Compliant Suspension tuning.  Chassis dynamics.  Low Weight and Mass.  Power to Weight ratio.  Lotus is a small company.  Bought and sold many, many times in the last few decades.  For the most part their owners looked at Lotus as just another stock in the portfolio.  How much more is Lotus?  In terms of racing heritage they are second only to Ferrari in terms of Formula One success.  However, let’s take a look at how in the world a Camry V6 becomes a bellowing super car powerplant with what amounts to proprietary engine management, a well designed exhaust and intake and a cleaver use of factory motor mount location.  Look at the spring rates, heck look at the spring size on most Lotus products and two things become readily apparent.  A.  they are very light almost pliable spring rates and B. they are  really TALL.  When you drive a Porsche, especially one with either an M030 designation or say, a GT3, what you come away with is that the cars suspension has NO give.  NO sway.  It  is punishing the road in to submission.  It isn’t so much absorbing bumps as it is FORCING the tire into contact with the surface as if by an act of sheer distain.  A British car, or more specifically a Lotus ALLOWS weight to transfer, allows blows to be absorbed while keeping the tire in contact with the road surface via fairly forceful damper rates.  The difference is striking.  First off, where as in a car that is set up very stiff you have to filter feedback going to the wheel lest is should vibrate your very forearm into numbness, in a Lotus each and every minute detail is allowed to make it straight through to the driver.  Did I just run over an ant?  In a Lotus , You’ll know.  Now, this is a very limited discussion of what is ACTUALLY going on, after all geometry, sway bars, bushings, all play a roll, but it illustrates a huge difference in approach.  Lotus’ ethos is about harmony with the road surface, living with it, using it in a way many car manufactures never seem to think of.

The Evora, and the 2 Eleven ENABLE their drivers to use every last ounce of the cars innate ability while never loosing that smile from your face.  What is pleasant from rolling off the line remains pleasant all the way up to and PAST the point where funnels of tyre smoke are obscuring your rear view.  Couple that with a driving experience which is in no way fatiguing or jarring and how could you not have a winner?

Weight.  It ruins many a fine road car.  It cripples you on the track. The fact that these cars weigh up to 30% less than their competition is no small feat, yet on a shoe string budget Lotus manages to make it happen.  While it is easy to discard the 2 Eleven as being a track day special, the Evora is DOT and TUV crash test rated, not only that it does very well.  Imagine a Nissan GTR that weighed only 2800 lbs!  would it need all the super computer wizardry? Would it need an alphabet soup of traction control and steering aids?  Does it really need the 500 whp that most dyno’s are proving?  Having driven nearly every Lotus in recent memory, and with all having south of 300 HP I have to say NO.

Lotus has accomplished no small item here.  It has built  two of the worlds best cars using parts bin propulsion and nothing short of genius design.  Other car companies, please take note.  While the 1000hp Veyron is mighty and technologically amazing, what we all really want is a car that makes us smile.  From 1st gear to top gear from corner to corner and from depression to crest.  Lotus has got it.  The horsepower wars have brought us some amazing acceleration times (who thought an automatic Mercedes Wagon would be capable of ripping 0-60 in 4 seconds 10 years ago?) but in many of these testosterone sleds cornering with vigor is squelched by chassis dynamics that simply can’t keep up without dramatic digital aid. On the whole  so high are the rigidity and cooling needs in these cars that weight has crept  up so far that even 500 hp feels only marginally entertaining.

Lotus has scaled the mountain, taken everything it has learned and shown the way to a very bright future.  Here’s to that future and to what comes next from the Passionate and Wise boys of Hethel!

For years if you endeavored to dare bring up which wheels should recieve the drive I would likely have stomped you down with, “you have 4 wheels, why not use them?!!?”.  Then after many a hot lap at a road course near you I fell in love with the sheer handling sensuality that brands like Lotus and BMW have provided us  via rear wheel drive and even weight distribution.  For the first time I was acutally experiencing steering communication that can only be provided when front wheels are unencumbered  by axles, a diff, all that other stuff getting in the way of the love letter the front wheels had been sending me.  Message received !  Over the subsequent years I owned many of the worlds finest rear wheel drive cars.  Over time I began to think , surely, surely this is the most pure, most proper set up for driving bliss.  Sure, The XJR was never going to make it up my drive way on Eagle F1′s and certainly the 911 was a handful in an ice storm, but undoubtedly it was WORTH the deficiency.

