The rebirth of a Lotus 111R and my intro to sprinting
Discussion
As my car is finally coming together I thought that I would post a (re) build thread of my Elise 111r.
To set the scene of why I purchased this car I will rewind the clock back to January 2017. My wife and I had recently bought our second house and in doing so I had to sell my first Aubergine 111r to raise cash towards the deposit. This was the car that really made me fall for the charms and delights of the Lotus 111 chassis:
Not many modifications on this one bar Nitron 1 ways, Team dynamics wheels with R888’s, geometry set up with some Mintex M1155 pads.
Anyway, after the house sale was completed I decided a few months later that I needed to get back into a Lotus and decided to purchase the car of my dreams. A Chrome Orange Exige 190:
This car was a real bucket list car for me to own and throughout 2017 I completed my first season competitively sprinting in the Javelin sprint series which ended up with me and the car winning our Class. I also completed 5 track days alongside sprinting at Cadwell, Anglesey and Blyton - a few photos of the car in action at sprints below:
Anglesey:
[
url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/SQ6CsTms[/url]
Some 'dab of oppo' photos at Kendrew :
A couple of YouTube vids of my best winning sprint laps during the season below:
Anglesey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqKDpGcIqqw
Kendrew Barracks, this was a very slippery circuit with quite a few steps over the limit of grip! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdayjZP8T_Y
I really caught the competition bug and was pushing the car beyond it’s and my own limits. In 2017 I learned more about car control than all my previous years driving combined. A very wet track day at Anglesey on worn Avon ZZR’s really let me explore and learn the chassis balance of the car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWCwUlVXhdE
Upto that trackday I would semi regularly push a car really hard on track, overstep the limit and then wonder why I was facing the wrong way on the grass! I still occasionally do this but its much less frequent ha!
To set the scene of why I purchased this car I will rewind the clock back to January 2017. My wife and I had recently bought our second house and in doing so I had to sell my first Aubergine 111r to raise cash towards the deposit. This was the car that really made me fall for the charms and delights of the Lotus 111 chassis:
Not many modifications on this one bar Nitron 1 ways, Team dynamics wheels with R888’s, geometry set up with some Mintex M1155 pads.
Anyway, after the house sale was completed I decided a few months later that I needed to get back into a Lotus and decided to purchase the car of my dreams. A Chrome Orange Exige 190:
This car was a real bucket list car for me to own and throughout 2017 I completed my first season competitively sprinting in the Javelin sprint series which ended up with me and the car winning our Class. I also completed 5 track days alongside sprinting at Cadwell, Anglesey and Blyton - a few photos of the car in action at sprints below:
Anglesey:
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/SQ6CsTms[/url]Some 'dab of oppo' photos at Kendrew :
A couple of YouTube vids of my best winning sprint laps during the season below:
Anglesey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqKDpGcIqqw
Kendrew Barracks, this was a very slippery circuit with quite a few steps over the limit of grip! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdayjZP8T_Y
I really caught the competition bug and was pushing the car beyond it’s and my own limits. In 2017 I learned more about car control than all my previous years driving combined. A very wet track day at Anglesey on worn Avon ZZR’s really let me explore and learn the chassis balance of the car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWCwUlVXhdE
Upto that trackday I would semi regularly push a car really hard on track, overstep the limit and then wonder why I was facing the wrong way on the grass! I still occasionally do this but its much less frequent ha!
Over winter 2017 I was mulling supercharger upgrades etc in order to raise the performance of the car and go up a couple of classes the next season. I also considered swapping to a newer of Exige V6 or a Cayman R PDK but decided to stay with what I knew and started the 2018 season at an extremely wet Snetterton. The circuit conditions were absolutely awful for most of the day and I ended up locking the wheels following a mis shift at about 120 mph and luckily shooting straight off into the gravel trap (new pants required):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx1bpOR-lzc
This was without doubt my worst event out of the 18 month of blissful Exige ownership. I had gone throughout all 2017 not worrying about the value of my Exige and driving it with the attitude that if I bend it I will mend it. The big off at Snetterton did put a little bit of concern in my mind that I could park circa £25k into the Armco, which for a man of my means would be pretty crap to say the least… An advert was written for the Exige and 2 weeks later my dream car was heading off to Denmark ☹
However to every cloud there is a silver lining and luckily a very nice but slightly broken 111r came up for sale a week into the sale of the Exige.
