10 000

Yesterday, my Lotus reached its 10 000 km mark as I was driving here:


View Larger Map

I went to an open parking lot with some gravel on the ground to drift the car a bit, but I was unable to get it to loose traction... dam A048s... Understeer kicked in before I could upset the rear. I think the solution is a nice slalom course. This is what I will be experimenting with next:



Just in case you're wandering if I'm going to risk cones... no I'm not. I am going to use putty :-D

TADTS #1

On a thread asking people for help about a knocking noise on the front wheels, someone replied:

"There's many noises and things that come from Elises; when I first got mine I was hearing every noise and thinking "what's that? is that a, no, it can't be, oh hang on there it is...uh oh" every time I drove it. Slowly you get used to the noises.

Enjoy!"

Drive last night

It had been raining during the day, so I just took an easy drive last night. I went to a possible location to experiment with loosing traction an found it to be quite satisfactory. There were too many people around so I just did a few rounds trying to loose traction (not succesfully) and then went for a longer drive. I quite enjoyed having a more relaxed time with the car. It is a very competent mini-GT :-)

Turn signals

Found out on Lotustalk that flying turn signals are a common problem. Some useful solutions here.

This pic shows that it happens to the pro's as well :-D

Blat last night

Went to the LA road trying to get back in shape... I only did one sprint because there were a few large piles of dirt on the road. Still I was able to train heel-and-toe and it went quite well. Haven't lost the touch. I was a bit bummed to have to com back so soon :-(

Lotus 2-11 base

I am sooo lusting over this....

Superb drive this morning

I was sick with food poisoning this whole week. Couldn't take the Lotus out. This morning I meant to wake up at 5.00 and go to Sintra. I did wake up at 5.15 but couldn't bring myself out of bed until 6.15. By the time I got to the car, it was almost 7.00. As soon as we were on the open road to monsanto, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of childish happyness as I allowed myself to connect with the car. I even screamed of joy. This is such a superb driving machine. I was just going for a quick blat through Monsanto but ended up going all the way to Sintra. Lots of traffic, so I just went for a one way sprint. I hadn't done a mountain road blat in a while, I was really rusty... even my heal-and-toe sucked. Oh well :-P

Not again!

Yesterday I was cruising on the highway on the way to Porto and my left front blinker came out flying again!!! It's the third time this happens in 6 months! Not happy. The darn thing hit the front clam a number of times, making no damage (thk god!)

Other than that quite a pleasant trip up and down. Had a great time at the Jag launch party and then had dinner with a bunch of Lotus enthusiasts. Check the pics here.

Crashing the Jag XF launch party

Tomorrow a bunch of Lotus will be meeting at the Jag XF launch party. I will be leaving Lisbon around 4pm, we're meeting at 7pm at the dealer in OPorto.

In other news, I finally got the acknowledgement from Via Verde - I had sent them the papaerwork over a month ago! No more embarrasing moments having to step out of the car at toll gates :-)

Finally!

Yesterday I was dead tired, but after a spell of terrible weather, I *had* to take out the Lotus. I was so tired I did not dare to take on the LA road. Went to Monsanto instead, which is a much faster circuit. All I can say is that I had a BLAST! Drove much faster than uual... The car needed a good beating after being in storage for so long! Superb!

New license plate

BTW, on new year's eve I went for a quick blat and broke my license plate again. Add this to the list of 'you know you're a lotus owner when':

... license plates are consumables just like brakes and tires

Blats and crap

Major sadness!

Well kind of. First. I have only been on one ride in a whole week. I took the car for a ride in the wet to check a couple of drift spots, but no luck yet. I only have one to go.

Then miserable weather... :-(

Called the service rep at Lotus and got the news that my front blinker was finally here. However, got a call today from my salesman saying that the service rep found a leak in the radiator. I am going to have to take the car to OPorto. Bummer!

Here's a pic of my blinker before it was fixed:

Recent blats

Went for a drive on the 23rd at dawn to check out the Gradil road. My GPS took me down a mud road guarded by a german shepherd dog :-O Had to reverse and then found the Gradil road. Pretty fun, but the pavement is very up and down. Won't reapeat it, methinks.

I broke my license plate when getting back to the garage (there was a frigging truck parked out front). I went to a store which was already closed and I was able to beg a new license plate out of them. I installed it myself yesterday and went for a drive last night. I was planning to do the LA road a few times but towards the end I saw a bunch of mean looking people around a large bonfire and decided to call it a night. Incidentally, I came across a large gap on the road because of construction, just at the beginning of LA. The car bottomed out and then developped a huge rattle. I started to belive that I had broken the glass that looks into the engine bay, I kid you not. Fortunately, everything was well and the rattle disappeared.

On the way home, I stopped for gas and a bunch of kids totalled freaked out when they saw the Lotus. Fun!

Took a couple of pics yesterday in the parking lot of a friend's appartment building. Enjoy!

Blat this morning

Woke up at 5.30 as usual. I went to LA. The road is still hurt from the recent rains. Tons of mud on some sections. I went up and down onece and then took the coastal road to Azoia. Very nice drive. I really improved on looking towards where I am going (the Azoia road has great visibility, so that helps) and doing much less mistakes on braking too late. I am braking a bit early and a bit soft right now. Have to work on that. The alternative death roundabout ended up in zilch. I am going to check a new road and another candidate to a roundabout of death tomorrow morning.

