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.

Katana2 Track Testing at Big Willow

We have been busy working on a new Katana package that we will be submitting for CARB approval. I stated the goal of delivering a street legal supercharger kit at the launch of the Katana and after many years of trying - we believe we have a solution. Track testing was the last part of this development. This is an excellent place to run a car at high rpms, speed and actual loads to determine how well the car is tuned. Project Nirvana Elise has been our test mule for this new kit. Tuning was conducted by our friends at Secant Vehicles. I am happy to report the Elise ran smoothly and swiftly this past weekend at Willow Springs with the Lotus Challenge Series.

We secured the services of our good friend (and recent Daytona winner!) Dave Thilenius to run the car hard on track. Nirvana was running with old R888s but Dave still managed to crank out a bunch of laps under 1:38 with the best being 1:35.94. A new GUT aero kit was also added to Nirvana since we last ran on track. We subjected the Katana2 to a total of 10 run sessions from Friday through Sunday.

Riding shotgun with Dave on a session was Steve from Secant Vehicles. Steve is a mechanical engineer with over 15 yrs of engine calibration experience. He has worked for Roush, Bosch and even Lotus Engineering in calibration positions. Steve has taken many cars & aftermarket power kits through CARB and knows the process well. He has tuned our new Katana2 kit to meet these standards. If you seen his work on the Secant Type I you can attest to the OE-like quality of his work. Steve has also developed our Atom2 tune and are very happy with their work.

I also enjoyed driving duties when we started track testing on Friday. Steve monitored the electronic equipment and data logged engine parameters as I ran through his commands; go slower, hit the rev limiter, try to detect second cam, and go faster! By the end of the day, we landed on a tune that ran wonderfully and safely on track. I had my friend Jack Fried - an accomplished LCS racer and 211 owner, drive the car late in the day. Jack has owned many of the Elise variants and has tons of track seat time in them. He was very pleased with the performance and commented that it ran even better than the Katana that was on our last Exige.

The car runs very nicely with an excellent idle and around town manners. The mornings were in the low 50s and warmed up to the high 60s. Getting a car to run well on the street AND track while still meeting emissions is a significant challenge. The car accelerates very smoothly and the second cam is hard to detect.

All out power is not our goal with the Katana2. Again our plan is to secure a CARB EO number so that our customers can run their cars on the street. The biggest difference with this kit is that we have added a new airbox. Since supercharged cars are more sensitive to intake changes than exhaust changes, we required a new tune. Our original Katana tune was tested but did not pass all the CARB required emissions tests. We are now preparing our CARB application....stay tuned for updates!

Canyon Run with my Atom2 - Aero Test

I had the chance to run my Atom2 this weekend to test out the new aero package. We installed the TMI sourced front factory wing on my Atom a couple of weeks ago. Now that we are an official Ariel Atom Dealer, we will offer this solution to clients. It attaches to a bracket that bolts to the frame at the nose. This bracket also secures the front tow hook. We had commissioned a rear wing design from Steve@Aerosim and had it built by ReVerie. The rear upright was complete and we had it powdercoated black. The wing is a dual element design that Steve spec'd for us. This rear wing will be an Atom2 offering only.

I took the car to Palomar Mountain, which is a road frequented by sportbikes, sports cars, RVs, trucks and the local police. I took a couple of fun back roads that are usually empty and unpatrolled to get to Palomar. The weather was in the low 70s. The Atom was extremely fast and pulled like a banshee. We had added Tom@Unique Fab's in-line radiator for the intercooler. I could detect no heat soak related slow down. It was hard to keep the car at full throttle for any length of time in the canyons. It was fast and ferocious. The increased rev limiter (now 7100 rpm) allowed me to stay in gear on certain corners - though the car makes enough torque that you can leave it in a higher gear. Since the car revs so quickly these added rpms make a huge difference.

The aero had the car feeling nicely planted. The front fenders can cause some slight lift at high speed. I usually remove them at the track to eliminate this issue. They were not removed as I was driving on the street. I also made some small adjustments to rebound on the Nitrons to deal with some of the bumps. The downforce was truly confidence inspiring. I also had side panels which reduced cabin buffeting and kept me from freezing in the morning. Overall, I was very happy with the result.

Further tuning will be done at the track...hopefully this weekend at Willow Springs.

The Thrill of Victory & Cold Hard Reality of Maintenance

Our new Nitron parts were put to the test this past weekend at the Lotus Challenge Races. Michael proved that he could go fast with these parts on his Cup Exige - he won the Time Trial, beating even 2-11s. We had checked this car completely after our setup day the previous weekend. After three days of hard running the car suffered a mechanical failure. Though we did not support this car during these 3 days, we regret not having checked it. Race parts need attention. You must check them at frequent intervals to ensure they are in good operating condition.

