Cars & Motorbikes 2019 track toy: Lotus Exige SSC

I didn't know there was a car forum! Hooray

I'm flipping excited to take delivery of my 'new' 2016 Exige. 350hp in standard "Exige Sport 350" form, it's currently being fitted with the intercooled TVS1900 supercharger upgrade, and a custom Exige Cup carbon fibre rear wing. Simply Sports Cars is the Lotus dealer in Sydney that also provides pitcrew support at trackdays, so since they're doing all the work on this car I'm going to rename it the "Exige Sport SSC".



Previous owner only took it to 2 events in 2 years, both times driving in the "tour" group i.e. not race pace. I'll change that

Interior is spartan (much more so than my previous Lotus, the Evora 400) but there's still a nice amount of alcantara everywhere and once you get moving, you don't really pay much attention to the interior anyway. The standard seats are ok, but I'll probably fit my Sparco Pro 2000 seat in at some point.



Manual gearbox was a necessity this time in order to handle 400hp at the wheels (approx 480hp crank.) Pretty solid amount of power for a car that weighs less than 1200kg.



I have very clearly defined track goals for 2019 and this struck me as the most logical way to hit them. I've been very nearly tempted by Porsches McLarens etc but the sky-high running costs of those cars (let alone binning one on track) frighten me too much to really push and therefore develop as a driver.

Expecting to pick up the car next weekend in time for a shakedown at Sydney Motorsport Park on 23/1. Already have 7 trackdays booked in 2019; bring it on

 

Should be an absolute weapon on the track! Congrats and enjoy

 

Great stuff. Touring group WTF lol

 

@The Y-man let's tee up a trackday, I could use with a remote-controlled wheel chock

 

Slight delay with the tune meant I missed Wednesday's shakedown event, but happy to relegate that to the first world problem history books as I took delivery of the car yesterday and I'm flippin chuffed with it! It's such a raw experience but somehow comfortable/cosy at the same time.



I haven't gone anywhere near full power yet, at half throttle it already feels faster than my tuned Golf R. As entertaining as turbo power was, it's nice to go back to the linear predictability of a supercharger. Although it would be nice if it wasn't blocking half of my rear view mirror...



Surprised at the boot space, which goes all the way to the right side of the car; swallows my compact Britax stroller easily. Yet to try a car seat in the passenger seat, but not expecting any issues. The sound system is surprisingly crisp too, and by some miracle road noise is subdued enough to enjoy music at normal volume levels.

Wing has yet to arrive, bringing the car back in a week or two to have it fitted. Meanwhile I'll take my time to get used to the car, and also find a way to install my new dashcam (Street Guardian SGGCX2)

 

Fuel light came on after going through my first full tank. Trip meter said: 167km Stands to reason that 480 horses do get quite thirsty, even when pulling a 1200kg cart. Around Bathurst my friend's car (similar spec) was going through 20L of 98 every 20-minute session!

Dropped the car off at SSC this morning to fit a bigger fuel tank (60L vs stock 43.5L) that's also internally baffled; usable range on track nearly doubles from 1.5-2 sessions to at least 3.

Rear wing is also being installed, an absolutely gorgeous carbon fibre unit that should take care of rear downforce easily.

 

A bit late to write this up but a lot has been going on. Was a great day especially as I got to thrash my new track toy back-to-back with a McLaren 600LT! The Mac was immense, I was very confident and very fast in it straight away, and I'd love to have one eventually. For now though the Exige is more than enough to help me level up as a driver.

Pace-wise, I found a huge improvement straight away. I'm now easily able to keep up with a 991.2 GT3 that usually whoops me on these Burrows trackdays. No other car in the intermediate group gave me any trouble. Nominally I failed to set a new PB laptime (by about a tenth) but very happy with my first outing in a car that's very different to what I'm used to (Evoras and Golfs).

Improvements will come mainly from bigger balls (esp on the brakes which are mind-boggling on such a light car), better tyres (the corsas have been on the car for over 2 years and refused to heat up) and more negative front camber. Can't wait for the next outing!



Down the track I also plan to have the aero professionally sorted - there are companies who will scan the car in and perform full CFD analysis to see where improvements can be made. I most probably need a front splitter to balance out that massive rear wing, but anything that reduces drag will be good because I found I could keep up with the 600LT until about 150kph where it feels like the air gets all thick and buffety.

 

The Exige saw its second trackday earlier this month with fresh tyres (Bridgestone RE-71R) and a fraction more negative camber up front. Smashed the previous trackday best lap by a whopping 6.3 seconds, and a new overall PB at Sydney Motorsport Park of 1:46.3



Last week I fitted some Nitron springs & 3-way adjustable dampers, so I'm hopeful of dipping into the 1:45s when I head back to SMP next week.

 

Stop your gloating

Sexy car

If you don't mind , how much did it cost you?

 

Think of the petrol you will save, plus all the chicks you are going to pull

 

Cheers

So far $125k all up. Purchased second-hand for $115k including the big wing and supercharger upgrade, and I've since spent a further $10k on:

• Nitron 3-way race suspension
• 60L baffled fuel tank (stock was only 43L)
• RE-71R semi-slick tyres
• window tint

Can't remember how much an Exige Sport 350 cost new, think it was around $160k.

 

Gorgeous car! Would be so fun to drive!

 

Nice, I've always wanted one of these. But the prices new of these things seemed to have shot up over recent years!

Yellow would have to be my favourite colour for these cars.

Maybe a lime green

 

Would it fit on a Scalextrics track?