A question from a Non-Exige/Elise owner

[denisb]

I have a kit car with remarkably similar setup/dimensions as an Exige/Elise and learnt long ago to generally not bother wasting time talking to other kit car people so I'll ask you guys the question.

Do people with seriously uprated Elises and Exige (300BHP plus) ever feel that the car is undertyred on the standard wheel/tyre sizes?

My car had about 170BHP and is going to get a real 300+BHP and am currently having an internal debate as to whether I need to go wider on wheels and increase the size difference between front and rear.

PS I do track days with Elises and Exiges (and GT3 RS's), if that helps qualify me to intrude.

[Esprit]

The answer to your question is most likely YES, while the standard dytr sizes are okay for most standard cars, it's really only just so... putting more power through an Elise/Exige on standard tyres is doable but it's not ideal... wider wheels+tyres are usually one of the first things on the list after a major horepower upgrade.

[bogie]

195 front and 225 rear is fine as far as cornering prowess goes...adding BHP isnt going to affect that. Where you do lose out is on grip for standing starts...thats about it really...otherwise its just an Elise that goes down straights quicker

basically you never achieve the theoritically possible 0-60 0-100 1/4 miles etc due to traction problems...best Ive seen in the real world from a 300bhp Elise is 3.8 and 12.0 1/4 ...limited by traction not power to weight.....similar amounts in a 4WD drive would probably give you a low 3sec to 60 etc

other than that then there isnt really any way of getting wider rubber on an Elise...not without serious body modifications etc...its easier to just run more sticky rubber like Yoko A048s...they make a huge difference...when I had Toyos on, I used to struggle in the dry with straight line traction in 1st/2nd ...now with A048s its pretty fine.