with Stewart Croucher clip.. you can see him searching for the company line on deliveries, which i'll leave as a surprise!

After a battle with very long traffic jams I did manage to get some photos at FoS, sit in the Magma and take a few pics.
One take away is the Nimbus on show looked amazing, I was having doubts on my choice but with the spec on show it was spot on and I was very pleased. Think I'll add black pack to mine as it just works so well.

a few photos including the Ice interior. Seats were very comfy and fit (dont know if final versions were in there but wouldnt have any issue in a long trip sitting in them as they are) and finish was great even though still a pre prod car.

The cars going up the hill did sound a bit muted, almost muffled sound but I always find road cars on the hill tend to sound like that, not sure if the straw bales absorb a lot of sound however the GT4 was the loudest thing there!

p.s I think its photos which make panels look a different shade on the Nimbus, in person there is no visual contrast.

Great photos thanks !

 

[virtualmacho]

Question: Is the 3rd cat the same part as in the Evora, or is it an updated version (preferrably with V-clamps on both sides for easy errr... maintenance) ?

 

[frazzer]

Remember that V6 FE people with deposits up to about 12 July have now been given 2 delivery months and are about to be given a third. So it depends which date you are referring to when you consider what the delay is. Yachtie had a 8 July morning deposit (Goodwood Day 1) and a July delivery batch, which is consistent with how Goodwood July deposits were allocated. He then had a second update more recently about being moved to July build/August delivery, so his overall delay is July to October. He has a V6 FE manual.

Per my earlier post, the delays are not uniform, either just directly linked to spec or for the same spec with deposits only a few days apart. So far it looks like deposits pre-Goodwood will have a 1-2 month delay and Goodwood deposits will have a 2-3 month delay.

I have a 8 July morning deposit but was set back after a spec change, so I have no idea where that'll leave me

 

[digilotus]

The spec sheet that was at Goodwood with the nimbus grey shows 6,800 rpm for 400. So presumably that’s the extra 200 in sport and track

One would presume that with an ECU mapping to take it up to 7200, you could get 416hp or more

I've confirmed with Lotus that max RPM in tour drive mode is 6,600rpm and Sport + Track add an extra +200rpm. So 6,800rpm is the maximum engine rpm

 

[kitkat]

Just a slight note of caution on all the positive comments regarding the Nimbus car at Goodwood (I also agree that it looked fab on the stand). It was on the main stand with lots of lighting above and around, the Magma and yellow were in a small unlighted tent with a low roof so very low light levels. My take from these FE colours is that they ALL vary considerably in different light conditions. However my main take is that they are all FAB and will not be a disappointment

I’m locked into magma anyways, just commenting on how good nimbus was — I’ve had a silver cars before and it just hid all the body lines while nimbus doesn’t, very impressive.

 

[kitkat]

Lol according to Goodwood the smoke was due to this:

"Don’t worry, it’s not burst a pipe and it’s not dropping any fluids. We hear it was tyre rub in the wheelarch, which is no biggy."

Yeah, ok, sureeeee…

 

[Eagle7]

I’m locked into magma anyways, just commenting on how good nimbus was — I’ve had a silver cars before and it just hid all the body lines while nimbus doesn’t, very impressive.

I think one of the big differences is most car designers put 'body lines' on the car panels to try and give them some style so they don't look so plain. Most cars have relatively flat panels for the most part. The Emira is quite different in that it has sculpted body panels, so the shape itself IS the body line, and that makes a world of difference in the appearance and how light reflects off the surfaces. The reflections aren't broken up by artificial body lines, so they really show off and enhance the actual shape. It's one of the reasons why this is such a beautiful car. It truly is a sculpted work of art.

 

[New to Lotus]

Tom what have they said about the seats in the ice grey car 4k not a lot of miles for sag to happen are they still the pre production ones.

 

[sslater006]

@TomE Was there any clarification on the 3 second delay on starting up the engine (from pressing the start button) that Schmee raised in his review?

 

[digilotus]

Thank Tom. Glad they're still working on it. Please tell us the improvement
Reviews were so mediocre I just couldn't imagine KEF would be happy putting their name to it without making it compete with the top names

I have listened to the KEF system in the Pre-production car and thought the KEF system was very, very good! If KEF are still working on it then no doubt it will be even better.

 

[MCS]

Tom what have they said about the seats in the ice grey car 4k not a lot of miles for sag to happen are they still the pre production ones.

They are not production seats and they are well aware they are ‘knackered’. The production seats will be on point. The ones in the yellow car are all good. Don’t worry you’ll be happy with them

 

[Pav]

They’re almost like London buses here! Just came across this in the lower performance car park..

 

[Eagle7]

They’re almost like London buses here! Just came across this in the lower performance car park..

View attachment 6853

It is such a beautiful little car!

 

[FederGigant]

I have listened to the KEF system in the Pre-production car and thought the KEF system was very, very good! If KEF are still working on it then no doubt it will be even better.

Could you describe your impressions a bit more detailed? I'm very curious to how it sounds, how the free air woofer performs, if the Uni-Qs position does work with the tweeter being next to the knee, etc. Can you maybe compare it to other cars systems?

 

[Eagle7]

I'm wondering if they're going to use some kind of self-calibrating technology so the system adjusts it's sound performance based on the environment. Leather is more reflective than Alcantara for example. Two people in the car will have more of an absorbing effect than one, etc.

I wasn't buying the car for the sound system, but now that I know it's KEF, I'm actually curious as to how it's going to sound. Might be useful on a long trip.

 

[Joel]

Managed to get a Friday ticket last night so have visited the stand today. My August build is now an October build (12th July deposit, V6 Manual) with likely a November delivery.

Asked about the black rubber strip on the bonnet and was told it was added later in the design to minimise wind noise.

Had a look at the number plate mount, there's a standard bracket that screws into the top of the bottom part of the bumper, then from there a country specific plate screws on for the correct size number plate. For the UK this is pretty much the full size which means you won't be able to put a shorter number plate on without modifying/changing the bracket.

Also had a look at the key, it is big, similar size to the new premium BMW keys, but thicker, thickness of the current ford keyless keys. Got a picture of it with my ford key for reference.

Spoke to Stewart about the driving academy, those who have booked will be getting an email hopefully next week with more details about the events. Does feel premium though.

 

[912Matt]

Someone there, could you take a closer look at how the number plate is mounted? Is it mounted from the bottom or bolted in through holes on the top?

I had a good look at the number plate mounts when I was at the factory last month - there is a black block fixed to the top surface of the front lip. Then there is a thin black metal bracket (probably 200mm x 50mm?) affixed to the front of this block. If this was a UK car, and number plates are to be stuck directly to this bracket, I think it will work well with short registrations/three quarter sized plates

 

[Joel]

I had a good look at the number plate mounts when I was at the factory last month - there is a black block fixed to the top surface of the front lip. Then there is a thin black metal bracket (probably 200mm x 50mm?) affixed to the front of this block. If this was a UK car, and number plates are to be stuck directly to this bracket, I think it will work well with short registrations/three quarter sized plates

On the cars at Goodwood this bracket is about 450mm long I would have said, not much shorter than the plate itself so wouldn't work with a short plate

 

[Leonard]

I have listened to the KEF system in the Pre-production car and thought the KEF system was very, very good! If KEF are still working on it then no doubt it will be even better.

Can you benchmark it against any other systems?

 

[digilotus]

On the cars at Goodwood this bracket is about 450mm long I would have said, not much shorter than the plate itself so wouldn't work with a short plate

This is the front bracket without the number plate adapters (that are region specific)...