10/14/04 Went for a backroads drive with my 'ex' 190 to catch the last of the near-perfect weather we've been having and to get some idea of how the cars compare. The road we took was lined with trees and so the visibility was challenging, with alternating bright light and shade. There were some leaves on the pavement, along with spots of moisture, but overall the road was in pretty good shape and most importantly traffic-free. We ran the road a couple of times in both directions, then switched cars and did it again, pausing for some pics in between (click on the first one for larger version).

Hopping into the 190 after driving the new Elise, the experience is very different. The side sills are deeper, the racing seat hugs the driver better, and combined with the rollcage and 6-point belts the overall feeling is much more of being enclosed and one with the car. You're a part of the machine, instead of just being in it as is the case with the new car. Once underway, the dominant noise is the gear whine from the straight-cut box. Shifter action is very similar. The engine tends to bog a bit below 4K RPM but from there on it really picks up and I think is more responsive than the Toyota mill. The fact that it has some 350 lbs less to lug around also helps. The biggest and most surprizing difference, however, is in the steering. The 190 is significantly more tactile and delicate. The ride quality is probably a little better than the Federal Elise and the response is just a lot more immediate. The new car's steering tends to get heavy in a turn, requiring some effort to hold a line whereas the 190 is just telepathic - point and go, with the lightest touch. Now of course it has nylatron bushings throughout, stiffer a/r bar and rides on A048 rubber so there well ought to be a difference but I didn't expect this much. We took some video during the runs, but the focus was more on driving than videography so the result shows it. Afterwards, getting back in my car for the drive back, it becomes clear which one I'd rather drive on the street and which one on the track. It would really be cool to have both... Well, as thngs are my plan is to learn to drive the one I've got properly, then see what mods I want to make to it.

10/22/04 Having now spent a couple of weeks with the 'Lis as an only car and accumulating 550 miles I have some idea of what it's going to be like to live with. One of the intangible benefits of this car is a definite sense of occasion in driving it. This is precisely because of the extra effort and the little sacrifices required, as well as the unique view of the world afforded through the windshield (but obstructed out the back ;). It's definitely a car I want to keep driving just to go for a drive, no destination. Just did that a few days ago in fact, some nice winding roads, pretty light traffic. A comfortably brisk pace, roof off, simply enjoying the overcast day and the leaves turning fall colors. An amazing number of people pulled over to let me by - not everyone, of course, but a dramatically greater proportion than in any other vehicle I've driven, 190 included. Must be something about the way the 'Lis looks in their mirrors :) It also attracts attention when parked.


Later I took it on its first grocery run. Of course took the long way through some twisties so the motor gets fully warmed up. As is common around here this time of year, it was raining with lots of wet leaves on the roads. Some observations:

- The Elise slides easily in the wet. Nothing vicious though, readily recoverable especially once I learned to expect it. Starts with understeer but you can get the tail way out with throttle, either lifting or mashing (the latter a bit twitchy due to power delivery but still manageable).

- It is watertight, at least in the moderate rain I've encountered so far.

- The wiper works well as does ventilation. Great improvement over the 190 on the latter.

- Interior doesn't steam up.

- Three grocery bags fit fine as long as you don't fill them more than 2/3 (otherwise they become too tall). A case of wine fits on its side but then only 2 bags can go in the trunk with it, the third gets belted into the passenger seat. The trunk gets quite warm - no ice cream!

- The car is not as much fun with roof on as with it off and noise quality is a bit harsh with various resonances much more audible once wind noise is gone.

To try and address the last item I did some work on NVH. The majority of it was applying high-tech antivibration material to the two undertray pieces and the aluminum panel under the gas tank. Don't ask where I got it, I don't remember - it was over 4 years ago and I originally bought it to do the same to the 190. It's the stuff used for vibration control in aircraft. If you tap an unmounted undertray it will 'ring' like a bell. With the stuff applied it's 'dead', no resonance at all. Anyway, that has removed pretty much all the harshness with the top on and one can now hear the engine without any grinding overtones (there's still some gearbox noise once it gets warm). While the tray was off I also put some rubber hose around the throttle cable and duct-taped it down in a couple of spots. The throttle cable is responsible for a lot of unpleasant buzzes, both behind the passenger compartment and in it where it runs down the center. Pushing the wiring harness that's on top of it down helped a bit also. Another persistent buzz in the interior coming from behind the seats was cured by inserting a piece of duct tape rolled into a tube sticky side out under an edge of the plastic cover, just beneath the passenger seatbelt anchor. So now the 'Lis is almost as pleasant to drive around in as it should be. Well, except for a loud buzz at 5K rpm coming from between the seats - I'll have to deal with it later.

