Lotus Snow Photo Thread
Discussion
I thought we could have a few pics of our cars in the recent heavy snow. Either arty pics of cars that clearly aren't going anywhere, or pics from those of us who use our cars all year round in all conditions. Snow makes for great photos 
Anyway, SELOC have a thread like this and I think we should too (there'll be duplication across threads of course, but some of us spends more time here than there, or don't spend any time over there)…
Here is mine - out of action due to leaving the car 3 weeks without use - battery needed removal, charging and replacement…
After scraping the snow off, popping the charged battery back in, clearing snow away from the front of the car, she started up first spin of the crank and all was good. She's been on and off ever since, always starting first turn, though I reckon if I leave her for another week then the battery will die again. Given how easy battery replacement is on these models (I ended up giving an AA bloke a big note as a tip for beers that night after he helped me swap the battery on my old VXT, which has the battery in the same place as S1 Elises - took two of us half an hour in the pissing rain to swap the battery, both of us ending up with skinned knuckles and cuts - I was *very* grateful for his help, would never have done it myself) I think I'll just order in a Bosch Silver and chuck it in at the weekend. Any recommendations other than Bosch Silver (easily available at Halfords and normally pretty good - got a HUGE one in the Growler and works well)?
Only 4x4s and other cars on winter tyres can get into Sevenoaks Station car park - it's sheet ice all the way from the main road, and there's a long incline to get there which had a bunch of abandoned cars at the bottom last week. It's a two layer job so to get to the second layer you need to drive up a ramp, which also has speed bumps at the bottom and top (normally a huge problem for the Lotus since they are vicious triangular things that you have to take at sub-walking-pace). All covered in snow and ice now. Entire car park sheet ice, so great for testing the car…
The biggest revelation was the Lotus Traction Control - if you have a hot engine and you're messing about in the snow - leave the LTC on full and nail it - you'll generate loads of flames from the exhaust, according to my girlfriend who was watching me getting out of the space in the first pictures. I doubt this does the catalytic converter any good so probably not a great idea to use it much. But I did a load of testing yesterday with the LTC at different settings, and it does an amazing job on ice, even if it's a very basic system that just cuts ignition. It won't do things you can't do yourself (i.e. it's not braking individual wheels or vectoring torque in a way the driver isn't capable of doing manually) but it makes ice driving a LOT easier…
So any arty shots? Mine aren't great - iPhones don't take great pics and though the first two were taken with a proper camera, the light was very low so you'll notice the graininess.
Anyway, SELOC have a thread like this and I think we should too (there'll be duplication across threads of course, but some of us spends more time here than there, or don't spend any time over there)…Here is mine - out of action due to leaving the car 3 weeks without use - battery needed removal, charging and replacement…
After scraping the snow off, popping the charged battery back in, clearing snow away from the front of the car, she started up first spin of the crank and all was good. She's been on and off ever since, always starting first turn, though I reckon if I leave her for another week then the battery will die again. Given how easy battery replacement is on these models (I ended up giving an AA bloke a big note as a tip for beers that night after he helped me swap the battery on my old VXT, which has the battery in the same place as S1 Elises - took two of us half an hour in the pissing rain to swap the battery, both of us ending up with skinned knuckles and cuts - I was *very* grateful for his help, would never have done it myself) I think I'll just order in a Bosch Silver and chuck it in at the weekend. Any recommendations other than Bosch Silver (easily available at Halfords and normally pretty good - got a HUGE one in the Growler and works well)?
