| Comments from participants: |
| From Edgar
From Charles |
| Dear Brothers, First a great vote of thanks to Mr. Eddy Wong of Kingsway and Stewart Tan of ZIC for the excellent track day yesterday at Zhuhai. It must be one of the best track day that I have the pleasure of participating for a long time. The atmosphere was very relaxed and fellowship was kindered. I would also like to thank Harry, Michael Lum, Herman for letting me test their S2's and Rio for his S2 111S. I am very aware that you all cherish your Elises and it is a great honour to let me drive your cars. Now that I have driven them on the circuit, I can have a better understanding and first hand assessment of the S2's characteristics. All of the Elises stand up to the test of the track and faired very well. There was no drama or any component failure which is far superior to alot of machines many times the costs of an Elise. I think the S2 VVC engine is more willing to rev from 4500-7000rpm which is very useful on the track but the car's rear feels a little heavier than Harry's and Herman's S2's. It seems that replacing the exhaust box with a light weight item helps to reduce the weight on the rear tremendously and improves the balance of the car on cornering. Those who have braided brake hoses and Pagid's RS1-4 brake pads braked very very well indeed given the skinny front 175 tyres with little grip. The feel of the brakes is best in Harry's car perhaps because the pads are properly bedded in over the last 2 months. I have come to realize that it is most important to properly bleed the brake line in order to get a really solid feel for the brake pedal for feel and if you want to do a track day, Pagids are the pads to have. Unfortunately, the S2 is really badly let down by the tyres. The 175/225 combination with road compound lacks front end grip and it was not possible to carry the usual speed into the corner without understeer on entry which meant that I had to go in slower and then balance the throttle to the apex and play with throttle steer out of the corner. It is the safe way of cornering, especially if you are learning the handling characteristics of a car but not the way I prefer to drive. But I am sure that all who sit beside me understand and appreciate the safe handling of the S2 because of the tyre combination. Tyres make or break a car's handling. I was in Rio's S2 111S and I could pull away slightly from Terry's standard S1 with Ricky in the driving seat out of the corners in the straight but Terry's 195/225 Dunlop D01Js had alot more grip on braking and cornering that Ricky was breathing down my neck everytime when we came into a corner. Now, Rio's VVC engine is in no doubt more powerful than a standard S1 and that's why I could be a little faster on the straight but the lack of grip just makes cornering much slower than the S1 with good tyres. The Elise is all about cornering and speed of entry. The car is really that good and a power advantage of about 30 bhp does not make up for good tyres. Now if you could have 195fronts and 225 rear R-rubbers on the S2. That would be fun! The great surprise of the day was how much I liked my S1. It has been a long time since I feel like driving my car to the point that I lose count of the laps and just like to keep going and going. The handling was very nice and on warm up laps with cold rear tyres I could trail brake into the hairpins( T7/T12 ) and slid the tail out with ease in full control. The engine felt very very strong all day and the gearbox ratio was spot on. I went up to 7500rpm at the end of the main straight in my 5th gear just before braking and it was about 205km/h. I am still overbraking because the brakes are too good! There was a tad of understeer on exit if I came onto the throttle too quickly and too much when on exit. I could enter T14 now with better confidence and never dropped below 120km/h and the car felt very secure. Lap times were very easy 2min or just under and it was great fun, really great car to drive. I was so disappointed that Mr. Eddy Wong did not have time to test my car. Now I am looking for some really soft 048 SS or D01J GPS soft rubbers or even slicks for next time. I was assured by Mr. Eddy Wong that there will be another function in the next 2 months to come and I hope we can all do track days regularly. The Elise has again proved itself to be the best track day car right out of the box without much modification and spending alot of money but rewards the driver with immense pleasure and satisfaction. Drive and be happy. Edgar |
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Cool .....
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