Track day this weekend...charge mode and driving mode question?

[7racer]

Ok so the Roadster all and all isn't that bad on the track. With the weight there is ALOT of body roll. Almost like it could use a thicker sway bar. Also, the understeer I mentioned got worse as I pushed the car. Come to find out the car is SUPER adjustable.

Also owners will be please to see that the car can handle its own on the track (but just for about 15mins). I drove today all in std mode and it didn't seem to prevent the motor from overheating vs running it in performance.

Everyone was coming up to me and asking questions and a couple people said it was the highlight of the event. One guy said it was funny to see my car go so fast, set up for a pass, and then not hear anything as I zipped around!

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So the rear swaybar was set in the middle position. We move it to full stiff. That seemed to help the understeer a bit but I think it could use a bit more. The rear is so heavy it's hard to rotate but have to be careful once it does.

But, the best thing was that we found out that the coilovers are easily adjustable. The mechanic said that they are ride height adjustable...also on the coilovers, they have 10 clicks of adjustment.
He stated that sometimes with these that look like they adjust both compression and rebound, you might turn them and barely notice anything or on the other extreme totally unsettle the car!

So we decided to go 2 clicks firmer on both the front and rear. What was cool is that you can turn these without having to unload weight from the car. There is also a mark and EASILY seen numbers!

After adjusting two clicks and firming up the rear swaybar I was heating the rear tires much much better! The car also felt more neutral, but could have used a bit more. The car got a bit squirrelly during the session but I noticed that my temps got the PSI back up to 30 front and 40 rear! WAY to much. I think if I would have stayed the last two sessions I could have gotten it dialed in more.

Anyways, here is a pic on how little they raised the car to adjust things...and the rebound/compression adjustment knob





*thanks to PST for the quick work!

 

[4sevens.com]

holy hell...what is that! You are a worse track rat than me!

and yep...GT-R at topspeed! Getting the suspension done to keep ahead of those GT3!

Nice!

Thats an exocet... basically a miata powerplant with 1000 less pounds and 4-5x stiffer. I kept up with gt-r's at barber two weeks ago.

Hey - so you should come down to atlanta (when you pick up your gt-r) and let's do a day at AMP!
They have 6-50 240v 50a charging... there are two bed and breakfasts across the street...

 

[7racer]

Here is one of my fav pics...
This GT-R is going so slow!!! Get outta my way!!!! LOL (I own a GT-R so ya..allowed to make fun)



















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Nice!

Thats an exocet... basically a miata powerplant with 1000 less pounds and 4-5x stiffer. I kept up with gt-r's at barber two weeks ago.

Hey - so you should come down to atlanta (when you pick up your gt-r) and let's do a day at AMP!
They have 6-50 240v 50a charging... there are two bed and breakfasts across the street...

would love to but they are shipping the car back today. It should be rolling in any minute I hope! I would do a road trip for sure! Especially when you get the Mono! Still haven't seen one in real life. I was going to book a flight to cali to see it at Sector 111 but maybe a Atlanta trip would be better!

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finally, one video...

not much editing but you can get a sense of speed and me catching up to the other beemers....

Tesla at the Drivers Edge on Vimeo

 

[4sevens.com]

Here's a video of me chasing a race-prepped c5 in my MSP

AMP model s chasing c5 - YouTube

My S pulled power after one lap haha

 

[7racer]

grrr...I hate when it appends my post. Anyways, I think this might be one of the few track vids of a Roadster on the web??!

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Here's a video of me chasing a race-prepped c5 in my MSP

AMP model s chasing c5 - YouTube

My S pulled power after one lap haha

you got him! LOL good to see the S keeping up with the vette! See you use Harry's also! Do you just use the iphone for vid and do the overlay?

 

[4sevens.com]

yep - overlay...

I test drove the mono - it was insane.

I used to have an ariel atom 2 300 and that was crazy... but the mono puts it at another level..
you can probably win every ttu race with the mono without changing a thing

 

[Doug_G]

Anyways, I think this might be one of the few track vids of a Roadster on the web??!

