I’ve just posted up my photos, videos and interviews from the launch of the Lotus Exos T125 on the GGLC blog. WANT!!!!
Posts Tagged ‘Lotus’
Lotus Exos reveal
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
Picked up some Lotus History
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010
The mailman just brought me this amazing piece of Lotus F1 history: a piston from the Cosworth DFV engine #339 used in the Lotus 81 Formula 1 car.
In the 70s and 80s, Team Lotus was in the habit of keeping the pistons from rebuilds to use as VIP gifts. Each engines pistons were labeled and stored but not all were presented. With reference to the teams archives, Classic Team Lotus is able to identify the detailed competition history for the engines in which the pistons ran. A great deal of polishing, then mounting on a wooden plinth, complete with presentation plaque, makes a rather special item of memorabilia.
Now while a piston from an F1 engine is amazing in itself (Ferrari charges >$600 for a 2000 piston), this particular engine has some additional history that makes it even more unique. The DFV 339 was used by not one but two F1 world Champions: Mario Andretti used it in his final season at Lotus while Nigel Mansell used it during his first two seasons in F1.
The piston comes with documentation of the engines usage and you can see that while it was used primarily in practice and testing, it was also used by Andretti in the 1980 USA GP West where he retired after a first corner accident.
If you’d like to get your hands on some original Team Lotus history, head on over to the Classic Team Lotus webstore and be prepared to fight the temptation to buy out the entire store.
Health benefits of Autocrossing
Monday, July 20th, 2009At the last GGLC autocross Alex and I decided to try out a little experiment to see how your heart rate changes during the race. We used a Polar S720i to record his heart rate, an iPhone for video and a DL1 data logger to record G-force and speed readings. I used some simple PHP magic to sync the two data files together and used the Chasecam Dashware system to create this finished video.
You can see the speed, heart rate (BPM), longitudinal G (acceleration + braking) and lateral G in the dashboard on the top of the video. His average heart rate was in the low nineties while on the grid and rises to to 101 just before the start of the run. As the run progresses you can see it quickly rise all the way to 145 bpm by the end of the 45 second run. Just as interesting is the way his heart rate falls as soon as the run ends and drops to the low 130s just 10 seconds after the run. So now if anyone asks you why you autocross just say its for the health benefits 
Unfortunately the video quality is not as perfect and the heart rate only updates every 5 seconds but all in all it was a successful test of the system. I have already ordered a Polar RS800CX (1 sec resolution) and I plan to run this same setup for the duration of the Lemons race at Buttonwillow next month. So stay tuned for the health benefits of endurance racing 
This post has been cross posted on the GGLC blog.
Lotus Elise on a Go-Kart track
Sunday, February 8th, 2009I’ve just helped the Golden Gate Lotus Club launch the new GGLC blog and as the guest editor I’ve had the honor of making the following first post.
One of the highlights of the 2008 West Coast Lotus meet were the time trials that were held at the go-kart track of Jackson County Parks facilities. You often hear that the Lotus handles like a go-kart but this was the first time that I got to drive my Elise on an actual go-kart course. Our run format consisted of running 3 back to back laps on the outside of the track to count as one single timed run. It was an interesting day and we got to to run the first session in the dry before the rain came down creating a very wet second session.The following video combines in-car and external footage of my first wet run of the afternoon. Major thanks to Rob and Jen from Dietsch Werks for taping the run from the outside.
Lotus Elise on a Go-Kart track from rnair on Vimeo.
Since my R-compound tires were completely slick I had to swap to my AD-07 street tires for the first time in six months. The combination of skinny tires, street compound and wet surface meant that I had no grip and I almost went off while braking for turn 1 (I was later riding with someone who shall not be named when we actually went off at the same spot 
). I make the turn with about six inches to spare and am pretty cautious and slow waaaay down for turn two only to find the rear end wants to fishtail on the exit. Turn 3 went much better but the lack of front-end bite at turn 4 lead to a few NSFW comments. At this point I slowed down even further and tiptoed my way around the course for the rest of the run. We later found out that the county had repaved about half the track which meant that the course had sections with both old and new asphalt which account for the wide variance in the grip levels at the turns. Turns 1 through 4 had the lowest grip and you had to tiptoe through them before getting on the throttle for the rest of the course.
The next video is incar from my final run in the dry. The lap is much better and doesnt have too many mistakes apart from a missed shift on the start of lap 3 – I believe it ended up being the second fastest Lotus time of the morning.
West Coast Lotus Meet: Time Trials from rnair on Vimeo.
Bye Bye Warranty
Monday, April 21st, 2008Hit 36,000 miles yesterday.
Lotus Elise Supercharged
Friday, February 29th, 2008Chris Harris review the new Supercharged Lotus Elise – me wants to upgrade
Harris is one of the best automotive reporters out there – he strikes an excellent balance between the humour of Jeremy Clarkson and the driving ability of Tiff Needell. If you liked that review I highly recommend the Chris on Camera series where he reviews a different car every week.
Another year in pictures
Thursday, December 6th, 2007Since my car just turned two years old I figured it was time to write a follow-up to the original year in pictures post.
30 Dec 06: Another trip to LA down Highway 1. Tons of pics here.
17 Feb 07: Visited the Tesla factory and saw the latest roadster to be built at Hethel.
24 Feb 07: Start the track season at Thunderhill with TEAM
1 Apr 07: East Bay Etalk Brunch
24 Apr 07: Met Crudson and JnC on their cross country trip
12 May 07: Had a 95 mph spin at Reno-Fernley Raceway
15 June 07: A photo of my car (post spin) is used by the SCCA for an ad in Sportscar magazine
16-27 June 07: 2500 mile roadtrip to Vancouver
12 Aug 07: Broke down on Highway 1 with no cell service. Had to hitch a ride to town to call the tow truck.
18 Aug 07: Saw a bunch of classic Lotus at the Monterey Historics.
1 Sept 07: Elisetalk photoshoot in Alameda
22 Sept 07: Finally convince Nithya to drive in the GGLC autocross – was in the GTI rather than the Elise but she still had fun
Nithya @ the GGLC AutoX from rnair on Vimeo.
20-12 Oct 07: 24 Hours of Lemons with Team SFF1. More details here.
2 Dec 07: 2 years and 33,500 miles later my luck finally runs out and I get rear ended
2 Years and 33,500 miles later my luck has finally run out
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
Got rear ended at a red light today. No injuries though it looks like the rear clam will have to be replaced. The other drivers insurance has already accepted liability, now I just have to hope I am not without the car for too long.
Heading to Thunderhill with TEAM
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
I will be doing a trackday with TEAM at Thunderhill tomorrow. It’s been a long time since I’ve tracked the Elise and I’m really looking forward to it.
GGLC Autocross
Sunday, November 4th, 2007Some in-car video from yesterdays GGLC autocross in Marina.
The first video is my fast lap for the day. I don’t slow enough after the slalom and understeer into a cone. I still end up doing a 40.1 (+1).
Fast lap from rnair on Vimeo.
The second video is from my last run of the day where I am sideways on at least 3 occasions. It was a slow run (41.6), but great fun nonetheless
A very sideways lap from rnair on Vimeo.
The last video is Nithyas best run (46.5) of the day in the GTI. For someone who almost backed out of her first event, she is becoming very good at this. If you have never tried autocrossing you should come down to one of the GGLC events next season and give it a try – it is safe, fun and the best way to learn car control.
Nithya Fast Lap from rnair on Vimeo.