Balanced Approach - Safe. Reliable. Performance.

In the past 6 years, we have talked with literally thousands of Lotus owners & have tracked these cars our selves. We've used these experiences to develop an upgrade path that will ensure you avoid unnecessary lost track time and costly breakdowns. We believe taking a balanced approach to tuning your Lotus is the safe and reliable way to gain performance and lower your lap times.

Click on the image below to view the full-size "Balanced Approach" chart. Of course, give us a call if you have any questions. (951)296-6762.

Rules to Live By on Track

My good friend, Grand Am racer, classmate, and driving instructor, David Thilenius, has some rules he presents to all his students. I wanted to share them with all y'all.

Here are Dave's 10 governing principles for driving on track:

1. Don't die.
2. Don't die.
3. Don't die.
4. Don't die.
5. Don't die.
6. Cars break.
7. Driver's make mistakes.
8. Driving at the limit is not like riding a bike. If you don't do it regularly, you will forget.
9. Sooner or later, you will crash. Prepare like you are going to crash.
10. The driver is 100% responsible for everything that happens to the car he is driving.

Dave will be with us at the next Lotus Challenge race at Spring Mtn coaching a couple of drivers. Come out and meet this recent Daytona Grand Am winner. Did I mention Dave is also the Ride & Handling engineer for us and Secant?

Nirvana Built Engine Swap

The boys just finished removing Project Nirvana's Katana2 engine to make room for our new built n/a power plant. We are leaving the Katana2 engine untouched so its ready to go for our pending CARB test.

This new engine, built by renowned Toyota engine builder Bruce Nogrady, will feature our Sector111 Stage I built head and stronger internals. Our goal is to have Nirvana up and running by the end of the week. We'll break her in this weekend and run her on Buttonwillow next week to really see how she performs. Once the engine has proven itself, we will add a TVS blower and get Steve to calibrate her with a goal of 275hp.

Atom3 Canyon Drive - The Shock & The Awe

This morning, I drove my new Atom3 through several canyons and popular mountains roads for the first time. Rice Canyon/Mt. Palomar - both grades, Mesa Grande and up to Julien were the roads of choice. This was the longest I had driven it, so I enjoyed getting to learn it's style. It is a different beast with both Pros & Cons vs the Atom2. Yes, it is still as scary and lovely as the Atom2.

At a quick glance, the Atom3 is visually hard to differentiate from an Atom2. As you look carefully, the differences begin to emerge, especially in it's unique tubular chassis. The US built Atom3 is almost identical to its UK built cousin. One key area is that they now share the K20 Honda powertrain - which is a glorious bit of kit. The 9k redline is pure unadulterated bliss. This Atom sports the 300hp powertrain - dare I say it feels faster than my old Atom2? This may be partially due to the fact that the Atom3 is 100+lbs lighter.

Shifting the Atom3 is absolutely righteous. Honda makes a fantastic gearbox and shifting can be confidently executed with your finger tips. The gear knob feels a bit too small and the gear ratios feel almost too tight. The car revs so quickly that you are constantly shifting - did the Atom2 make me a bit lazy? Nah, I think slightly taller gears could do wonders for the usability of the Atom300. I suspect the gears may be perfect in the normally aspirated versions.

Sounds emanating from behind me are a bit more subdued. The supercharged whine is the loudest thing you hear. I'm hoping that it will pass Laguna Seca as we are holding the West Coast Atom Meet at LS in July. I'm still adjusting to the driving position with these new adjustable seats. The 6pt. anti-sub strap had me singing soprano so it will need a tweak before I drive her again! The hand brake is definitely in a worse position than the Atom2 - though it is easier to install and service.

We had taken this car to the Streets of Willow last Thurs for our Track Day and had the dampers set at the factory track settings. Our bumpy canyons demand softer settings to prevent my fillings from rattling out of my head! I set the adjustable Bilstein suspension to 3 in the front and 4 in the rear. The compliance of this car is excellent which is surely due to the improved bellcrank/pushrod/damper alignment. It soaked up the rough roads very well. Oversteer is easy to induce with the right pedal. I needed to adjust my inputs accordingly as this car felt more responsive than my last. I will play with suspension settings a bit futher as well to tame this beast to my liking and suit my modest driving skill. It really is the closest thing to a formula car for the street.

The small Aero Windscreen/Kickers are a sweet little addition. I am surprised at how well they divert the air. They also kill bugs fast (if I may borrow a lame ad slogan from Porsche). They kept my helmet visor quite clean and my head from experiencing too much buffeting. I also ordered the much maligned side panels. I love 'em - especially as I left around 7:30am when it was still cool out. The panels reduce air intrusion into the 'cabin' which is quite welcome when it is nippy out.

The Atom3 is wicked fast, like the Atom2 and every bit as titillating. A fair amount of concentration is required to drive it quickly. This car rewards a smooth and focused driver. Yes, I am love again.

Atom 2 Windshield Upgrade

We recently retrofitted an Atom 2 with the new Atom 3 Windshield upgrade. With a couple of parts from the guys at TMI, we moved the brake and clutch fluid reservoirs above the steering column. This puts the reservoirs in the same spot as the Atom 3. The reservoirs needed to be moved so that you can install the windshield wiper motor and washer fluid reservoir.

Some Atom 2’s will have to be modified further if you have the fire extinguisher bracket welded directly into the chassis.

We also upgraded the car to the Atom 3 side mirrors. These use a 1-hole mount and now are part of the windshield panel mounting. They secure the outside corners of the dash panel. On our Atom 2, we removed the old mirror bracket that was riveted to the chassis as it was no longer needed. The other 3 mounting points are the same as the stock dash panel.