On a side note, really fun dream. I dreamt that I woke up at 8 and missed my drive and then I really woke up and it was 5.30 am... thank God!

It was confusing for a bit :-P

The sun!!!

The sun is out!!!!

After a whole friggin' week of Lotuslessness, I can finally hit the streets at dawn tomorrow! Hurrayy!

BTW, last week I went for 8 laps of LA (the final half): It was great. I got progressively more comfortable with the car and made fewer mistakes. On saturday at dawn I went to check out the Roundabout of Death. Too much traffic, alas... I did find a suitable parkinglot for training oversteer, but there's a circus there now. Let's see if I can find something interesting tomorrow.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Two blats in a row

Thursday night and today at dawn, I went for a couple of blats in Sintra. It turns out that my experimental blat path through Sintra sucks.

My original road has a really uneven ground on the second segment and then it gets worse. It is also a really narrow road, and in the last downhill sprint to Sintra it has high walls on both sides. Not fun if you loose traction. No fun at all.

The first blat was, in retrospect not too bad. Once I left the LA road, I got into a section with uneven ground but not too bad. Should be great in the spring. Now it's figgin covered with leaves and has some really heavy fog patches. There was a point where I got a surprise steep downwards incline covered with leaves and the car skated down through with with the ABS working double time! It was so dark and foggy that I got seriously spooked. Fortunately, I took a wrong turn and ended up in Azoia and had a very pleasant trip back to Cascais. So this now is my favorite circuit in Lisbon.

In the second blat, I drove through the right road except for a turn where I ended up litterally skidding with no brakes down a muddy path that forced me to reverse and do a u-turn. The car has mud all over. No fun at all. Another part that was not fun at all was having the car understeer on me (went into a corner too hot) and havign a car coming in the opposite direction. I was always in control, but didn't enjoy the experience :-P

Powered by ScribeFire.

Blat last night

Went for a blat last night in Sintra. The road was great, although it seemed to be a bit damp. Had a great time, the car behaved wonderfully. I made a couple of mistakes but the Exige S is a really forgiving car. When I was reading online fora prior to getting the car, I thought it would be a bit twitchy and bite back a lot, but that is not how the car is at all. It is really very forgiving. Hopefully, there will be one more opportunity to practice this weekend... :-)

Powered by ScribeFire.

The left-hand front turn signal... again

I went to pick up the Lotus from the garage yesterday to give it a wash and on my way home, the left hand front turn signal flew out of its casing. As you might recall, this happened already. The first time, the top latch keeping it in place broke, so the signal moved but it did not fly out. Now the bottom one broke and the signal flies out all the time. Had to tape in place :-(

Powered by ScribeFire.

Blat today

Hadn't driven the Exige for the past couple of weeks (I was away on business). Took it out today. Delicious as usual. I really missed it. I was bummed by the trip though. The road I was going to play in was littered with leaves and gravel :-(

No fun in the twisties at all!

Powered by ScribeFire.

Blat next dawn

OK... I'm leaving for a business trip tomorrow and the thought of spending a week away from the Lotus is just too much. I'm going to try to set my internal alarm clock for 5 am tomorrow and go for a quick blat in one of my favorite spots :-D

Blat this morning

TNAS from AHO joined me for my drive through Montejunto this morning. It was great having his company in the car, but I was mad at myself because I wasn't able to focus on the driving (same thing happened with my last pax ride there). I need to learn how to chew gum and walk at the same time :-P

The road was quite challenging today. A lot of foliage on the ground and even a dead fox, FCS! Anyway, the car still behaved like a dream and we had a great conversation about Porsches.I'll be away next weekend --- not sure if I'll be able to take the car out before that.

Next blat

I'm going to Montejunto on Saturday early morning. If anyone is up for an early breakfast of one of the greatest roads in the country, drop me a line to zjoao_mx at yahoo.com

My own rules for blats

Blats are dangerous, but they should only be dangerous for those that choose to engage in them and not for anybody else. I have four rules that I always follow in every blat to make sure that if anyone is in jeopardy because of my driving, that person is sitting behind the wheel of the most beautiful organge car in Portugal. These are my own rules, I don't think they're the best or the only ones. Just the rules I feel comfortable with.

1. On highways, stay close to the speed limit and always below 150 km/h
Driving the Lotus is all about the twisties, there's no point is paying a fine, loosing my license or putting myself and others in danger to go fast in a straight line

2. In villages and cities allways keep the speed limit

The point here is to prevent running over somebody. This is especially important in villages on mountain roads where people may be less used to cars and children are allowed to play outside.

3. In long straights keep below 100 km/h

I've learned how well the Lotus can break and this is the speed at which it is still safe to go in medium visibility. There can be children playing in the woods or people may hear / see the Lotus coming and want to come closer. Also, if something upsets the car, there's still a chance of surviving. Again the point of the car is not going fast in a straight line.


