jokke_vlo's Lotus Exige CUP260

[jokke_vlo]

Bij echte interesse: pm

[dachero]

Meent gij dat?

Ik wil wel ,maar mijn vrouw en bankrekening niet.

[a_fond]

Ik wacht wel tot de sequentiële bak erop staat, dan zal hij volledig top klaar zijn voor à fond te rijden

[jokke_vlo]

Verslag van de gast die gisteren de wagen heeft ingereden.



As some of you know, I drive a Opel myself, being the same base as the Exige, it'll serve as my reference point towards this breathtaking machine, the Exige Cup.



I had the privilege to drive a friends' Exige Cup for a day, around my favorite roads, as far as I wished. The purpose of the trip was to run it in, as it just received a new engine which needed to be run in for a Mas Du Clos-trackday next week.

So what is this Exige Cup exactly? In essence it's a full-bore trackday version of the Exige, it comes with a whole list of upgrades like carbonfibre bodypanels, 6-pot AP-Racing brakes, a 260hp (315hp in this case Smiley) 1.8 Toyota Kompressor, completely variable traction control, Öhlins dampers (more on those later), FIA-approved seats and harnesses, ... Think of it as Lotus' GT3 RS.

So off I went, my instructions were clear, 'run it in properly' which meant no more than 4.000rpm at first, 4.500rpm later on and 5.500rpm after 750km. It soon proved to be an agonising thing to do in a car with a 8.500rpm revlimit. I chose to go in the direction of the Belgian Ardennes which has some nice twisty roads, ideally suited for a car this size. It was raining in the morning, so a little anxiously I felt how much grip it had to offer on its worn Yokohama semi-slicks, "not much" replied the Exige in it's trademark quick-witted fashion. The variable traction control doing an awesome job of controlling the swelling power in such circumstances. Eventually, I got my feel for the car and dialled the TC back a little to suit my driving style. Now I had the opportunity to exit roundabouds with a certain degree of slip, without allowing the car to overcook things, perfect.

Immediately you notice how responsive this car is, much more so than my VX220, it seems and feels hardwired to your brain, giving you all the right messages to tell you what is going on 'steering goes light => I'm understeering', 'seat vibrates subtly => the rear is going to break loose'. In my opinion this is active safety at its absolute best, a car which communicates to the driver. If it does break loose, you need to be quick and measured with your inputs, it's not a relaxed car on the limit by any means, but it rewards like no other.

I somewhat feared my chosen route wouldn't be the best choice for the Exige as some of the roads are in quite bad shape, I remembered from the drives in my VX220 that it could become a bouncy ride. Not so in this Exige, the Öhlins suspension is simply spectacular, as a demonstration of tight body control without losing pliancy it must be up there with one of the best. It feels so well engineered, there's a depth of quality to its damping that I've never felt before, in any car. I'm impressed.

So after my morning drive, accompanied by a friend in an Exige S, we decided to pull over in the small town of Durbuy to grab something to eat. I conveniently had a parkingspot right in front of where we were sitting. It was hilarious to see how much attention this Exige gets. No less than 3 familyportraits were taken in front of it during the 30 mins it stood there, thumbs-up everywere, kids wanting to sit in it, just fabulous fun as it's welcomed so positively by everyone. No surprise there actually as the Exige is kind of a looker, that mini-supercar shape, flashy colour and pieces of naked carbonfibre, it's not an everyday sight...


Salad finished, on to the second part of my journey, direction countryside and back home. We returned on some in the meantime nicely dried-out B-roads, so I could get a feel of the grip levels of the thing, they are actually quite similar to those on my VX220 on semi-slicks (I actually prefer my Toyo R888 tyres to his Yoko A048's), but again, the communication is on another level, the steering wheel weighing up nicely as the forces build. Meanwhile that supercharger is literally screaming over your shoulder "Rev the nuts off me, pussy". A lesson in self-control this, as I was still only able to go to 4.500rpm. For the second part of the journey north, I took the motorway, curious to see how it'd compare to my VX220, which is nothing less than tiring on motorway cruises. Not so this Exige, the windnoise is much less, perfectly acceptable, the exhaust is another story, this one was fitted with Lotus' Stage 3 exhaust which is NOISY, it drones and barks, which is huge fun on anything but the motorway. I'd advise earplugs to anyone who would take it for a long cruise. Exhaust aside, it's a perfect companion for long journeys.

So, having left the motorway, I took it on the sort of roads, typical for Belgian tarmac-rally stages, narrow, lots of camber changes, it'd be horror for any trackday-special, but as this Exige has enough ground clearance it was like it was made to do it, the small size of it actually makes the small roads bigger, you've got room to adjust your lines, you've got enough clearance to go from one camber to the other without a scrape, serious fun. So, darkness falling, I decide to enjoy dinner with some friends in the middle off the countryside, a perfect addition to my day.



I returned home, tired, but very happy, even more so as I could finally explore an extra 1.000rpm, onwards to 5.500rpm, which really woke the supercharger and liberated even more sound. You really feel the power swelling like a small but very nasty tidal wave, "iiiiiiiiiiiiiEEEEEEEEE" next to your ear, no other engine sounds so manic as this thing, it's not pretty by any means, but it's intoxicating like no other. Even more so when I passed the tunnels under Brussels on my way home. What a WALL of sound that created, one wouldn't believe it was coming from a 1.8 litre Toyota engine. Humble basics, not so humble character! Smiley.

2AM, I arrived home, after waking the owner up with a bark in front of is house, apparently he heared my coming even minutes before. Smiley

So, that's it, the Exige is gone, and it left me utterly hooked to it. My next car has to be an Exige, and a supercharged hardcore one at that. Many thanks to the owner for the trust he had in me.

Hope you enjoyed the report.

[Yves]

Leuk verslagje, super om te lezen.

[bAAx]

Goeie tekst

[Emiel]

Altijd mooi om te horen hoe andere de auto ervaren.

[Peter D]

Thierry kan zijn voorraad alvast aanvullen

- Of je hebt al een kandidaat koper als je zou overschakelen op een Evora CUP 340 -

Er stond gisteren een oranje Cup 260 bij hem in de toonzaal, verkocht.
(Dacht eerst dan het de jouwe was).

[Bram]

ik lees hier ergens dat je van mijn buurt bent.

Ik zal mijn ogen en oren dan maar eens goed open houden.

[jokke_vlo]

Ik passeer alleen geregeld op de steenweg in Herent (Brusselse en Leuvensesteenweg). Voor de rest kom ik nooit in Herent