Michael led 6 laps of the wheel to wheel race when the failure occurred. After the car was brought back to the pits and we all cursed our luck (and each other), we found that the lower wishbone had separated from the front upright. We discovered that the Titanium threaded pin backed out half of the way and then wobbled itself loose enough to tear out the remaining threads that held it into the upright. You can see how this occurred in these pictures. After reviewing these pictures with Guy@Nitron, he also agreed with our assessment.

The last picture shows the other upright and how it is also backing off. Steve took this picture as we were scrutinizing the failure. We had marked these joints with a paint line to allow for quick visual checks. Clearly the line had moved - if this had been caught, we could have tightened the joint and averted the failure that manifested itself in the race.

The car is now in the hands of R3 Motorsport who will be managing it for future races. We are bringing replacement parts up to them to get this steed back to it's winning ways. We will also conduct periodic review of this car to see how the parts are holding up.

As we all take street cars and run them hard on track, we will need to be more attentive to additional maintenance. The cars are being taxed beyond the scope they were designed to contend with. Race parts, by their very nature, need even more scrutiny. This cold, hard lesson teaches us all that we need to check each critical nut & bolt before any track event.

Colin Chapman apparently said that if his race cars broke as they crossed the finish line, he did a perfect job in designing them. Since we are only racing for bowling trophies, we surely don't need to take such risk! ;^)

Nitron Build - Track Testing @ Buttonwillow

We completed initial testing of the Nitron upgrades at Buttonwillow this past Saturday. We hired a professional ride & handling engineer and Koni Challenge racer to help us with set-up. Dave Thilenius (see pic below) has a Formula 2000 championship and over 20 years of racing and OE set-up experience. Our team also included Rick, Steve, myself and Allen from LPL. Dave has helped us with other projects including the Secant Type I & II track testing.

We set up the car with mid level settings on the Nitron GT3s. We installed 650/800lb springs on these dampers. The Nitron uprights and steering arms allowed -3deg of camber all around. We dialed in a little bit of Toe Out at the front and Toe In at the rear. Caster was maxed out per Nitron's recommendation. Ride height was set at 96mm/100mm with driver weight and a full tank of fuel. The brakes were AP 4pots on all four corners with Hawk HT10s.

One last minute addition was the ReVerie Exige Spoiler and Canards. We added these to improve his front end grip and balance as he had a huge rear wing.

Dave started the day with a quick 3 lap session to bed the brakes and get a feel for the car. He brought it back and we pulled all the wheels and checked all the critical nuts and bolts. Everything looked good so he went out for a few laps. We checked tire pressures and temps in the hot pit to see how the tires were working. Dave gave us his input and we decided to make one change - which was stiffening Low Speed Compression to address a 'lazy turn-in'. As the morning progressed we continued this sequence and made other changes to the car.

Dave began cranking some quick laps in the low 2 min range. Ultimately he managed a 1:59min which was very quick in the conditions we had. With new tires (we ran on old slicks), Dave was sure we could shave another 4sec from his time. His conservative driving made it clear to us that 4 sec could be achieved. He was driving a client's car so 10/10s driving was not in the test plan. Overall he was very happy with the car and felt it was a quick car. He commented that the car now had real race car brakes as they worked very well.

By 1pm the client, Michael, was itching to get into the car and drive it. He went out and completed a few laps. The car was very different from before so he spent some time adjusting to it. His best time of the day was a 2:00min lap. Michael was very happy with the handling but was less enthusiastic with the brakes. The car originally came with the Lotus Sport AP 4 pot calipers which we moved the rear. The new APs on the front are the same size as the AP brakes we offer. The HT10 have a very aggressive initial bite so we will test a less aggro pad - Pagid RS4-2. I suspect once Michael gets used to these brake pads and the overall brake system, he will switch back to the HT10s.

Overall we had a good test session. The car ran with no mechanical trouble. We were able to test the viability of these new Nitron parts and run the car at very low settings. The key feature of this kit is the ability to run under 100mm ride height and maintain the suspension geometry. The fact that the car never bottomed out or 'digested' the wheel liner made us even happier. It performed very well and should be even quicker with some further development and/or seat time.

Nitron Build - Saving Unsprung Weight

We're almost finished with the installation of Nitron's tasty new bits on Michael's Cup car. After weighing both the stock parts and the new Nitron bits we found that there are significant weight savings to be had with Nitron's uprights. Over 10 lbs of unsprung weight were shed with the full set of four uprights.

OE Front Uprights (pair)=24.4 lbs vs. Nitron=17.3 lbs

OE Rear Uprights (pair)=23.8 lbs vs. Nitron=20.1 lbs

We'll publish more weight saving details later!

Nitron Rear Toe-link

Today, we installed the Nitron Rear Toe-link kit to the Cup car. We utilized the Lotus Sport toe-link brace to anchor the Nitron kit to the chassis. We also test fit our RTD/RTV cross brace with these toe links to confirm compatability. Nitrons provide the capability for finer adjustments and tuning of the rear toe.