Only 4x4s and other cars on winter tyres can get into Sevenoaks Station car park - it's sheet ice all the way from the main road, and there's a long incline to get there which had a bunch of abandoned cars at the bottom last week. It's a two layer job so to get to the second layer you need to drive up a ramp, which also has speed bumps at the bottom and top (normally a huge problem for the Lotus since they are vicious triangular things that you have to take at sub-walking-pace). All covered in snow and ice now. Entire car park sheet ice, so great for testing the car…
The biggest revelation was the Lotus Traction Control - if you have a hot engine and you're messing about in the snow - leave the LTC on full and nail it - you'll generate loads of flames from the exhaust, according to my girlfriend who was watching me getting out of the space in the first pictures. I doubt this does the catalytic converter any good so probably not a great idea to use it much. But I did a load of testing yesterday with the LTC at different settings, and it does an amazing job on ice, even if it's a very basic system that just cuts ignition. It won't do things you can't do yourself (i.e. it's not braking individual wheels or vectoring torque in a way the driver isn't capable of doing manually) but it makes ice driving a LOT easier…
So any arty shots? Mine aren't great - iPhones don't take great pics and though the first two were taken with a proper camera, the light was very low so you'll notice the graininess.
Sorry, no arty shots from me, only crappy iPhone ones. I've had my Exige S about 5 weeks now and it's my daily driver (and I love it!), but didn't venture out into the snow for 6 days last week. Interesting hearing about the flaming exhaust with the variable TC, Mine has the non variable switchable TC, wonder if it would have done the same?!
Edited by Arun_D on Friday 10th December 18:51
Arun - my last two were taken with an iPhone…
Also - the battery problem is fixable with a solar panel trickle charger! The cigarette lighter socket is live on the new Exige when the ignition is off - so the solar panel can trickle charge the battery. Well mine seems a LOT perkier in the evening (after a day with the solar panel plugged in) than in the morning (with a night with no sun)...
Also - the battery problem is fixable with a solar panel trickle charger! The cigarette lighter socket is live on the new Exige when the ignition is off - so the solar panel can trickle charge the battery. Well mine seems a LOT perkier in the evening (after a day with the solar panel plugged in) than in the morning (with a night with no sun)...
Just out of interest (CF, you know how I digress!) the British Antarctic expedition (the 'Moon Regan Transantarctic Expedition') claimed the record a few days ago for the fastest traverse of the continent in vehicles, the main 'scout' vehicle was a bio-fuelled, propellor-driven, Lotus Engineering designed affair, pictures of which are below:
Story HERE
And a bit more detail here - http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/the-big-stor...
(My Elise is snug as a bug in the garage!)
Story HERE
And a bit more detail here - http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/the-big-stor...
(My Elise is snug as a bug in the garage!)
Edited by andy_s on Saturday 11th December 10:03
Best colour
cyberface said:
I thought we could have a few pics of our cars in the recent heavy snow. Either arty pics of cars that clearly aren't going anywhere, or pics from those of us who use our cars all year round in all conditions. Snow makes for great photos Anyway, SELOC have a thread like this and I think we should too (there'll be duplication across threads of course, but some of us spends more time here than there, or don't spend any time over there)…
Here is mine - out of action due to leaving the car 3 weeks without use - battery needed removal, charging and replacement…
After scraping the snow off, popping the charged battery back in, clearing snow away from the front of the car, she started up first spin of the crank and all was good. She's been on and off ever since, always starting first turn, though I reckon if I leave her for another week then the battery will die again. Given how easy battery replacement is on these models (I ended up giving an AA bloke a big note as a tip for beers that night after he helped me swap the battery on my old VXT, which has the battery in the same place as S1 Elises - took two of us half an hour in the pissing rain to swap the battery, both of us ending up with skinned knuckles and cuts - I was *very* grateful for his help, would never have done it myself) I think I'll just order in a Bosch Silver and chuck it in at the weekend. Any recommendations other than Bosch Silver (easily available at Halfords and normally pretty good - got a HUGE one in the Growler and works well)?
