I am getting bored of my lightly modded 997tt (Ecu, exhaust, intake, etc) and looking for a new toy. Was thinking about the new Exige S240 or limited S260 if i can get my hands on one. Figured the Exige is more fun on the track for track days that I wanted to start going this year here in the Northeast. Your thoughts gents?

 

The Exige is a fantastic car with a light/dynamic feel that is completely out of the turbo's league in terms of handling. They are a real blast on the track too.

However, the car is substantially under-powered for what it's suspension is capable of handling and has substantial heat-soak problems at the 240 and 260 powr level with any sort of track use.

For a clear indication of lack of power, just look at the fact that it's no faster than a cayman around the track despite weight savings of 800 to 1000lbs (see lightening lap in Car and driver 2009).

great fun wonderful and reasonably fast track car that would be boring in the hands of a reasonably capable driver fairly quickly.

 

just put VF supercharger kit on and yu'll have a blast running with tt porsches...never get bored with elise or exige.
go for chippest LSS elise any year, then quaife LSD and VF sc

 

Any sort of straight, and 250hp runs out of steam pretty fast. Lightening lap is a good example, Exige S 260 and Cayman S ran the same times.

Exige is a VERY fast car, but not if you are used to a twin turbo porsche.

 

I currently own a Turbo and a 240S. I have previously owned the Motorsports Exige (track only) and the track only Elise.

They are very different cars. Drive them both, back to back, and then decide. I prefer the Lotus on track to the Turbo, the Turbo is just to heavy imo. I would not track the Turbo for that reason; I don't like the Exige on the street. IMO the Turbo is a street car that you can track, the Lotus is a track car that you can street. In terms of feel, no contest, the Lotus is way better. In terms of lap times, a stock turbo can outrun a stock 240 or 260 except on small tracks. Some other thoughts:

1. Parts/work on the Lotus is dirt cheap compared to the Porsche.
2. You can setup the Lotus to outrun a Turbo for not a lot of money on most tracks (see #1). My motor-sports car was faster on slicks than my Turbo is at Road Atlanta. At RA a Turbo or Corvette/Viper could open some distance on the back straight but most of them were braking at the 300+ marker. I could brake at the 125-150 marker and be back on their bumper after one corner. With suspension, brakes and an ecu upgrade I'm confident that my 240 will be faster than most Turbos as well.
3. Because Lotus weigh nothing, they are very easy on parts. Much cheaper to track hard and often imo. That compares to my experience tracking My 911's (several), my Viper, and a few other cars.
4. I'm also an amateur racer having run a Mustang and a RX-7. I can say that the "fun factor" of the Lotus is off the charts!

You should check out www.sector111.com for parts pricing. They also have somewhere a video of their modified Exige vs. several Supercars. There is also a big Lotus forum you can check out, many of the people there own or have owned both cars.

Good luck.

 

I have a 996 not a turbo and a Lotus 255 cup car. The Lotus just cant be beat as a track car. It is a blast to drive and very inexpensive to maintain compared to the Porsche. Yes there are faster cars on the track i.e. tuned up WRX, but fewer that are more fun or connected on the track.

 

Has the thought of a GT3 or GT3 RS entered your mind? Would seem to be the next logical step for someone in your position?

 

What needs to be done to the Exige for serious track duty? I've heard stories of intercooler heatsoak, but that may be porsche guy propaganda.

Any suspension or braking issues with hoosiers? Might be kinda fun to wail on one of those things for a bit.

 

I depends on how "serious" you want to be The Exige 240 has a larger intercooler (resolves the heat soak issue; I have not had that problem), larger brakes, etc. It also includes the rear brace that earlier cars needed to run slicks. Some people will tell you to upgrade the hubs to run slicks; I would not but I do check the suspension between each track day looking for problems.

The stock 240 has adjustable suspension that I set at 2/3 for the street and 8/9 on the track. I drive this car to the track and change the suspension at the track; takes 2 mins. For fun, that's fine with me. I will upgrade the front roll bar to get an adjustable and stiffer setup but I won't upgrade the coilovers unless I plan on trailering the car.

Other than that the car is good to go. I will work my way to more power, bigger brakes (I run at Road American which is really hard on brakes and I am a very late braker), and go from there. The car does not need that for track days imo, I'm just a "tinkerer"...

For me it was between this and a GT3. I wanted a car I could drive to the track, run all day, and drive home. I did the trailer thing for years and I just didn't want to do that again. Love my Turbo and just felt I wanted to have something different instead of two 911's. So far, having fun with it!

Good luck.

Roy

ps. Here are two pics from Road America last fall. I had just upgraded to lighter wheels but still running the A048's

 

beautiful car and looks like a lot of fun. Is the "cup" version worth it for a serious track car? What does that give you? I don't know a whole lot about loti..

By "serious" I mean really serious. 10 years racing experience, very late braking, slicks, etc.

 

I'd decide how much you want to drive it on the street and go from there. If you want to hit up the track hard, Exige all the way

 

I drove a lotus for the first time this weekend and I can say it will be my next track car!