The opportunity to buy the 111r and build my version of the ultimate Elise for considerably less than the sale value of my Exige NA was just too good to miss. After a call with the seller and a trip down to Brum she was sat looking a bit sad for herself on my driveway
This was the beginning of an exciting journey…
More to come on the strip down tomorrow as I collate the photos etc..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx1bpOR-lzc
This was without doubt my worst event out of the 18 month of blissful Exige ownership. I had gone throughout all 2017 not worrying about the value of my Exige and driving it with the attitude that if I bend it I will mend it. The big off at Snetterton did put a little bit of concern in my mind that I could park circa £25k into the Armco, which for a man of my means would be pretty crap to say the least… An advert was written for the Exige and 2 weeks later my dream car was heading off to Denmark ☹
However to every cloud there is a silver lining and luckily a very nice but slightly broken 111r came up for sale a week into the sale of the Exige.
The opportunity to buy the 111r and build my version of the ultimate Elise for considerably less than the sale value of my Exige NA was just too good to miss. After a call with the seller and a trip down to Brum she was sat looking a bit sad for herself on my driveway
This was the beginning of an exciting journey…
More to come on the strip down tomorrow as I collate the photos etc..
I started with stripping off the access panels, headlights and front clam to assess any underlying damage. Fortunately, there was zero damage to the composite crash structure and only a small crack on the radiator surround. All the chassis and front suspension pick up points were in fantastic condition – in short knew that I had picked up a good car and it was ripe for rebuild
The downside was that the front clam was uneconomical to repair due to hairline cracks going up the centre spine. This needed to be replaced by either a new clam or a repairable used alternative which added an extra £500 to the build.
Once stripped A plan of action was formed. To get it ready for the next round of the JSS at Blyton it needed a replacement front clam, the Nitrons from my exige to be fitted, new wheels fitted with fresh wide R888R tyres, new brake pads/fluid change, Spitfire engineering toe links and then an alignment to get the wheels pointing in the right direction. All pretty straightforward… despite the fact the next round was only two weeks away and the used replacement clam was in the wrong colour and located 200 miles away :/
With not much time and a lot of work to get done it was time to get my ass into gear. Following a road trip to sunny Suffolk to fellow Lotus nut ‘Junks’ I had myself a lightly damaged clam in the wrong colour but importantly good enough to get me through scurtineering:
The downside was that the front clam was uneconomical to repair due to hairline cracks going up the centre spine. This needed to be replaced by either a new clam or a repairable used alternative which added an extra £500 to the build.
Once stripped A plan of action was formed. To get it ready for the next round of the JSS at Blyton it needed a replacement front clam, the Nitrons from my exige to be fitted, new wheels fitted with fresh wide R888R tyres, new brake pads/fluid change, Spitfire engineering toe links and then an alignment to get the wheels pointing in the right direction. All pretty straightforward… despite the fact the next round was only two weeks away and the used replacement clam was in the wrong colour and located 200 miles away :/
With not much time and a lot of work to get done it was time to get my ass into gear. Following a road trip to sunny Suffolk to fellow Lotus nut ‘Junks’ I had myself a lightly damaged clam in the wrong colour but importantly good enough to get me through scurtineering:
The new wheels arrived a few days later which were probably the most exciting part of this build at that point. From the factory an Elise runs narrow Bridgestone 175/55/16 section front tyres on a 5.5-inch-wide rim to build in a level of safe understeer on the road. On the track the standard wheel/tyre combo is not only not grippy enough, they are also too narrow to accept wide tyres. The new Rota Slipstream wheels are not only wider at 7 inches on the front and 8 inches on the rear, they are also smaller in diameter at 15’ front and 16’ rear. This helps to maintain good roll centres and similar wheel heights to best fit the standard suspension geometry design. However the wider wheels mean substantially wider rubber – in this case 225/50/15 front and a 245/45/16 rear. This was a bit of an experiment and ideally I wanted a 45 profile front but none were available from Toyo:
The new wheel combo looks a bit insane, but I love it
I then fitted the new Performance Friction pads in 10 and 08 compound. These are awesome pads and last for ages with basically no fade on track. Another upside is that they give great bite from the second push of the brakes so ideal for sprinting.