4. In the twisties, drive like a maniac just below 7/10's. This is where I really take risks because this is what this car was made for and here is the place where I'm less likely to put others in danger. Obviously the possibility is still there. At 7/10's I am really pushing the car, but I still have some leeway (not much) to improvise. This is a lesson that many of the gentlemen drivers learned in races such as Mille Miglia and that gave some an edge over the professional pilots.

Lotus meet

Yesterday, I spent some time in Lotus Nirvana!

As you might recall from the posts below, yesterday was the first recent Lotus meet here in Portugal. I did some of the background work for it but it was really Manuel Pinheiro (afternoon drive) and Pedro Aroso (morning and lunch) that did most of the work… and it was great!

I could barely sleep the night before. I literally woke up every hour and a half, until, at 5.30, I decided to call it a night. I ended up browsing the internet up to 6.30 and then went to get the Lotus. I kid you not, the car has almost 7000 kilometers on it, I take it out at least once a week, normally twice, and yet whenever I am walking towards my garage, I feel a giddiness that can only be compared to the one I felt when I got to spend an afternoon with my girlfriend in college, and her parents were not at home :-)

I drove to Arruda dos Vinhos, to pick up Zé Rodrigues (JCPR from AHO). I was there a couple of minutes later, because I went to fill up on gas and there were a good dozen of cab drivers doing the same and it was the gas station clerk’s first day :-O

We met with my good friend Zé Gil, the biggest Lotus fanatic I know, in Aveiras. He was driving a small VW Polo coupé (his Elan M100 is not repaired yet). I told him to go in front because he said his car could not go much faster than 120 km/h.... yeah right :-) I ended up really having to push it to be able to keep up with him. We had a nice quiet drive up to Porto. Where my GPS decided to take us through some less canonical routes. OK… so we get to Bela Cruz and the first thing I see is this gorgeous, beautiful, delicious little car. As with most Lotus, the pics of this car do not do it justice… not in a million years. I was totally drooling.

Photo Credit: Rui Coelho

Photo Credit: Rui Coelho

I followed the little Europa to a gas station and find out Pedro Aroso was driving it. The car is beautiful and quite lower than mine :-O

We were joined by an Elan. As we were chatting, a bunch of Elises passed by :-D

We all drove down to Bela Cruz and parked. There were a bunch of cars there already. A bunch of members from AHO stopped by to say hi… quite a pleasant surprise. We checked out some of the old school Esprits and also the most hard core Elise in the group, which driven by a really fast driver (it even had a PerformaceBox installed!). We were later joined by a Porsche 997 Turbo whose beauty was overshadowed by a certain orange Lotus ;-)

Everyone chatted for a while and then we drove away. We just stopped for a quick group photo in the roundabout just before leaving.

Photo Credit: Rui Coelho

Photo Credit: Rui Coelho

The drive to Ofir where we were going to have lunch was great. I went with the front drivers. We were all following an Elan S3 that was pushing it really hard. It was fun to see the tiny car ahead driving past Porche Cayennes and other SUVs. We all took a moderate rhythm. The S1 Elise had yet to be seen, and Zé Rodrigues, who is seriously thinking about buying one was sort of disappointed. Imagine our joy when we saw Rui in his S1 overtaking us!

When we got to Ofir there was a little not soo good surprise in store when we got to Ofir. The road to the restaurant was like taken out of a moonscape and unfortunately one of the Europas ruptured its fuel tank.

Photo Credit: Rui Coelho

Photo Credit: Rui Coelho

Photo Credit: Rui Coelho

Photo Credit: Rui Coelho

Lunch was pretty good. I was sitting in next to the sales rep from Lotus, Manuel Pinheiro, and in front of a service guy from Lotus, José Rodrigues and Rui (the owner of the S1). Good conversation at lunch, although to much Ferrari talk for my own liking :-) The service guy told me that he loved my car and that it was the only one that would steer him away from an AM Vanquish. He told me he had done the presales inspection and the 1000 mile service on it and that it looked great. A real enthusiast!

Lotus paid our lunch. It was really nice of them (we didn’t know they were going to do it)! The service in the restaurant was also great. We were more people than they were counting on and still they were able to get some more tables in a snap.

Off we went to the drive and I let me tell you that Manuel picked some wonderful roads. These were the most challenging roads I have ever driven on with a quick succession of hairpins, fast sweeps and short hooks (map of the whole trip). The asphalt was great as well and the visibility was superb. On the first leg (map), I hadn’t warmed up properly and didn’t do a great job. Ended up last. On the second one (map), I pushed the car much harder. I used all of what I had learned with R_U_Local’s teachings (1,2,3) and was able to do a very quick and very clean run with very few mistakes. One of the S3 Elans did the first leg with us. Props to the driver! On the third run (map), José Rodrigues who was my passenger, got a severe case of motion sickness and I had to take it slow. Zé’s company’s is more valuable to me than a delicious road, but it was an insane uphill climb (nor for me, I took it slow). Well, Zé might as well have saved my car because one of the cars lost control and spun and only sheer luck prevented a bigger accident. Fortunately the car involved didn’t suffer much and everyone was allright.

Photo Credit: Joao Cunha

Photo Credit: Joao Cunha

The scenery from the top of the mountain was breathtaking.