Only 4x4s and other cars on winter tyres can get into Sevenoaks Station car park - it's sheet ice all the way from the main road, and there's a long incline to get there which had a bunch of abandoned cars at the bottom last week. It's a two layer job so to get to the second layer you need to drive up a ramp, which also has speed bumps at the bottom and top (normally a huge problem for the Lotus since they are vicious triangular things that you have to take at sub-walking-pace). All covered in snow and ice now. Entire car park sheet ice, so great for testing the car…
The biggest revelation was the Lotus Traction Control - if you have a hot engine and you're messing about in the snow - leave the LTC on full and nail it - you'll generate loads of flames from the exhaust, according to my girlfriend who was watching me getting out of the space in the first pictures. I doubt this does the catalytic converter any good so probably not a great idea to use it much. But I did a load of testing yesterday with the LTC at different settings, and it does an amazing job on ice, even if it's a very basic system that just cuts ignition. It won't do things you can't do yourself (i.e. it's not braking individual wheels or vectoring torque in a way the driver isn't capable of doing manually) but it makes ice driving a LOT easier…
So any arty shots? Mine aren't great - iPhones don't take great pics and though the first two were taken with a proper camera, the light was very low so you'll notice the graininess.
Anyway, SELOC have a thread like this and I think we should too (there'll be duplication across threads of course, but some of us spends more time here than there, or don't spend any time over there)…Here is mine - out of action due to leaving the car 3 weeks without use - battery needed removal, charging and replacement…
After scraping the snow off, popping the charged battery back in, clearing snow away from the front of the car, she started up first spin of the crank and all was good. She's been on and off ever since, always starting first turn, though I reckon if I leave her for another week then the battery will die again. Given how easy battery replacement is on these models (I ended up giving an AA bloke a big note as a tip for beers that night after he helped me swap the battery on my old VXT, which has the battery in the same place as S1 Elises - took two of us half an hour in the pissing rain to swap the battery, both of us ending up with skinned knuckles and cuts - I was *very* grateful for his help, would never have done it myself) I think I'll just order in a Bosch Silver and chuck it in at the weekend. Any recommendations other than Bosch Silver (easily available at Halfords and normally pretty good - got a HUGE one in the Growler and works well)?
Only 4x4s and other cars on winter tyres can get into Sevenoaks Station car park - it's sheet ice all the way from the main road, and there's a long incline to get there which had a bunch of abandoned cars at the bottom last week. It's a two layer job so to get to the second layer you need to drive up a ramp, which also has speed bumps at the bottom and top (normally a huge problem for the Lotus since they are vicious triangular things that you have to take at sub-walking-pace). All covered in snow and ice now. Entire car park sheet ice, so great for testing the car…
The biggest revelation was the Lotus Traction Control - if you have a hot engine and you're messing about in the snow - leave the LTC on full and nail it - you'll generate loads of flames from the exhaust, according to my girlfriend who was watching me getting out of the space in the first pictures. I doubt this does the catalytic converter any good so probably not a great idea to use it much. But I did a load of testing yesterday with the LTC at different settings, and it does an amazing job on ice, even if it's a very basic system that just cuts ignition. It won't do things you can't do yourself (i.e. it's not braking individual wheels or vectoring torque in a way the driver isn't capable of doing manually) but it makes ice driving a LOT easier…
So any arty shots? Mine aren't great - iPhones don't take great pics and though the first two were taken with a proper camera, the light was very low so you'll notice the graininess.
simpo555 said:
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/DQ9ijMnu.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/wnFgkksR" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/wnFgkksR.jpg)
What more can I say but happy christmas. I might add that the characters adjacent to my snowman represent my employer so please be careful with your comments
im thinking to myself i know he's the same colour but feck me his snowmans well camoflaged!!!
would take a photo of mine but all there is is dirt as it doesnt snow in the garage.
kazste said:
simpo555 said:
What more can I say but happy christmas. I might add that the characters adjacent to my snowman represent my employer so please be careful with your comments
im thinking to myself i know he's the same colour but feck me his snowmans well camoflaged!!!
would take a photo of mine but all there is is dirt as it doesnt snow in the garage.
Gave me a big grin nevertheless when I realised the problem. Dont worry about dirty cars, just get snappingGassing Station | Elise/Exige/Europa/340R | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff