Got in Little Race with new Lotus V8 TT (surprised)

[Ulysses]

Yes,

A friend at work has one as a daily driver. I have raced him many times from a roll and it's always been pretty close until I hit third.

 

[allanlambo]

i told you guys the lotus tt was fast. very fast!. it may not have the power, or the torque, but it weighs 400-500 pds less then the vipers. when i just bought mine i smoked a rt/10 real bad from like 50and 70 to about 140. i was amazed. there is also alot of real inexpensive mods to be done to the lotus which drasticly improve hp. 550hp is relatively easy to achieve, and from what ive heard the tranny will hang in to that point. i heard in california a guy turned a 10.44@140+ in one, and then later went to bonneville and a 211+ his tranny blew.

 

[speedshftr]

before i sold my 02 zo6 i raced my buddy in his 97gts with smooth tubes and k/n.first and second were even , it was mabey me a bit a head in first.then second we were neck and neck then with 3rd he put 5 cars on me quick.the vipers dont shine untill 3rd when they can get breathing and run hard.ill bet most newer muscle cars can hang for first and mabey a touch of second but then when that magic third gear comes in it feels like the hand of god has pushed you down the road asap.gota love that tourqe.i like the esprit but its overpriced in my book.hey if we all like the same thing it would be a boring world out there.

 

[lleone]

What's the gearing and redline on the V8 TT? I know the old Esprit S4s were a hoot and I always attributed that to the gearing. They seem set up for the 0-60 mph street fighting game. Viper's generally are not.

As to the flat road comment. How linear is your power in relation to throttle travel? One of the things that really impressed, no amazed me was how long the travel is in my Viper and how linear the power response is. Once you get over the urge to mash the pedal, it really is an amazing car to control.

Another note, my Audi S4 totally annihilates my snake... in the snow!

 

[allanlambo]

i dont know what the gearing in my 2000 is, but it redlines at 7000 rpm.it pulls hard through all the gears. that was what amazed me about the lotus at first, cruising along at 80 and just flooring it in 5th. it moves out very well. nice car to drive on a long trip also.
i found my esprit brochure, heres some stats:
ratios:
1st:3.364
2nd:2.059
3rd:1.381
4th:1.037
5th:0.756
final 3.889
weight 3043pds

 

[Tpup]

The Esprit is a nice car, and very fast. Go to www.espritfactfile.com and click on videos. Select the Motortrend video and you'll see the 1/4 and top speed test including the Esprit, Viper and others.

I've owned several Esprits over the years and have found them to be great cars.

Roy

 

[LTHL VPR]

I had a 1999 Lotus V8TT for a few days (shortest purchase period I have ever had). Although they were great; loved the removable top, dual gas doors (park in the middle and fill from both sides simultaneously=lots of looks), very light and nimble=go kart-like feel/darty/twisties king; I gave it back to the dealer and got my first Viper, a 98 Silver GTS. Why? Power and torque. The feeling while driving the Viper made it an much more exillarating ride. Surprisingly (I must admit) the Viper still got more attention and looks than the Lotus. the Viper is truly timeless...

However, I do agree that they are fast! Due to the lightweight and comparatively small torque (to the Viper) the tires plant easily, the launch is easy, and acceleration comes on quickly. I remember one of the mags had it beating a Ferrari in almost every category (I think it was a F-355).

The Lotus is truly a great car, and not really overpriced either. Word has it that they may do a 450hp TT model shortly. This would truly make that car a serious Viper competitor. Good thing Dodge upped the ante this year.

 

[allanlambo]

yes its true that the lotus resale value *****, but 50% drop in price is not entirely true, well i guess it would if you kept it long enough. you can buy a brand new left over 2001 for in the 60's though. what the lotus does offer is tremendous bang for the buck in the used car catagory. its brakes and handling are outstanding. im 6 ft tall and fit perfectly. there is no problem stretching your leg out behind the clutch pedal as there is loads of room. my complaints are:
1. the seats dont offer enough support, you take a turn hard, and the car sticks like glue and you almost fly out the window.nothing a set of nice race seats wouldnt cure.
2. when it is hot outside(arizona 110 degrees) you can feel a huge difference in power, due to the fact the car is non intercooled.
in the looks and stares department, it gets top marks from me also. everywhere you go, people give thumbs up, questions etc.
i think the lotus gets a bad rap from its early cars to this day, ive spoken to many late model esprit owners and reliability is not much of an issue.
question for alexredsnake:
how do you think you would of fared against the lotus if your car was bone stock? even if you shifted to 3rd?

 

[allanlambo]

yes, those motor trend videos are pretty cool, and they make reference in it that if the esprit had another gear, it would of won the top speed challenge.

 

[Vreracing]

Its hard sometimes to have a friendly race and compare cars. Especially between a Turbo and a nonturbo. If the turbo driver is purposely holding the car back and keeping the turbo spooled you can get pretty explosive power. If he's at too high of an rpm with the turbo off completely the lag can be pretty bad depending on the size of the turbo.

As demonstrated below, you must remove the driver from the equation.