Photo Credit: Joao Cunha

I drove down to Spain with Manuel and a Rui Coelho in his beautiful Rover S2 Elise and then down to Porto. Zé Gil picked his car and he drove down with Zé Rodrigues and me to Mealhada, where we had dinner. Arrived in Lisbon after a 927 km trip of pure pleasure. I was in my car or talkin about it for more than 14 hours and I only spent 2.3 tanks of gasoline. Isn’t the Lotus a great car!

I forgot to say that Manuel and I did a couple of drags from stoplights - proper 'fast and furious' style. The first one was only a dozen meters. In the second one, he pulled away a little bit at the start (probably did a standing start or almost) but then my supercharger kicked in and his car got a bit smaller in the rearview mirror ;-)

It was a superb day out!

Check out more pics here, here, here

Pax ride / Montejunto

Had a great time this afternoon. I spent five hours driving and talking about driving with Fili, a guy that I met on AHO that asked me for a ride on the Lotus. We went to Montejunto and after a few wrong turns (you'd think a guy with a PhD from MIT would know how to read GPS instructions... doh!) we found that delicious road I posted about before. It was great, there was no traffic at all! This is a road from heaven with many twisties and long fast sweeps with great visibility and great scenery. Fili is an experienced track driver and he gave me a few great tips on drving. The gist of it was that I should not try to gradually push the car until I reach the limit. Instead I should find the limit sooner by breaking traction at low speed and catch the car. According to Fili, the ideal setting for this is an uphill quick bend tilted towards the inside of the turn. Looking forward to give that a try. We had a late lunch and talked a bit more about trackdays and how bad they have become at Estoril.

We scheduled a joint trip to Montejunto (Fili really loved those roads) with his S2000 and my Lotus. I really look forward to that :-)

Here's the map of the ride

See a pic of the road below taken from a Porsche (sorry, only pic I could find).

Flickr Lotus Photo Pool

Came across the Lotus photo pool on Flickr. Check out the great pics. The one above is the Lotus Mk II

Soptted!

A Lotus Cortina MkI and a Lotus Elan S3 Sprint in a car dealer close to my house :drool:

Powered by ScribeFire.

Lotus Driver: A new blog

Lotus Driver is a new blog I started to hold information about Lotus cars. Most of the posts focus on a specific car and feature a smal blurb on its history, some links to historic references, links to replica makers, searches on Youtube, Google and Google Images and a price range (in Euro).

Occasionally, there are posts on some other resources for the Lotus classic car enthusiast. One of my favorites is a post with links to classis race car dealers. Check it out and pass along info or photos if you have them :-)

Powered by ScribeFire.

W00t: Great weekend ahead!

This next few days are going to be great. On Friday a quick blat to Montejunto with FiLi, an experience track driver and enthusiast. Really looking forward to do that road again and to a nice lunch talking about my favorite topic with someone that really knows about driving :-)

The big one is on Saturday, though. The first big Lotus meet in Portugal which includes a 100 km blat up to the North of Spain. Oh yeah!

Pics will be posted, have no worries. My co-driver on Saturday is JCPR, a Lotus enthusiast that I me through SELOC / AHO. He's a great photographer.

Anyway, I'll be at Bela Cruz at 10.30 or so, in Foz (Porto). Stop by to say hi, chat about Lotus and see all the other guys arrive.

Powered by ScribeFire.

This is sad :(

OMG!

I just went to check the pics of the meet last saturday and apparently the post below was interpreted as saying that some people were crap or the whole AHO is crap. (sigh)

In spite of not wanting to post in AHO anymore, I was tempted to post one last message explaining this. That will teach me to use american colloquialisms when I have a Portuguese readership. Hell, I didn't even know I had a readership.

Anyway, if someone comes and reads this without checking the Forum, the gist of my message was that I was using crap as in the expression 'my boss gave me crap', to mean grief not as in the expression 'I went to take a crap' to mean 'sh*t'.

I was referring to conversations that I had about the closing on my diary of the Lotus that sort of revived the whole exprience from which I wanted to stay away that day, so that I could enjoy it in the company of my fellow enthusiasts.

Oh well...

Powered by ScribeFire.

Meet this saturday

Had a blast on Saturday. Drove in a group to Fatima up the highway. The highlights of the trip were an empty tunnel in CREL where I was able to let the Stage II sing its best song. It was soo good I wet myself :-D

The meeting was great. Again the Lotus was the star even with a couple of Fezzas around (a 360 and a 355 spyder). No fun roads where the meeting was held, but did take a few trips. The brakes felt a bit strange. On the trip back they seemed to be OK though. There are a number of very nice pics of my car. Check them out here (don't forget to check until the end of the thread

Not sure I'll go on another one. It got tiring to have to deal with the crap from some of the other members of the AHO forum :-(

Powered by ScribeFire.

Track rat

I am really committed to go to be a proficient track driver. I thought I would do that in the Lotus, but I just can't afford an accident right now. I am planning on buying a Caterham as soon as I can. It may seem like a waste of Lotus, but the only reason that I'm going to be using the C'ham instead is because I can afford a C'ham repair, but not the 10K+ that a Lotus costs.

Anyway, the Exige S is still an epiphany on mountain roads, and it is used as it's meant to be there.