Only more recently have I again been given pause to my “all wheel drive is best” mind set.  Lately Mr. Quattro has been drawn back to the days of autocrossing my Scirocco 16v thus twisting and contorting my brain into being convinced that front drive has something to offer.  Back in 2006 when I took delivery of that candy white MkV Gti I remember reveling in the lift throttle oversteer, the AMAZING steering information funneling through that flat rimmed steering wheel.  I was beginning to seriously question the extra weight of the awd platform, beginning to question whether the insurmountable mountain which was a steep driveway was WORTH putting up with.  Then, if only to further complicate matters I had what must certainly be one of the top 10 drives of my life in a FWD Lotus Elan!?!? Heresy! You might say.   Now, first before you think me completely mad, let me share that also in the top ten are an unbelievable evening in a sorted E30 M3, a torrid excursion in a Lamborghini Gallardo, and a 300 mile flame blasting, slide enducing all-out-focus-fest in a tuned Lotus Esprit just to name a few… so there has been serious consideration given when I say… TOP 10 DRIVE.  The day was perfect, the road (that only Car & Driver and myself seem to know about , and we aren’t sharing the secret) was warmed by the sun and the ambient temperature hovering  just about 48 degrees F.  The next hour and a half had me literally laughing out loud and at one point exclaiming , “If FWD can be like this , why aren’t they all like this?”  Fantastic traction out of corners, always putting the power down , even when the chassis went light, always neutral , resisting understeer till the bitter end, rotation to the point of near ridiculousness surely motoring experiences (at least dynamically speaking ,and to be honest the car could use a tad more power and a real gear selector)  come no better.  I had just experienced motoring Nirvana in a car with obvious flaws, and the handling and performance was so good it far eclipsed what may be the worst shifter in a car ever and it was built in 1991?!!?  I tell you no lie.  Add to that the days I spent hunting down E36 M3′s on the track with an 07 GTI, certainly this FWD had something to say, some unique persepective to offer the enthusiast driver.

Which brings us full circle back to AWD.  I remember the first time I drove a 335 with x drive.  After spending more than a few pleasant hours in our own 335i coupe, i was prepared for the AWD car to plough, to rob me of precious steering feedback which I covet in a performance car.  Shock of shocks , BMW had actually preserved much of , if not all of the steering purity.  Now, while the 335 may not be the last word in messages coming through the steering wheel, I was more than pleasantly surprised.  It had another thing that our 335 was lacking.  Traction, blessed fantastic traction.  ”Yes, your Corvette just got obliterated” traction.  Still progressive enough to slide, yet not wasting tenths in an off the line romp.  JOY.  Even when tuned to 500 hp our project S4 had gobs of traction to spare and through careful alignment we were even able to get it to handle properly.

Recently on a rain soaked day I found myself out in our Volkswagen GTI development car.  It is upgraded in both the software and suspension departments.  I was getting on one of my favorite on ramps when I decided to boot ‘er in second gear.  Wheel spin.  Egregious , torrid wheel spin.  ”ok” I thought , that was a bit ham-fisted , lets try a roll on in 3rd.  Smooth roll on the throttle, full boost, subtle wheel spin that faded to hidious obnoxious wheel spin.  It brought to mind a night far more rainy than the day in question.  Travel back to that overcast London like evening.  I had just brought home a Lamborghini Superleggera.  The kids naturally had to know what the savage brutal force felt like.  ”To bad” I thought, “It’s raining cats and dogs and I’ll have to be progressive with my inputs” Out on the road, strapped in tightly, aimmed straight and  roll away in 1st gear. Bury the throttle, 2nd, buried, 3rd, buried.  lift.  Traction control was left on just incase my enthusiasm was a bit to boyish.  You know how many times I saw the “tc” light blink ?  Want to guess how much wheel spin there was?  NONE.  Hooked up, gone. That same car would allow heinous dry condition drifting with the correct steering input, had fabulous steering feel and on a hard launch the AWD system was totally transparent.  Sigh, AWD FTW. 

So, here I sit, again convinced that AWD is the superior platform (though unquestionably all three offer huge advantages distinct to their given cache).  Rather than going out and being a proper Sebatian Loeb impersonator I guess I’ll have to settle for  a drive in the Mini Cooper and grab the ebrake.  No matter what you drive be sure you do so passionately!

