S2 Track Modifications

Thinking of investing in track upgrades for an S2 Elise ? A pragmatic and cost conscious approach to stepwise investments for getting the most out of the Lotus Elise handling on track as your driving improves, without pissing away too much cash (if possible).

This article is aimed at folks new to this, and does not represent the "the ultimate in affluent or exotic upgrades", for that, well ... talk to bogie :-)

Also this is about handling - for engine/power upgrades e.g. induction, exhaust, headwork, ecu, cams, transplants I'd suggest a sperate article (just note that if your over 95dba static you could have problems attending some track events).

0. Kit Bag Start with a £10 tyre pressure gague as the most important item and add from there ... after hiring smelly helmets sweat in your own (Type A, A/FR or SNELL), foot pump, fuel can, gloves etc.

1. Oil Before you hit the track and start cooking the engine get some decent oil in - fully synthetic with a high HTHS value and change when it’s black (every 8 to 12 track hours). If you don’t have an oil cooler even more important for a 5.x HTHS oil and change even more often. Yes you can put any old 10W40 in but keep it fresh. http://wiki.seloc.org/index.php/Oil_Labelling_Explained

2. Brake Pads and Fluid After your first track experience you'll be wanting more consistent stopping power with longer sessions and the brakes are the first item to stress. Consider Mintex 1144 fast road £100 for occasional tracking, Pagid RS42 blue for road and track £200, Pagid RS14 black £200 for hard core track bias (not great when cold on the way to work). Fronts should last 24 track hours rears two to four times that. http://wiki.seloc.org/index.php/Brake_pads

Decent pads that wont fade with heat need fresh fluid (Castrol Super DOT4 £10, AP600 £20, SRF £50) and plan to bleed fluid regularly (every 8 to 12 track hours) plus completely change it annually (Lotus recommend that even for road use) http://wiki.seloc.org/index.php/Brake_fluid

Braided hoses also £50 (hose and fluid change is around £100 labour each or together !) as the normal rubber hoses expand slightly when brake pressure is on and this increases as the fluid hots up, braided hoses prevent this

3. Harness So the cornering and braking is now throwing you around the cabin and wedging your left leg against the gear lever just isnt good enough. If your just having fun consider a CGlock but if you really want to "feel" the car you need a harness.

Bolt in or Wrapround ? If you don’t have seats with shoulder strap holes you MUST buy bolt in harnesses. If you have seat holes then you can have either.

Harness shoulder strap bar ? There are two principle types of harness bar, one that mounts mid level using dedicated points on the roll hoop but requires cutting the plastic back panel or one that bolts up behind the inertia reels and requires no cutting but can hold the straps too high and loose if you are shorter.

Harness Points ? they come in 4 or 5/6 point (crutch strap). 4 point is fine as you need a special cut-out in the base of the seat and a mount frame to use the 5/6 strap.

Clubman or Standard ? Clubman harness where the 2” shoulder straps are permanently attached to the lap straps so do not join at the buckle and are quite wide, you could pop out the middle if you are a slight build. Separate shoulder and lap straps which all join at the buckle are more expensive but more secure and come in 2” or 3” (pref) widths. Lapstraps should generally be 2” for security as the 3” can ride up the pelvis.

Adjusters ? Shoulder straps can be fitted with quick release or adjustment buckles which make leaning forward e.g. if using harness son the road a whole lot easier.

The gold standard for harnesses are the Willans Silverstone 4 point 3” shoulder 2” lapstrap with quick release adjusters and you can add a the crutch strap later, use this as a price/performance comparison benchmark for whatever you are thinking of buying.

4. Camera & mount If you really want to improve then video yourself for later review of performance and technique. With a harness bar the usual mount is a Manfrotto superclamp SC with extension spindle ES and camera plate for £40 and stick any MiniDV or digital camera on there (anti vibration like Sony supersteadyshot really helps). Being compulsive/obsessive is also a plus for this stage http://www.b-hague.co.uk/Mounting%20Brackets.htm

5. Suspension So your bouncing over the track at speed and riding the bumpstops in corners with loads of lock and high slip angles for safe understeery fun, time for suspension ? Well if you eventually want to fit cut slick tyres and use their capabilities you really will need stiffer springs and that means new monotube dampers.

Lotus Sport Suspension with adjustable ride height £600, Nitron One Way with adjustable ride height and damping (bump/rebound) £1,100 or Ohlins or ... but be really careful about the £500 twintube damper offers since cheep is cheep. This is a long conversation, but just fitting Nitrons and stiffer springs (e.g. 400/475) will drop a 2 minute lap by 5 to 10 seconds whilst providing a more predictable platform.

New suspension will need the Geometry adjusting, anther long storey but 340R Road is probably a good place to be here still on road tyres http://wiki.seloc.org/index.php/Geo_Setups

6. Tyres By now you are melting your road tyres on track so its time for 195/225 cut slicks either Yokohama A048 £650 or Toyo R888 £450 will drop a 2 minute lap by a further 5 to 10 seconds with more consistency. http://wiki.seloc.org/index.php/Tyres_for_OZ_Racing_Rims

You need to be really comitted here since these tyres cost 50 to 100% more than your current road tyres and only last 25 to 50% the miles - this will generate a big jump in operating costs for a worse experience on the road (e.g. aquaplane in standing water).

Whilst you can run them on the standard 5.5J front rims, to allow the sidewals to do their job, it is highly recommended to upgrade the front rims to 6.5J or 7J which unfortunately needs a whole new set of 4 like TeamDynamics 1.2 £500 or Lotus Motorsport OZ or Exige Spider £1,000 http://wiki.seloc.org/index.php/S2_Wheel_Options

7. Brake Disks You are probably now at the point of overheating the OEM front disks with the extra braking capacity of the cut slicks. Time to upgrade the front disks to something that handles heat better; Elise-shop Motorsport disks £200 or Elise parts Ally Bell £300. There is marginal benefit upgrading the rear disks as they are used a LOT less (between 1:2 and 1:4) and you can run mixed front to back.

8. ARB Your consistently taking Craners at Donington or Coppice at Cadwell and the like around 100 mph and to improve high speed cornering stability and consistency a 2.5x ARB will help £200. You'll probably want to increase the front camber now or consider the 340R Track Geo setup.

9. Uniball Toe links You don’t have to have solid/uniball toe links to run cut slicks - Lotus shipped the S2 135R and Exige on A048s with standard toe links, and there are many thousands of track miles done each year on standard toe links with an extremely low toe link failure rate. The more hours you spend pushing the car hard on track up the curbs etc the higher your exposure to risk, so at some point when you have a spare £250 its worth doing.

10. Other Stuff Steering Wheel – you can bring the steering wheel 20mm closer, but it needs a new wheel (300mm Momo Team is usual £100) with an adaptor and a boss either fixed £50 or removable £100

Seats – Really nice but unnecessary (Budget £400, Eliseparts CF £550, 340R/Exige £700, Reverie Mulsanne £800) dont forget you may need mounts or a frame conversion kit as well. Yes having shoulder and crutch holes is great but with a properly fitted quality harness, the normal Elise seats are OK for trackdays.

Vendors For stuff mentioned above checkout a mix ‘n match of www.eliseparts.com www.elise-shop.com www.hangar111.com etc