Kind in a sour mood today because I closed by online log book, so I'll probably take it for a spin tonight to wind down.

Back here

Well, my log book at AutoHoje is gone because some users just kept hammering me. No way I was going to take that kind of crap from people. I was constantly judged on how scared I was of my car by people that had not taken a single drive in a mountain road with me.

It was hurting my development as a driver by putting unduly pressure on me :-(
So I'm moving my experience as a Lotus owner to this blog.

Enjoy.

Upcoming car meets

Lots of social activity for me and my little Lotus. On Oct. 27th we're going on a meet for rare and historical cars and the weekend after that we are going on a Lotus only car meet. Hurray!

Powered by ScribeFire.

Newest car line up

Since I got the Exige S, I really do not see the point of bigger and better, only different. I also became increasingly passionate about Lotus. As things stand now, this is the lineup.

1. Lotus Exige S (check)



2. Lotus 2-11 / Caterham if the 2-11 is not road legal



3. Historic Lotuses, probably beginning with a 23B

Pax rides last night

Went to a car meeting last night and gave 4 pax rides. Check out the pic:

Joy across all blogs!

Busy driving the new toy. Not much time to publish...

The Lotus compared with regular cars

There is a great thread over on elisetalk with pics of the Elise and the Exige next to regular cars. Some of the pics are amazing. The one below is my favorite:

More nesting

Just picked up my own Multivex Mirrors from the mail (ordered from hangar 111). Now I just need to get a bigger horn.

Nesting

Got leather racing gloves from Luvaria Ulisses in Lisbon. A Classic Team Lotus shirt from an F1 memorabilia store at the airport. Also bought a Nuvi 360, very happy with it except for the voice instructions in portuguese, which is appalling! I immediately installed the Portugal speed trap database.

Here's a pic of the Nuvi 360.



Here's a pic of the Classic Team Lotus shirt.

Data acquisition on track

Haven't tested any of the products below, but I have read about them in online fora and thought it would be interesting to post.

First there's ChronoGPS which is a free piece of software for Windows Mobile devices. Lots of features and hgey, it's free! Virtua cup follows a similar approach, but with more features. You have to pay for it, though.

The cheapest datalogger (and not so bad, this is the one I want) is the Performance Box (used in shows like Top Gear). Very compact and looks great. Not sure if it features backlight, though. But you wouldn't be timing your driving at night now, would you?

If you don't want to go all the way, there's always GPS speed sentry.

Exige S delayed :-(

Got a call from the dealer. I'm going to have to wait a few more weeks.

:-(

Britcars all the way

I spent ome time in China and I had the opportunity to think for a bit about cars. I found out about the ultima GTR and realized that the only reason I would pick a 360 CS over the GTR would be to be able to tell people that I had a ferrari. Me... a poser! So screw that. New car lineup is:

1. Lotus Exige S (coming in 3 weeks!)



2. Ultima GTR



3. Ariel Atom

>
4. Probably something bike-powered, like the Westfield XTR4 (it is street legal)

Nesting for the Lotus: Shoes

Building the nest for the upcoming arrival of the Lotus. First step: get some new rubber for my own feet :-)
(Mine are brown and *do not* have the Ferrari logo)

Hooray for Geneva and light cars!

The Aston Martin N24



The Gallardo SuperLeggera



The Exige GT3



The Lotus 2-11



The KTM X-BOW



.... and Ferrari finally announced the Light Pista!

w00t! Pulled the trigger on an Exige S

Finally!!!!!

Put my deposit down for a (Chrome Orange) Lotus Exige S on Feb 19. Should be here in May!

Can't wait!!!!!

:-D

Holy shit! I have the cash!

It's really happening. I just reached my 40K target to get the lotus. I'll be making the call to the salesman later this mornig. OMG!!!!1!!!

powered by performancing firefox

How to drive

Now that I am about to get an exige, it's time to get some lessons in real world driving.

Alomost there

W00T! I already have the cash I need to get the Exige. It's being paid to my account at the end of this month! Can't wait!

Americans are ruining sports cars!

Crap. I am almost, almost ready to place an order for my Exige S, but all this talk about the end of the US Federal Exemption for bumpers is making me nervous. What if all the rumors on E-Talk are for real and I get an Europa S-looking Exige. YUCK! Crap. If that happens, I am getting a used one from Italy or Germany. Ferrari owners in the US also complain about how much better Euro Models are. Ferrari is also loosing its exemption there: No more sports seats. Geez!

Your average Elise / Exige owner

A member of teh EliseTalk community posted a really interesting profile of the typical lotus owner. See the discussion here.
1. This may seem obvious, but perhaps the single greatest thing we are likely to have in common is a passion for sports cars.





This may not seem like something unusual, but it is. Few people can
identify, let alone have any knowledge about, the broad range of sports
cars that so many folks here are aware of.





2. Although they are passionate people, Elise/Exige owners are more
likely to be led by their heads than their hearts. Logic comes before
emotion.





These owners are more likely that the average person to be excited by
and be able see beauty in mechanical design, not just physical form.





While the mass public defines “function” as a minivan or a Toyota
Camry, Elise/Exige owners might argue that they have confused the term
“function” with “utility”. Even when compared to other sports cars,
this Lotus has sacrificed utility for function.