Here are a couple of mine, posted previously in the Canada section. The second one features two Roadsters.

 

[7racer]

well damn! so much for being first. I'm just watching your first vid now.

Doug_g, did you play with the suspension settings at all?

 

[Doug_G]

So the rear swaybar was set in the middle position. We move it to full stiff. That seemed to help the understeer a bit but I think it could use a bit more. The rear is so heavy it's hard to rotate but have to be careful once it does.

Yeah, I changed mine to full stiff a couple of months ago. It only helped slightly. It still has a lot of understeer.

The Roadster (and the Lotus Elise I'm told) likes a bit of weight on the front wheels when you turn in. It helps if you load up the front.

well damn! so much for being first. I'm just watching your first vid now.

LOL no one is ever first, it seems!

Doug_g, did you play with the suspension settings at all?

Yeah, originally I set the sway bars to loose front, middle rear. But as I mentioned above I recently moved it to stiff rear.

Haven't played with the shocks too much. 7 front 8 rear right now.

 

[7racer]

Yeah, I changed mine to full stiff a couple of months ago. It only helped slightly. It still has a lot of understeer.

The Roadster (and the Lotus Elise I'm told) likes a bit of weight on the front wheels when you turn in. It helps if you load up the front.



LOL no one is ever first, it seems!



Yeah, originally I set the sway bars to loose front, middle rear. But as I mentioned above I recently moved it to stiff rear.

Haven't played with the shocks too much. 7 front 8 rear right now.

makes sense. I think I will stick with the GT-R and (maybe Bac Mono) for the track and leave the roadster for autox, drag and what not.
Like how you were eating those cars up in the first vid! That track looks fun and FAST!

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just watched the second vid! fun to see two roadsters out! How the hell do you get so much open track with no traffic!

good to see other track junkies on here

 

[Doug_G]

makes sense. I think I will stick with the GT-R and (maybe Bac Mono) for the track and leave the roadster for autox, drag and what not.
Like how you were eating those cars up in the first vid! That track looks fun and FAST!

Yeah, Calabogie is the closest race track to Ottawa, and it really is spectacular. I normally run a gas car there, because they have no charging facilities and have not been cooperative in setting up something. That video is from the only day I've ever run the Roadster there. My S2000 blew its engine just before that event, so I didn't have much choice! Fortunately I was able to get power from a Model S owner who lives a few miles from the track. (I sold the S2000 to a Honda tech who does autocross; he is rebuilding it. I got myself a C6 for the track.)

The second track is Shannonville; I've run the Roadster there a few times and the Model S once. I was able to arrange to install charging stations last year. Oddly enough I've never run a gas car at Shannonville!

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just watched the second vid! fun to see two roadsters out! How the hell do you get so much open track with no traffic!

good to see other track junkies on here

LOL we just got lucky on the traffic for a couple laps.

The Roadster is what got me interested in motor sports; only been doing this for a few years but am pretty badly addicted at this point.

 

[7racer]

I just got done playing around with 30-40mph rear slides on some quick twisties by the oceanside, that steering response is a definite weak link in the mix when the body's tight. You can just feel you're spinning the steering wheel just a little too much (in an awkward way) when that back end whips back and you really don't want to exaggerated your input which is the key to the whole car recovering from the turn. The more you get connected to your tires the more you'll feel through the steering wheel and you want to put input back into the "system" as quick as you can, hence where the beautify of the tighter rack comes in. I think I'm going to go for the new rack, the old just feels too sloppy now. Now its a 2.2 vs. 2.5. The 2.5's on-sale so that looks very appealing The 2.2 is almost double the price.

I also think adding poly bushings on the control arms will add more feel to the wheels. But will also add more vibrations/road noise so there's going to be a tradeoff for those who want a plush ride.

Love the Running pic 7racer!! Fitness is key to racing so keep that in mind And once the helmet is on, the accelerator is to the floor, and your entering your first turn you'll be always happy you did it! One thing is that Racing an electric car does have is unique character to it both night and day!