All jobs up to this were straight forward bar the fitting of the rear toe links. The standard items are great for a road car but are liable to break with age and usage with sticky tyres. As such these needed to be upgraded prior to the wheel alignment and first event.
In total the Job took circa 5 hours to complete on my own. I think the next time the time would be a couple of hours left due to knowing how to do the job. Special thanks to Chris at Jon Seal Sportscars with technical assistance over the phone on how best to fit them.
The new wheel combo looks a bit insane, but I love it
I then fitted the new Performance Friction pads in 10 and 08 compound. These are awesome pads and last for ages with basically no fade on track. Another upside is that they give great bite from the second push of the brakes so ideal for sprinting.
All jobs up to this were straight forward bar the fitting of the rear toe links. The standard items are great for a road car but are liable to break with age and usage with sticky tyres. As such these needed to be upgraded prior to the wheel alignment and first event.
In total the Job took circa 5 hours to complete on my own. I think the next time the time would be a couple of hours left due to knowing how to do the job. Special thanks to Chris at Jon Seal Sportscars with technical assistance over the phone on how best to fit them.
Once the toelinks were done and the wheels, clam, headlights etc were fitted it was time to take the Mad Max refugee to get the wheels pointing in the right direction! I had taken a wild stab at camber adjustment prior to the alignment using a flat (ish) surface and my iphone on a spirit level. I knew the guys at the tyre shop would be a bit wary of changing the cambers due to the need to remove shims between the uprights. Luckily my rought measurements were not a million miles out and I managed to get near enough a degree of camber up front and about 1.4 -1.6 at the rear.
At this point I hadn't fitted the headlamp lenses as I was so close to missing the wheel alignment appointment..
However even though the Elise was looking rough she was all tracked up, stopping and turning as it should one day before race day!
More drivel to follow..
At this point I hadn't fitted the headlamp lenses as I was so close to missing the wheel alignment appointment..
However even though the Elise was looking rough she was all tracked up, stopping and turning as it should one day before race day!
More drivel to follow..
An early 6.00am start and I was on my way to Sunny Blyton from Wakefield for my first event in the thrown together steed. I made sure I triple checked everything before I left, so you can imagine my surprise as the car went dead as I rolled down the paddock to scrutineering.. It appears that I triple checked everything apart from tightening the battery mount :/
Easy problem fixed and the mongrel flew through scrutineering and was parked up in the paddock.
Sighting laps were completed and then it was on to the timed runs. This was the first time I drove a lotus on wide tyres and the increase in cornering speeds from cold on the first couple of corners were stark. Turn in was razor sharp and I had to increase the dampening on the Nitrons to compensate for the increase rate of roll on turn in. I should have undertaken a test day prior but oh well!
The timing board showed after the first run I was 1.4 seconds down on the last year in my Exige. Second run out I knocked a full 2 seconds off and had beaten my previous lap record! Third lap another 0.5 seconds off. The car felt great and was only getting quicker as the new tyres and break pads started to wear in. Gratuitous shot of me holding it sideways on the final corner
Forth run I am heading backwards at a rapid rate after sending the car into an all mighty tank slapper and finally ended up a soft banking
Unfortunately the fuel cut off had been triggered and I had to endure the tow of shame back to the paddock…
This was without doubt the biggest ‘bump’ I have had on track. I was still using the standard seat with inertia reel seat belts and had been thrown to the other side of the car. My shoulder and neck were stiff for the following few days!
Damage assessed and I had cracked the fibreglass rear clam, passenger side sill, bent the outboard toe link and buckled the rear wheel. A mate came to the rescue with a spare M10 threaded bolt and some washers and we reset the rear toe by eye so I could limp the car home. That was the end of my day and I knew the car had a lot more to give.
