June Delivery / Change of Spec info

[TomE]

This recent interview with Gav may also help to clarify the Lotus ride and handling philosophy and the approach to body roll.

How Lotus Makes Great-Handling Sports Cars That Are Still Comfortable

Lotus has set been the benchmark for ride and handling in cars. The company's Gavan Kershaw explains how it's done.

www.roadandtrack.com

 

[Lankan]

This recent interview with Gav may also help to clarify the Lotus ride and handling philosophy and the approach to body roll.

How Lotus Makes Great-Handling Sports Cars That Are Still Comfortable

Lotus has set been the benchmark for ride and handling in cars. The company's Gavan Kershaw explains how it's done.

www.roadandtrack.com

Superb! Thanks for sharing.

The following quote is very apt and, in my experience very true, since I recall the time when Porsche launched the 964RS (one of my favourite Rennsports) in 1990, it was absolutely slated by the UK's motoring journalists for being undrivable. One had to change the front struts to avoid being thrown into a hedge or backing into one.

"If you get it wrong in England, you get it wrong everywhere," he says. "If you get it right in England, then the rest of the world seems to be quite tolerant of the way English cars are set up, I suppose."

 

[NicolasB]

This recent interview with Gav may also help to clarify the Lotus ride and handling philosophy and the approach to body roll.

How Lotus Makes Great-Handling Sports Cars That Are Still Comfortable

Lotus has set been the benchmark for ride and handling in cars. The company's Gavan Kershaw explains how it's done.

www.roadandtrack.com

I was just about to share this. Good article. Think I will end up with Touring when the time comes, unless something comes out with the early deliveries that changes everyone's mind.

 

[Mike-engel]

This recent interview with Gav may also help to clarify the Lotus ride and handling philosophy and the approach to body roll.

How Lotus Makes Great-Handling Sports Cars That Are Still Comfortable

Lotus has set been the benchmark for ride and handling in cars. The company's Gavan Kershaw explains how it's done.

www.roadandtrack.com

Great read. I never really thought about the rate of change issue, but Gav is exactly right. Visual and positional inputs are reconciled by our brains, and the positional inputs from otoliths in our ears are stationary even at speed. (Ie., distance per time). It’s the change in the rate of change that we actually sense. In other words we sense force through acceleration, not velocity (aka speed occurring along a vector). This is why we sense force even when speed is unchanged. The acceleration is changing the vector in these circumstances, which our brains interpret as cornering and body roll.

 

[TomE]

It's the same principle used in flight simulators for training pilots and those pod-like simulators at fairgrounds used to simulate racing cars, spaceships and so on.

 

[Mike-engel]

It's the same principle used in flight simulators for training pilots and those pod-like simulators at fairgrounds used to simulate racing cars, spaceships and so on.

That’s why they tell you not to look away from the screen when “riding” things like star tours and mission space at Disney World so you don’t get the neurological crossed wires that cause nausea and vomiting. Nature is funny, when inputs don’t make sense, we assume bad humors have entered us and we try to expel them.

 

[NickR]

Just FYI, I made another spec change today and got an email back same day saying all ok and no delay with the car. Main thing here is within 8 hours I had a customer service -> production -> customer service response.

 

[Tonyshepp]

Just FYI, I made another spec change today and got an email back same day saying all ok and no delay with the car. Main thing here is within 8 hours I had a customer service -> production -> customer service response.

Lucky you my email sent a few weeks back resulted in no response regarding my spec change.

 

[Leonard]

Just FYI, I made another spec change today and got an email back same day saying all ok and no delay with the car. Main thing here is within 8 hours I had a customer service -> production -> customer service response.

That's great but I did same and waiting 4 weeks #dontcarejustsaying

 

[jpizzle]

Just FYI, I made another spec change today and got an email back same day saying all ok and no delay with the car. Main thing here is within 8 hours I had a customer service -> production -> customer service response.

Can I ask have you had your 3rd phone call previously? Don’t know whether to email or await 3rd phone call before requesting to amend spec

 

[TomE]

Just FYI, I made another spec change today and got an email back same day saying all ok and no delay with the car. Main thing here is within 8 hours I had a customer service -> production -> customer service response.

That’s great to hear. You seem to be getting quicker turnaround than a few others. Hopefully with everyone back next week it’ll ramp up.

 

[TomE]

Can I ask have you had your 3rd phone call previously? Don’t know whether to email or await 3rd phone call before requesting to amend spec

Generally it’s sooner the better on requests for change, so drop them an email. If your first deposit was after 8/9 July it should be low chance of impact on delivery date.

 

[Tonyshepp]

Just had an email back from Lotus Customer Care on my changes (exterior paint colour and interior trim change) provided to them on December 17th on the 3rd call.