Got the plates yesterday and the front one is of course huge and would look horrible. But it's required and while I'd gotten away without one for some time on various vehicles I was stopped in the MINI twice, once specifically for not having a plate (the cop let me go) but the other time was for speeding and I got an extra ticket for no plate, plus one for clear taillights, for a nice total of $500. So I've decided I'm going to run a front plate on the Elise. As a compromise (not sure about its legality but I'm willing to take a chance) I cut the plate down to just the size of the numbers, which fits reasonably well in the nose. Yeah, it's still ugly but not AS ugly as a full plate would be.

There are a couple more track days coming up, though the weather is looking really iffy. Just in case I'm going to finish the break-in mileage and drive the car up to the dealer in Seattle next week for its first service. The initial service has to be at a dealer to keep warranty in force but subsequent ones I will do myself.

10/26/04 Needed to put some more miles on before the trip up to Seattle tomorrow for the first service. So this morning got up and headed for the coast. The day is rainy and grey. Getting out of town there is some traffic but after a few miles cars pretty much disappear and it's a smooth though not particularly entertaining cruise. The first bit of entertaining road is Highway 53 near the coast. Unfortunately the surface is soaked but there is zero traffic and the rain has stopped, with occasional burst of sunshine breaking up the clouds. The road is fun in the wet but is much more so in the dry - I'll have to come back when it is. Won't be for a while though. At the end of the 19-mile twisty section I stopped for some pictures.

Then, back on the same road with the sole pickup truck in my way courteously pulling over. After getting back to Route 26, a quick detour to Cannon Beach to make sure the ocean is still there (it is), snap a few more pics and make the customary cellphone call to my friend in California slaving away in a cubicle with no windows. I'm such a nice guy ;)

Return trip is uneventful. The car basically feels like it has two different engines. One is for tooling around in traffic with adequate but not spectacular thrust from 3,500 to 4,500 rpm. The other engine is noisy, a bit thrashy but gives the car a satisfying shove from 6,500 to 8,000 rpm. In between is a valley where torque actually drops off significantly and which is to be avoided. So the passing maneuvers go like this: cruise at 60 mph in 5th or 6th, wait for an opening coming up, drop it to 3rd and floor it. After revs climb a tad the car takes off reasonably well, though there is a bit too much sound and fury for the actual progress being made. Once past the rolling roadblock ahead tuck back into the lane and slot the box in 6th. Manageable. In terms of passing the Elise is halfway between the MINI and the MCoupe. The bimmer just let you pass at will and made you feel omnipotent and king of the road. After every passing maneuver I'd grin maniacally and whisper "M POWER" to myself. The MINI would struggle with power at higher speeds and required carefull planning especially on uphill passes, sometimes just leading me to not chance it. The 'Lis has the punch to get the job done but makes you work for it and makes a big deal of the whole affair.

There are now 750 miles on the clock which with the 190 mile drive to the dealer tomorrow will put service at just shy of 1,000. Hopefully they'll be able to exorcise the annoying 5K rpm buzz and a couple of others. If not I'll have to go hunting for it myself on return.

10/30/04 First track day for the 'Lis. It was sunny and dry for the boring trip up to Seattle couple of days ago to get the first service done (and they didn't even bother to wash it). So of course it had to rain for the track day. Still, I had signed up to instruct so off to the track I went. Once there and after some deliberation I decided to run despite the rain. The track is very slippery in the wet, much more so than a normal street. So the first couple sessions consisted of tiptoeing around at just over 1/2 normal pace. Educational but not overly fun. The front slides instantly but with just a tad of throttle it is possible to get the back to match it, with a resultant four-wheel drift all the way through the turn. Once I got the hang of it the entertainment factor increased noticeably, despite the rather slow pace. Later in the day the clouds cleared and the track dried, enabling a couple 'normal' sessions. Now THIS is fun. The car is very entertaining in the dry once you get it going. I only ran the video camera for a few laps capturing a single relatively unobstructed lap of 1:37 (just barely faster than the MINI). I'm guessing the previous session I ran something like 1:35-1:36s. Not too bad for a first outing and the car can definitely do better, even on stock tires. But I've got rain tires (F1 GS-D3) on the way so the next track day will be run on those. We'll see.