After installing the windshield, we were able to fit the new style bonnet to the car. This new bonnet has some really nice sharp lines. The fit and finish is very nice.

Project Nirvana Update - Transmission Upgrades

Steve & Rick have just complete our various transmission upgrades on our Project Nirvana '05 Elise. The transmission itself received our 3rd & 4th Gear + 5.0 Final Drive kit. Steve worked with Bruce Nogrady, our engine builder, to build this transmission. This setup will give us shorter and tighter gear ratios that suits this engine. We'll be testing this setup at our Track Day on the Streets of Willow on April 15th. We believe our car will benefit tremendously on this tight track with this new shorter ratio box.

We also installed a few new tasty bits from OS Giken. Their STR clutch & flywheel combo & OS Super Lock LSD were both added to Nirvana's drive train to deliver more strength & grip. The STR clutch & flywheel have been balanced together & offer a much higher strength solution than stock. Thanks to a larger throw-out bearing, this setup maintains the same pedal feel & engagement point as stock making it the perfect solution for cars driven on the street & track. The clutch now has a cool Ducati-like sound...

OS Giken's OS Super Lock LSD has been a favorite amongst the LCS's fastest drivers. Its patented pressure ring design allows it to lock 100% & it does it progressively. There's no "on-off" locking like some LSDs. The OS Super Lock's innovative & compact design allows it to house a greater number of friction plates (12 total). Jack & Brent have both commented that they are able to get on the power sooner with this LSD.

This weekend we will be putting on the 500 break-in miles required for the clutch & flywheel so the car will be ready for heavy track duty on April 15th at our Track Day.

Transmission & LSD Install

We are installing the Jubu 3rd, 4th & Final Drives into Project Nirvana along with an OS Giken LSD & STR Clutch & Flywheel. We want to run this config at our upcoming track day at Streets

Initial disassembly has begun which includes, the left rear suspension, exhaust system including cat and removal of both CV shafts. 3 out of 4 engine mounts have to be removed as well. In order to disconnect the transmission from the engine, the starter, clutch slave cylinder and the shifter cables must be removed. We are anticipating this job will take a full 10hrs to complete from start to finish - excluding gears/LSD assembly within the transmission. Be sure to drain the transmission before removing the CVs. Don't ask us how we know. Thanks go out to Ralph@V2 for tips.


Note the 85a durometer trackMOUNTs that we have installed. We tested these nounts at the last LCS race at Buttonwillow. The car shifts fantastically. Performance was exceptional. The street driving does suffer from increased noise vibration & harshness (NVH). I suspect any OE engineers who work on NVH might faint if given a ride in Nirvana - but the race drivers will clearly be in heaven...

OS Giken LSD Feedback

One of our AutoX friends, David Smart is running at the National level with his Lotus. He is running the OS Giken LSD for the first time. He wrote me with his initial results:

Shinoo – Quick feedback from my first event with the OSG SuperLock diff. This weekend we ran the SCCA Texas National Tour in Mineral Wells. My co-driver and I went 1^st and 2^nd. The track was approx 1.5 miles long with a variety of course elements. The course also had a few bumpy sections which the diff handled well under 100% lock. The Torsen was notorious for allowing wheel spin in bumpy sections.

We found that the car behaved like it was equipped with an open diff on corner entry. At mid-phase and corner exit I was able to quickly transition from neutral to oversteer to get the rotation I needed. Other good news, I didn’t hear a peep out of the clutch packs all weekend.

Overall, good results!

Thanks,

David

Katana2 Dyno Results - preCARB Results

We completed our Katana2 street & track tuning with Steve from Secant last week and took the car to the dyno to see what kind of power we are making. Our #1 goal with the Katana2 is to achieve CARB approval and get the coveted EO# so that it is a street legal solution. Peak power was not our ultimate goal, just a safe and clean solution. We know that getting CARB approval is a difficult process, but we've taken on this challenge to help us produce better product. Most importantly, we have clients who want a CARB approved kit that allows them to legally drive their Lotus on the street.

We tested our Elise on a Dynapack dyno. This dyno attaches right to the hubs and eliminates any of the issues that come from wheel/tire variation or slip in rollers, etc. The results shown above are marginally higher than what we achieved with our Katana (see chart below). The two runs shown were after a half dozen runs were completed on the car, so it is possible that the car may make a bit more power. Additionally, once the CARB testing is started, the tune may need to change to meet their tests. The final results may change so we will post up our final numbers once we achieve them.

The chart below is our original Katana dyno chart. Of course please recognize that the results are from different cars and different dynos.

Overall I am pleased that the Katana2 dyno looks nice and flat along with making a bit more power. The butt dyno confirmed this with smooth power at the track and on the street. Steve's tune feels really OE-like. You can see the dip we had in the Katana that is now tuned out. The addition of the larger airbox is helping us, but we are still limited by the use of 91 octane. Frankly, this level of power is excellent - the car feels nicely balanced. We know that the engine/transmission internals can live with this level of power. An important point to make is that these dyno numbers are taken at the hub so you should account for a 12-15% powertrain loss to compare with dyno figures usually quoted by the manufacturers. I think it is safe to say we are in the Exige S240 to S260 range of power.

Ultimately we will develop even more powerful versions of the Katana - including one that uses the latest generation of supercharger from Eaton, the TVS. Our CARB application is completed for the Katana2. We will complete the info for the KatanaTVS and submit the whole package this week. We're looking forward to hearing from CARB to get to the next level of this process...stay tuned.

Of course, if you are a current Katana client and do not care about CARB, call us, we can offer you the airbox and ECU tune to turn your Katana into a Katana2.