3. By and large, Elise/Exige owners are very independent thinkers.





These owners are much more likely to have participated in individual
activities and individual sports. They are confident in their own
ability to make reasoned decisions. They are more likely than the
average person to cast aside convention if it suits them.





This car is tiny. It has a 1.8 liter four-cylinder engine. It only puts
out 190 horsepower. And women almost invariably agree that the car is
adorable. For a man, driving this car should, by all rights, be a
statement on par with admitting that one doesn’t like beer. But, they
don’t see it that way.





4. Ironically, Elise/Exige owners aren’t likely to be attention seekers.





In fact, it would seem that the large majority of owners are quite
unaccustomed to being the center of attention. Although though they
don’t necessarily seek the attention that their vehicle unavoidably
garners, they do enjoy the respect they receive.





5. Elise/Exige owners are more likely to be willing to take risks.





They aren’t necessarily adrenaline junkies, but they are more likely
than most people to make bold moves and take calculated risks.





6. Even when burdened with the full responsibility of adulthood, the average Elise/Exige owner is still able to nurture the inner desire to experience childlike joy.





It seems a shame that when we reach adulthood that we lose so much of
the desire to play like a child. When was the last time that you pulled
out the Hot Wheels and the old action heroes (dolls) and just played?
Really played?





Although many reject the idea that a Lotus could be considered a toy, don’t you feel like a kid playing with your toy when driving it?





7. Most people will assume someone driving an Elise or an Exige must be wealthy. Unlikely.





It seems to me that this vehicle is most often purchased by the
upper-middle class. People with middle-class values who work for a
living. People who don’t have a sense of superiority or entitlement.
People who are concerned about having enough money to retire
comfortably once they reach the normal age for retirement.





8. Although, in my experience women find this car to be more
interesting and appealing than any other sports car I am aware of, the
Elise/Exige is still purchased almost exclusively by men. But it must
be said that the women here who have purchased this vehicle are amazing!

Clarkson Quote

Here's Clarckson speaking about the Caterham, but this is how I feel about the Lotus.

"I’ve always assumed that a car like this would feel like an extension of your hands and feet, but it’s the other way round.I felt like a part of it, an organic component but a component nevertheless. You use a normal car to take you somewhere and it tries to make that journey as pleasant as possible. But you would never use a Caterham as a means of transport because this is driving for the buzz of it, and as a result you’re not a passenger. You are there to do a job, which means you are no more and no less important than one of the pistons or the windscreen wipers."

Songs that make me sigh for the Lotus!

Madonna: Sorry

Madonna: Hung up

Bodyrockers: I like the way you move

Gnarls Barley: Crazy

Benny Benassi: Satisfaction

Nelly Furtado: Maneater

U2: Vertigo

US: Discotheque

Pedro Abrunhosa: Estrada

Pedro Abrunhosa: Outra noite perfeita

powered by performancing firefox

Ferraris on fire

I am not one to complain about Ferraris spitting fire out of their exhaust. I for one think it's really cool, but when a number fo them starts blowing up, well that's kind of scary!

powered by performancing firefox

Great site selling amazing classics

Holy mother of classics, Batman! This site has a number of classics such as two Carreras RS, a Renault 5 Turbo and two Reneualts Alpine and a Lotus Elan.

powered by performancing firefox

Lotus videos

Check out this video of the Lotus Elise, with great Lotus Classic Team footage at the end. There is also a great companion video of the Lotus Exige. These cars are so special!

powered by performancing firefox

Advanced driving techniques: Heel and toe downshift

Heel and toe downshift is one of the most useful but also trickiest advanced driving manoeuvers. Here's a good how to. Here's a helpful video

The 430 CS is here

According to this LeftLane piece, the *is* going to be a 430 CS. In the gallery, notice the standard windows, no rollcage, differen design and location of the fuelcap and different design in the part between the exhausts. Can't wait for the reviews.

Bye Atom, hello Caterham

New change to the car lineup. As much as I regret it, the Atom won't follow the Lotus. Acording to an EVO test, It is very snappy getting out of turns, not good. So I'm getting a Caterham CSR instead.

Hooorray for lightness!

YooHooo, a Catherham broke the top gear lap record , previously held by a Koenigsegg! Lightness pwns HP!

Check the video here

Cool elise video

I found this great video of the Liz on YouTube. I like to watch it at lunchtime, listening to some of my favorite driving songs. Very cool.

I want my lotus :-(

Crap, my house purchase is going to court and that means that I may loose or have to wait for years for the money to buy my Lotus. To make things worse, the sales rep called today to ask when I was planning to buy the car. NOT FAIR!

New car lineup

OK, I've been living in Lisbon for a month now and I barely drive. Actually I don't drive at all. So I don't really need a family saloon. Also, I am really committed to this race cars for the road perspective so I decided to go full hardcore and get an Exige S (supercharged) instead of an elise. I am getting one in Chrome Orange. The car lineup is as follows:

1. Lotus Exige S



2. Ariel Atom



3. Ferrari Challenge Stradale (hopefully the 430 version if they do one, otherwise the 360 version)



4. Porsche 997 GT3 RS



And then we'll see.