While we were enjoying clear skies a rain cloud snuck up on us and suddenly opened up with a torrential downpour halfway through the final session, sun shining all the while. My video was on at the time so you can see the change in environment and the corresponding change in pace in this clip. Then, pulling in to pack up I was presented with a very bright rainbow for a backdrop so of course I had to grab a picture.

All in all a fun day. The Elise is definitely a great track car. How fast it is remains to be seen but the entertainment value is very high which is what it's all about. Subjectively I think I might even like it better than the 190 although so far the new car is nowhere near the 190's pace. And of course the various buzzes are still there and now I have something loose inside the dash clunking from side to side in the corners. Hopefully it's just the stereo wiring harness but it sounds bigger than that... I'll have to try and track it down. On the way home, in freeway traffic, the fun is greatly diminished. Yep, the 'Lis is a toy - no more and no less. Street driving is just something to put up with between trackdays.

11/03/04 Got new tires on the car. Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3, in 195/45-16 front and 235/40-17 rear, roughly 10% and 5% wider than stock, respectively. I got these sizes with the idea that they would be a bit better balanced front/rear and drop the car just a tad, around 0.2". They are and they do. Of course I continue to have ill luck with the Goodyears - they were supposed to get shaved to 1/2 depth, following my experience running the same tires on the MINI. The guy tried doing one tire and it didn't go well, so he stopped and now I have 3 unshaved tires and one sort of shaved with a gouge in it. He immediately ordered a replacement tire for me, so I have absolutely no complaints, in fact I highly recommend the place - A-N-T tire on MLK, for those in the Portland area. I just feel bad for the guy because he really tried and now will lose money on the deal. I drove the car on some twisty roads covered with wet leaves and the tires did quite well. We'll see how they work in the rain (it of course had to be dry today after several days of downpour) but based on past experience it should be a big improvement over stock yokos. In the dry, on the MINI the tires made for some vagueness especially under braking. On the much lighter Elise they actually feel great. The sizes are spot-on and the balance is improved. Steering feels lighter and more like my 190 used to, which is definitely a step in the right direction. Friday is a track day (it'll be dry but chilly) and Sunday is another one, with somewhat mixed forecast. So we'll see how the new rubber works in that environment. The replacement tire won't be in till Monday so I get to do both track days on a half-shaved one. It'll be interesting.

11/07/04 Porsche club day at PIR. Looking out of the window in the morning and seeing the fog along the river I knew to expect low visibility at the track (it sits in the delta of Columbia and Willammette rivers) and some associated delays...

Sure enough, it was foggy and cold. The track wasn't opened until 10:45, almost two hours later than normal. Fortunately as an instructor I was allowed to run pretty much any group so I still got plenty of track time and of course gave lots of rides.

The first session was on cold tires and equally cold brains, resulting in a nice spin on the second lap. The car goes around rather quickly... (see 1.5M video). No damage done except perhaps to my confidence, which isn't all bad. Later in the day the fog lifts, ambient temps rise and I'm able to turn some reasonable laps - best on video of 1:35 and timed from the stands at best of 1:34. Not too horrible for street tires. The Goodyears are definitely a little vague on the track but work much better on the lightweight Elise than they did on the 700-lb heavier MINI. Perhaps even a 1:33 is possible once I get more familiar with the car. As of now I definitely have room for improvement as an Elise pilot. Good, gives me something to work on.

Later in the day my friend David dropped by and I took some pictures of his M Coupe and the 'Lis side by side. Very different cars but very fun, each in its own way.

This was the last track day of the season (and 12th car day for me this year, along with 5 bike days) - next one is not until March or so. I'm a bit surprized that I was still able to get two track outings for the 'Lis considering how late in the year it arrived. No complaints here! :)

(photo by David Birkbeck )

11/17/04 Installed a Porsche storage tray in place of the radio (P/N 996-552-253-01-01C, $34.97 from a Porsche dealer - thanks to Shinoo at Sector 111 for the tip!).

Fits quite well and looks like it came from the factory. The tray has a soft rubber mat lining and provides a useful, non-skid and rattle-free storage space which is nice since the aluminum shelf in the Elise is neither. The only thing I had to do is cut some notches into the ribs (seen on top in the first pic) so that it snaps in farther. Took all of two minutes with a utility knife.

Also discovered that the buzzes that appeared to be coming from the dash were in fact coming from the sun visors. Just tilting them down a tad to get them off the glass did the trick. Now if I could only track down the 5K rpm resonance... In a small interior like that it's very hard to pinpoint the actual source of any noise.