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My time was still enough to beat the second fastest car in my class, a Clio 182 cup by 3 seconds and win the class so all was not lost!
Post track side wheel realignment and ready to head home.
Easy problem fixed and the mongrel flew through scrutineering and was parked up in the paddock.
Sighting laps were completed and then it was on to the timed runs. This was the first time I drove a lotus on wide tyres and the increase in cornering speeds from cold on the first couple of corners were stark. Turn in was razor sharp and I had to increase the dampening on the Nitrons to compensate for the increase rate of roll on turn in. I should have undertaken a test day prior but oh well!
The timing board showed after the first run I was 1.4 seconds down on the last year in my Exige. Second run out I knocked a full 2 seconds off and had beaten my previous lap record! Third lap another 0.5 seconds off. The car felt great and was only getting quicker as the new tyres and break pads started to wear in. Gratuitous shot of me holding it sideways on the final corner
Forth run I am heading backwards at a rapid rate after sending the car into an all mighty tank slapper and finally ended up a soft banking
Unfortunately the fuel cut off had been triggered and I had to endure the tow of shame back to the paddock…
This was without doubt the biggest ‘bump’ I have had on track. I was still using the standard seat with inertia reel seat belts and had been thrown to the other side of the car. My shoulder and neck were stiff for the following few days!
Damage assessed and I had cracked the fibreglass rear clam, passenger side sill, bent the outboard toe link and buckled the rear wheel. A mate came to the rescue with a spare M10 threaded bolt and some washers and we reset the rear toe by eye so I could limp the car home. That was the end of my day and I knew the car had a lot more to give.
[url]My time was still enough to beat the second fastest car in my class, a Clio 182 cup by 3 seconds and win the class so all was not lost!
Post track side wheel realignment and ready to head home.
Edited by hughcam on Saturday 8th December 20:05
Edited by hughcam on Sunday 9th December 19:01
Being honest it took a couple days of moping about feeling sorry for myself to formulate a plan. All replacement parts were ordered and the following weekend I set about replacing the damaged rear suspension components. It was also at this time I decided the cars bodywork was going to be repaired and then repainted in an extremely loud colour!
A few other very nice parts arrived, namely carbon fibre Tillet B6 seats, Schroth ASM harnesses, harness bar, Elise parts front camber arms and a full 2bular exhaust manifold and decat.
Seat and harness in and rear speaker panel and associated guff removed.
A few other very nice parts arrived, namely carbon fibre Tillet B6 seats, Schroth ASM harnesses, harness bar, Elise parts front camber arms and a full 2bular exhaust manifold and decat.
Seat and harness in and rear speaker panel and associated guff removed.
Once I had the seat in it was driven over to the body shop to undergo its transformation.
I flew out to Japan for a week the next day and the body shop sent me a few photos of the prep work undertaken. Front clam was taken off along with the doors and all associated seals. The front clam, passenger side sill and rear cam were all fibre glassed, filled and smoothed.
I flew out to Japan for a week the next day and the body shop sent me a few photos of the prep work undertaken. Front clam was taken off along with the doors and all associated seals. The front clam, passenger side sill and rear cam were all fibre glassed, filled and smoothed.
When I arrived back in the UK the first coats of paint had been done on the rear clam and side sills :-D I also had the Rota wheels reffnished in anthracite to match the new look...
I have always wanted to own a 997 GT3 RS in Birch Green and I thought that this shade of green would look fantastic on an S2 Elise. Its greener than the Lotus Krypton colour but it still has a luminous quality.
Two weeks later the car was 90% together and ready to return home for me to do the final touches and fitting of the trim pieces and seals. The drive home was very rattly with out the sound deadening, wheel arch liners and doors seals
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/uMrrEjZK.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/1bAGjAuU" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/1bAGjAuU.jpg)
I have always wanted to own a 997 GT3 RS in Birch Green and I thought that this shade of green would look fantastic on an S2 Elise. Its greener than the Lotus Krypton colour but it still has a luminous quality.
Two weeks later the car was 90% together and ready to return home for me to do the final touches and fitting of the trim pieces and seals. The drive home was very rattly with out the sound deadening, wheel arch liners and doors seals
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