Alfa 8C - Beautiful

It's fat, but it is soooo beautiful.

The Esthi

Holy cow! Check out the Esthi: An Elise witha bi-turbo V6 :-O

Modern cars are boring

Really interesting thread on FChat about how modern cars are boring becaujse of all the electronics and comfort. I second that! That's why my car collection includes only street legal race cars.
On a side note, Ferrari lovers are not without wits. Check out this statement on that thread:

"The more I drive, the more I believe my next weekend fun car will be vintage. I love Dinos, and I like early 911s. Drivers still had to be better than cars at the time, and the relationship between engine and driving dynamics was clearer -- because the cars didn't weigh 4000 lbs. In a way, I think the Lotus Elise is the last pure sports car you can buy now, while heavy gadget-laden computerized rides like the BMW 6 show how far off-course we are -- for sport driving (for a daily driver, I'd bet a BMW 6 would be fast, comfy and safe)."

Family holidays

Now family holidays don't mean time away from your sportscar. I could fit my Elise in one of these! ROTFL

My crappy car is back

La Bomba Rossa, my red 1990 Toyota Corolla Boomy is back from the garage. I haven't driven in a couple of weeks... I'll post a couple of pics soon.

New car blog

I just created a new blog CarsOnDiet to keep a list of the street-legal cars where light weight is a significant element of performance. Be sure to check it out. I am aiming for bi-weekly updates.

New car lineup

Well, I've been thinking about how i simply cannot get excited over a 575 M or a DB9. I mean, I totally would not wake up at 4 am to take them for a drive like the Liz. I am a true 'lotus driver and minimalism is paramount', so I want my collection to feature roadlegal race cars. So here's the current lineup:

1. Lotus Elise R (Premium pack in Elise Sport colors)



2. Alfa 159 (Family car)



3. Ferrari F430 (Comfortable supercar)



4. Ferrari Challenge Stradale

Whichever one I can get my hands on. Right now the only available one is the 360 CS, but there's a Challenge version of the F430 (hopefully that means a CS version soon) and the new 599 GTB is running the Panamerican race, if they do a challenge stradale version of the 599, it would be equivalent to an Enzo in power, so maybe not.

5. Other cars

Other additions may include the Ariel Atom, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and the Caterham Super 7.

New color choice on the Lotus

I saw a picture of a Lotus Sport Elise on Elise Talk and I totally fell in love with the color scheme (see pic below). So I am getting on with the Premium black leather interior. If it's too expensive, I'm going to get it in yellow and get it striped later.

Great roads in Portugal

My purchase of a Lotus Elise is coming closer. To celebrate it, here are some of the best twisties in Portugal.

1. The Sintra tour: I still haven't figured out the best circuit here. The goal is to keep to N247 as much as possible and then taking a secondary road on the east side of the mountain to avoid the large straight created by N8. My suggestion, just by looking a the map is to exit N8 just after Linhó.

2. The Fátima tour: I have only done the Fatima-Ourém part of the trip. It's really twisty, although it crosses some small towns. Again from looking at the map, my suggestion woukd be to take 349 down from Ourém and then taking the 357 to Boleiros and back to Fátima, going through the border of serra do Aire.

3. The Abrantes-Tramagal quickie: This is an insane bit of road with a quick succession of hairpins and sharp turns. It will only entertainyou for 15 minutes, but you'll get out of the car at Tramagal with your legs shaking.

4. The Constância tour: This circuit integrates the Abrantes-Tramagal quickie described above. Start from Constância heading north on the 358, take the Martinchel exit and follow it to Andreus and then Sardoal. Follow the 358 southeast to Mouriscas, then follow west to Alferrarede and Abrantes, take the quickie from Abrantez to Tramagal and then back across the river to Constância.

Lotus Elise songs

Elisetalk has a thread with lotus elise songs. Some are really funny. Here's one of my favorites:


by, ChrisH at EliseTalk Forum
Copyright 2004

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?
My friends all drive Porsches that put me to sleep.
I crave excitement, just need some release.
So Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?
Put down my deposit when read press release.
I don't have much money, I can't even lease.
So Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?
Don't need no mechanic, just give me some grease.
I'll rebuild as needed, no leftover piece.
So Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?
Been waiting for two years, I just need some peace.
It's stuck at the harbor, please get it released.
So Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?
I'll drive with the top off, please no crap from geese.
The only thing missing is seats that will heat.
So Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Lotus Elise?
Mountain roads are calling, I can't help but speed.
Damn that big Hummer, it ran over me.
So Lord, WHY'D you buy me THAT Lotus Elise?

Welcome to the Foundation

Holy mother of Tuners!

This site hosts a community of tuners that want to make their pontiacs look like the original KITT from the Knight Rider TV series. Some amazing stuff here, especially the great interior conversions.

Elise: Color change

OK... Artic silver totally does not look exotic. I considered CO, SY and KG and ended up in ST. Not a really bright color kind of guy, I guess.

Elise test... Disappointed :-) ...

...that i could not bring it home right away :-(

Two disclaimers: 1) i have never drove or been in a sportscar before (daily driver is a bmw e46 318) 2) i am looking for a sportscar to drive occasionally to work and to have fun on weekends.