We have submitted your requested changes to factory. At this time we have yet to confirm any delay to your build however rest assured as soon as we receive a response we will reach out to advise you of this prior to your vehicle going in to production.

 

[TomE]

I hope you get a definitive response soon @Tonyshepp. I know others have already had confirmation of no impact.

 

[duff]

I asked before Xmas and still not had a reply either which is frustrating given others have since asked and received replies. Time to chase I think.

 

[Tonyshepp]

Got the following from Lotus just now:

Good morning,

Thank you for your patience while factory have reviewed the changes you made to your configuration.

I can confirm that your order will not be delayed with the changes made, meaning that you will still be able to take delivery of your car in June.

Please be aware that your most recent configuration is now locked for June. Any further changes to your configuration will mean that your order will be removed out of the production line and rescheduled which will delay your estimated delivery.

If there is anything we can help with in the meantime, please ask.

 

[Leonard]

Got the following from Lotus just now:

Good morning,

Thank you for your patience while factory have reviewed the changes you made to your configuration.

I can confirm that your order will not be delayed with the changes made, meaning that you will still be able to take delivery of your car in June.

Please be aware that your most recent configuration is now locked for June. Any further changes to your configuration will mean that your order will be removed out of the production line and rescheduled which will delay your estimated delivery.

If there is anything we can help with in the meantime, please ask.

I just got the same email.
I'm not actually sure what is locked in now mind as I only queried if I could change my spec before January.
I guess it will be a suprise in June on whether I get red leather or alcantara with red stitch

 

[freefall_junkie]

Just had the mail too. Only change I made was from Cup2s to Goodyears so no surprises. Roll on June

I am surprised and delighted there aren't more production delays due to Covid, chip shortages, supply chain issues etc. If Lotus really can start delivering in June, and with the quality to a high level, they will all deserve a big pat on the back.

 

[LotusAmateur]

Got the following from Lotus just now:

Good morning,

Thank you for your patience while factory have reviewed the changes you made to your configuration.

I can confirm that your order will not be delayed with the changes made, meaning that you will still be able to take delivery of your car in June.

Please be aware that your most recent configuration is now locked for June. Any further changes to your configuration will mean that your order will be removed out of the production line and rescheduled which will delay your estimated delivery.

If there is anything we can help with in the meantime, please ask.

Same here. Just got the same reply from Lotus Customer Care confirming that my configuration change would not impact my June delivery. I had requested a change from sport to touring suspension on 20 Dec after testing both at B&C. Great to know and looks like customer care is getting back to steam again!

 

[SJR202]

I went to B&C to test drive an Evora GT410 Sport in my circuit pack GR Yaris. I found they were spookily similar in terms of taughtness and having a noticeably 'busy ride' on anything other than smooth tarmac. I can completely believe that's the price you'll pay for ticking the sport option on Emira, any car with more track orientated bushes and damping transmits more of the road surface into the chassis. Which most people would probably describe as being a bit uncomfortable.

Personally I wouldn't say it was too much but it is quite hard and tallies with Gav saying sport is a compromise for the road. I'm ok with that, it's not going to be a daily and I'm on the mildly sadistic end of what I'm prepared to put up with (have spent many years in classic minis.) The Yaris is my go to car at the moment and that does make me slightly grit my teeth when I hit a stretch of poor road. Solution: simplify and add speed! Serious point: I don't know how much truth there is in it but I recall reading that some suspension setups start smoothing things out at higher speeds.

The odd thing with the Yaris is the ride height is 'rally car tall' which is a bit odd considering you buy it with circuit pack. When I did Brands the body roll was quite unnerving to start with. But you adapt to it quickly and it's something else to enjoy. But it's why a lot of people are doing the Lichfield suspension mod. I think Emira on touring will be exactly the same on track (it's exactly how it looks in the Shmee video.)

Hi @Pav thats a really useful overview - I've been invited by B&C to do the same which I intend to take up as soon as I can, I've chosen the Touring as have Boxster Spyder which has fantiastic damping but is firm on bumpy roads and would like something more comfortable which I think Touring Emira will give me. I also dont do track days to be honest.

Interesting comparison with the GR Yaris - I've driven a few (lucky enough to be on eCOTY 2020) and placed an order with delivery due later this year, but as it was going to be my new Daily driver I tested it out on local roads and the usual trips around me and found it tiring, as you say at speed, fantastic and I want to want it badly, but for real life its just too 'jiggly' on poor roads at normal speeds, my hope is the GR86 ticks the box and I can move my purchase to that once its available...

Really insightful as you say, think while I'd like to drive the 410, I've made the right choice for my own preferences