“Car Enthusiast” can’t we just leave it there? Oh the peace the world would know if we all took two steps back and realize we all essentially have the same passion. The drive, the car, the experience. As with the current political climate it seems everything in our world is becoming more and more polarized. Perhaps it is the brand marketeers of the world. Those who have researched their demographic, done focus group after focus group and refined their product until it was perfect for person X. At some point person X becomes so sure he is right about his POV that he decides to hate on person Y. “I am right, you are wrong.” It’s just that simple. Soon we develop our clique of close mates and with those numbers comes power. Now, not only are we right, but we can fight about it. Enter the Blogosphere, the Internet Forum. Ah yes, I would like a few gallons of haterade with my evening surfing please. Why do we have to always be right? Is our way best, can there be compromise ? Good questions. Let’s discuss.

A few years back, a track day buddy (and ex-grand am professional driver) and I were attending a car show. It wasn’t really so much a show and shine as it was a “check out what I got” drive in for a few hundred cars. As we walked through the sea of shimmering paint, glinting alloy and general automotive nirvana we stumbled upon a pretty fair representation of Porsche 2.7 RS clones. The car was on Victaracer semi slicks and the gent who owned this visually stunning car was finishing up a detail before he walked away. Little did I know but the whole pitcher of haterade was near the tipping point the as tension was obviously mounting on the other side of the car I came around to see “tire wet” being applied. Ok, I could see how there was a bit of irony here, racing tyre, being greased up and all… kind of an oxymoron of sorts. However, rather than subtle amusement my “racer” friend went off on this poor fellow in a loud demeaning tone which then escalated into a bit of a fit which I then had to break up.

Ok, time out. Question: Do tires look good all gray and brown ? Answer: No. Question: Does tire wet on a race tyre actually endanger peoples lives? Well, I suppose yes, but that would assume that the ooze would never come off or dissipate. Clearly our much maligned friend wasn’t about to autocross or track this beauty.

Certainly in our community there is room for dialogue, but if you know nothing about warm tyre pressures, cam duration, or alignment will hate help you learn? NO. I have personally left forums before simply because a few “enlightened” car guys thought it was their job to inform (and at the same time demean if at all possible) all comers in the ways of “their ” car that they were so obsessed with. I know guys with some pretty impressive machinery that won’t go near a car show because they don’t want to get hate. I once had an E30 M3 with Racing Dynamics wheels, a pretty fun little car. I took it to a show once and actually had someone tell me “shame about those wheels.” I was like, “Wow, this from a guy that rolled up in a stock ride ht, stock wheeled E36 M3.” Then it hit me, in my mind I was doing the same thing. He was the “stocker”… you know, the guy that wants it stock or noway, and anything else is just wrong. I was the slam it and make it corner guy, with a “he must not really care about performance” hate message swimming around in my own mind. Being someone who has driven nearly every car in both stock and modified forms, I try to remain unbiased on the whole thing. However driving an EVO 10, though it isn’t something I can see myself driving personally, it certainly has appreciable feature. I fail to understand how someone who has likely NEVER EVEN driven the car can pronounce it “crap on a stick”. Does your car have more power? Maybe. Does it apply it better? Well, GREAT! We should all be so lucky, but let’s be friends.

Show us your P3ness!

Lastly I’ll touch on my favorite. The Hater that not only hasn’t driven the car or tried the product that he is about to hate on, he can’t even spell it correctly. OH MAN, I loves me a good forum post with some errors in a message where the antagonist is actually trying to tell you about your error, how wrong you are. Oh yeah, that’s good times… good times.

What can we do with all this hate? Well, next time you start thinking, “Oh here comes ricer boy with T4 strapped to his Civic, I am sure it detonates like a mo fo”, really look at that car. Is there something you can learn? Something you can actually appreciate? I have found that even with cars that made me laugh out loud, talk to the guy and nearly every time I have been surprised by the thoughtful, insight that has come of it.

I will open our Forum with this plea. If you have never been on a track and don’t understand why in some instances (even on the street) a slightly smaller wheel might actually be the best pick, think about it. Take a moment to ponder why the software in your car may not be best, but may be an equal or fine alternative. Take a moment to consider paint scheme, decals, et al, all are down to personal taste. Heck, one day you might even come back to that car you were about to hate on and say, “that looks hot, what was I thinking?”

There are more than a few paths to automotive bliss. At P3 we aim to cut out the guessing, and give you recommendations, but we also thrive on your input, the input of all car guys. So if you are a Euro tuner, Mopar freak, VIP style boy or Track whore… we know you would like to hang, roll, race and in the end just be brothers.