<OBJECT WIDTH=320 HEIGHT=240><PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="http://vreracing.com/Viper/Lotus.swf"><PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high><PARAM NAME=scale VALUE=exactfit><PARAM NAME=menu VALUE=false><PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=bgcolor="#eeeeee"><EMBED src="http://vreracing.com/Viper/Lotus.swf" quality=high menu=false scale=exactfit WIDTH=320 HEIGHT=240 swLiveConnect=true TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash"></EMBED></OBJECT>

 

[allanlambo]

that is very cool! how'd you do that?

now let me get this straight. the reason my lotus would beat your viper is because you cant drive?lol

ultimately, a gts is definately the faster car, but the esprit is still a very worthy competitor and capable of some serious performance #'s with a few very inexpensive mods.

for example- lotus race ecu. adds almost 100hp.

also the turbos on the esprit are tiny, and there is virtually no turbo lag.

what is wrong with a turbo driver holding back on his car to get the explosive power needed to race a viper? my assumption from your post is that you'd rather race a unknowing driver and beat him, than race a capable driver and see exactly what his car was capable of, whether you win or lose.

 

[Vreracing]

They finally figured out a way to do flash files on this site. Its the little thing that looks kind of like a propeller.

I'm trying to learn how to draw using Photoshop 7, so I was sitting at the Computer I have set up for video editing. I have Adobe Livemotion, so I made a flash file and uploaded it.

I used to have a 944turbo that had a substantial turbo lag. If I was in traffic and instigated a "relative performance test" (we're not supposed to talk about racing) I would usually pull ahead. If I was caught off guard, a Honda Civic could walk away from me.

As far as my driving skills, driving the Viper after 3 years I still feel like a rank amateur. It is certainly a car to be respected.

It sounds like the Lotus does not have the problem with turbo lag so its probably not an issue. Pretty cool looking car.

 

[allanlambo]

oh, yes the 944 turbo. that car had some major turbo lag! fun little car though. believe me the lotus is nothing like that.

great job on the flash file, and since your just learning im sure youll be capable of some real cool stuff shortly!

 

[ElDiablo Viper]

I raced 350 Sport with few mods and I took him by 1.5 car. If the stock Lotus takes you then maybe you should go back to your M3.

 

[allanlambo]

e diablo, i know the guy you raced. he doesnt have much done to his car. then again your car isnt stock either. he also said he'd race you when its cooler outside again if you'd like.

 

[Jerry Dobson]

OK, I have to chime in since I race a Lotus V8 Twin turbo several times a week. They are quick and you have to keep your guard up. Don't race with the REVS down. Slip the clutch and get into the power band if you are doing a roll on.

They are a challenge at the slower speeds. Their motor is in the back and they have better traction. But a Viper will beat them. At highway speeds, the Viper will pull away hard.

The Lotus weak link is the Transaxle and the halfshalfs. A good race from a stand still will throw broken parts all over.

They use different levels of boost based on the gear they are in. The ECU knows what gear the car is in based on the signal from the VSS/RPM's. So first gear is 5psi, 2nd 6psi...and so on. The factory is trying to protect the driveline.

Yes the race ECU will add 100hp, but voids any warranty left on the car. It basically pulls to max turbo boost starting in first gear. So the motor is not the week link since it already runs that amount of boost in the higher gear with the stock ECU.

I really like the Lotus and it reminds me a lot of how the Porsche 914 came together.

I am sure Viper DSSX is going to really throw some crap at the Lotus once he reads this post.

PS-They got rid of the cool dual side gas fill. I wish more cars had this. The Viper GTS would look more balanced with a fill cap on both sides.

 

[ElDiablo Viper]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by allanlambo:
e diablo, i know the guy you raced. he doesnt have much done to his car. then again your car isnt stock either. he also said he'd race you when its cooler outside again if you'd like.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Allan, I have a video of new 2001 Lotus getting killed by a stock Corvette (Corsa + K&N). Last time I raced 350 I had Corsa and K&N so you can't call this MOD's. I will race him soon again he is a very cool guy.

 

[Robert Dyck]

Originally posted by AlexRedSnake:

Has anyone else driven of gone up against one of these cars. Any if I have over 500ft of torque with my mods, why didnt I run away from a rolling start with a car with only 295ft, do I need 3.55 gears?

===================================================

I followed one out on a deserted state highway, where he promptly tried to lose me. I went by him so fast in 4th gear it wasn't even funny.

My 97 GTS is almost stock, producing 480 lb.ft. rwtq.

 

[DSSX]

You guys are a bunch of girls if you cant beat a lotus v8 turbo, I have raced one about 50 times. Its not even fun, I saw it race an SS camaro which it was dead even, those cars look good but are slow.

 

[SmokinV10]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DSSX:
You guys are a bunch of girls if you cant beat a lotus v8 turbo, I have raced one about 50 times. Its not even fun, I saw it race an SS camaro which it was dead even, those cars look good but are slow.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But these guys arent the ones with a sign on that sounds like **** sux!

 

[allanlambo]

you saw a camaro ss race a lotus and win? good, because i raced a modified ss, that was turning 13.00@109 before he added some other modifications to his car, including headers, and from 40 to about 100 put about 5 cars between us.we raced several times each time with the same verdict. there is a post about it on arizonastreetracing.com.

eldiablo, anytime you change anything on a car, in my opinion it is not stock anymore. you didnt put the corsa on your car to make it stay the same, you put it on to make it faster. the owner of the lotus says you put barely a car length on him, and the results could of been different just by changing the outside temp. also beating another car by a car length, could hardly justify telling someone to go back to their m3.

saying that you saw a corvette beating a lotus on the track is also not going to prove much, as ive seen plenty of them beating vipers. again, drivers and conditions make a huge difference.