However the only thing that worries me is your heart rate beats per minute is 0!

Hey wiztecy, after tracking the roadster I found myself crossing my arms alot to turn her...I think I might get this rack too. Did you order it yet?

 

[wiztecy]

Hey wiztecy, after tracking the roadster I found myself crossing my arms alot to turn her...I think I might get this rack too. Did you order it yet?

Hi 7racer, thanks for the pics. Looks like fun for sure. Would it have been hard to drop the ride height on your Roadster during the track session? That should really help some with the body roll. Thanks for documenting what your felt and found on the track, helps with understanding these cars better for handling and heating them up when pushing them to their full performance limit.

As for the Rack, I emailed Rob and awaiting back his opinion. I asked him what he thought about the 2.2 vs the 2.5 rack.
2.5:
titanQR

2.2:
raceRACK is the fastest steering rack for your Lotus

Stock again is 2.75 turns to lock.

He should be getting back to me in the next couple of days, when I hear back from him I'll let you know what he says about them as well his personal experience on the track.

 

[7racer]

Hi 7racer, thanks for the pics. Looks like fun for sure. Would it have been hard to drop the ride height on your Roadster during the track session? That should really help some with the body roll. Thanks for documenting what your felt and found on the track, helps with understanding these cars better for handling and heating them up when pushing them to their full performance limit.

As for the Rack, I emailed Rob and awaiting back his opinion. I asked him what he thought about the 2.2 vs the 2.5 rack.
2.5:
titanQR

2.2:
raceRACK is the fastest steering rack for your Lotus

Stock again is 2.75 turns to lock.

He should be getting back to me in the next couple of days, when I hear back from him I'll let you know what he says about them as well his personal experience on the track.

Cool let me know.

About the ride height he said it looked super simple to change as there was a perch with an adjustable collar.

However, from my understanding about suspensions, you don't correct body roll with ride height. That should be addressed with thicker sways. And can also be effected by spring rates.

 

[asgard]

Cool let me know.

About the ride height he said it looked super simple to change as there was a perch with an adjustable collar.

However, from my understanding about suspensions, you don't correct body roll with ride height. That should be addressed with thicker sways. And can also be effected by spring rates.

Correct, ride height won't fix body roll. Sway geometry and stiffer springs.
I am eyeing these:
Adjustable Sway Bar - Blackwatch Racing, Lotus Performance Parts

However, this will make for a terrible daily drive in the pothole ridden concrete hell around where I live in Northern CA.
The stiff bars transmit bumps from one side to the other and make the car unstable on bumpy curves.

 

[mnx]

Yeah, Calabogie is the closest race track to Ottawa, and it really is spectacular. I normally run a gas car there, because they have no charging facilities and have not been cooperative in setting up something. That video is from the only day I've ever run the Roadster there. My S2000 blew its engine just before that event, so I didn't have much choice! Fortunately I was able to get power from a Model S owner who lives a few miles from the track. (I sold the S2000 to a Honda tech who does autocross; he is rebuilding it. I got myself a C6 for the track.)

The second track is Shannonville; I've run the Roadster there a few times and the Model S once. I was able to arrange to install charging stations last year. Oddly enough I've never run a

You've got a C6 now eh? Sweet. I can't wait for next spring to get back to the track.

 

[Doug_G]

You've got a C6 now eh? Sweet. I can't wait for next spring to get back to the track.

Yep. Its nice to finally have a track car with Tesla-level acceleration! Needs some tweaks, though; the understeer is terrible.

I can still go to Calabogie one more time as they are open this weekend. Depends on the weather, though. It's one thing to be cold, it's another to be cold and raining!

 

[bart513]

I'm getting inspiration with all this racing talk!

 

[7racer]

I'm getting inspiration with all this racing talk!

Do it!! You'll love it!!

My track car right now is a Nissan GT-R. Makes about 710 to the wheels.

 

[bart513]

I'll have to find out what is available in the NY area........It's a little exciting!