I first saw an elise in the uk in 2002. I immediately fell in love with the looks of the car. At the time i really liked the Z4 so i really didn't think seriously about the elise. Then i started reading about it here and in a couple of other on-line fora and fell in love with the concept behind the car.

After reading about suspension, radio, safety, i felt it was to extreme for me. I had been bitten by the sports car bug and salary went a bit up so i started to look at boxsters. The sportscar among the roadsters, as porsche claims.

Yesterday i went for a test drive on the elise in a city 200 miles north of where i live. I wanted to rule out the elise once and for all and i was sure that a test drive would show the suspension to be too hard, the car to be too spartan.

My test drive was booked for 2pm. I could not sleep the night before and took a 7am train. At 10:30 am i already was at a shopping mall 20 mins away on foot from the lotus dealer. I couldn't resist. I walked to it for a peek (hadn't seen na elise 'live' for two years). As i walked i caught a glance of the back of the solar yellow test drive car. It looked so beautiful. A bit more angled and a bit less round from the back than i had expected. I liked it. I walked on the side and saw the interior (soft top was on)... Nice. I looked at the front, my first glance went to the feline headlamps.

I only felt that way a couple of times in my life... I call it love at first sight.

I really wanted to be what you guys often call 'a lotus driver', someone that loves this car for what it is and who understands why it is a truly genial driving machine.

The car stand was on a cobblestone road with some potholes. 'that will show me what this suspension really feels', i thought.

There were still three hours to go for my appointed time. I could have gone in but i was too overwhelmed and went back to have lunch. Came back at 2pm sharp. My heart was pumping hard.

The salesman was really nice. We took out the rooftop and i sat at the wheel.

It felt crazy unbelievably fantastic. Wow. My cheekbones were hurting from the huge grin on my face. I said something like 'wow, this is, wow!' I turned the key and the elise woke up with a growl. My smile widened as I gave it some revs, 'oh my god, wow'. My negotiating position was gone, lol

I took a look at the cabin. The exposed aluminium, the large exposed bolt on the passenger's footweel, everything felt like a true pure sportscar. All my senses were in awe.

The time had come for me to find out if i was really a lotus driver.

I engaged the clutch. I thought it would feel delicate and flimsy. Instead i was rewarded with a strong mechanical feeling. I loved it. As i turned the wheels to get to the road i was surprised with all the information coming through the steering wheel. Amazing. As i drove through irregular coblestone and potholes, i could certaintly feel them more than on my bmw 318, but it was not really unbearable or uncomfortable just enough to give you the feeling of being in na uncompromising sports car. Not that i would want to make a 30 mile trip on a road like that, but neither would i on my bmw. It would be more comfortable on my bmw, but the elise could take it for half a mile with no big lack of comfort. After all i read about how awful the suspension is, i was really pleasantly surprised. Also ground clearance was not as bad as i expected. The car didn't scrape when i hit the potholes. I know one has to be careful with curbs and ramps. I just expected it to be worse.

Another sort of good surprise was the radio. It's not as good as a bmw but on city traffic and with the top off, it was adequate. Not great, but still good enough to enjoy music while waiting for the lights to turn green.

I was really overwhelmed with the car. I didn't really drive it fast and don't remember much. Among all the excitement, everything was a blur of joy. It didn't feel like there was na avalanche of power at the pedal waiting for me to release it. However, there was always power there when i needed it.

But then my slaesman intervened. I was cruising at 45 mph on 4th and he told me to drop it into third gear.

Holy ****!!!! Who just turned on a rocket engine on the back of this car?!

The engine roared as the 2nd cam got about its business and then I really felt that avalanche of power ready to be summoned at my will. Wooo hooo... All of my remaining bargaining power with the salesman just went out the exhaust :-)

This is a long write up already, so i'll just share a couple of other things. At one point i stopped in a red light behind a schoolbus and all these kids came to the back windows and started waving at me. I waved back and hit the high-beams a couple of times. Really cool!
I also stopped in traffic next to a boxster. The driver kept staring at the elise and gave me a thumbs up!

Two neat things about the elise that i hadn't read about before. When you're driving, your view on the bonnet is framed by the two side arches that end on the headlights. I really liked that because of the sporty feel. The other thing is the cool gold elise logo on the driver's side. It was painted on the three elises at the dealer. Looks cool, imho.

I now understand how much all of you that own or have driven na elise feel for this little bundle of joy because i feel it too. It's wild, insane, unbelievable, brilliant. It's... wow!

As i left the dealer after discussing options and pricing, the salesman drove me to the subway on a jaguar sedan. I took a glance in the rearview mirror and took a last look at the elise.I also noticed that the wide grin on my face hadn't faded a bit.

I had discovered, to my surprise and joy, that i am indeed a lotus driver.

Can't wait to be a lotus owner in a few months :-)

Anticipation

OMG... I scheduled a test drive of the Elise for tuesday. I am tingling with anticipation. I am actually going to drive that little bugger. My expectations are a bit high, but not to much. I am anticipating the feeling of driving in such a beautiful machine, sitting so close to the ground. I am not expecting a rocket nor am i expecting a confortable car. Can't wait! I *really* can't wait!!!