Lotus - Exige S2 - Sales Brochure - (2007)

034PFT11.qxd:Layout 1 6/12/07 11:51 Page 034 KOMO-TEC EXIGE S 280 reader’s car This wild Exige not only looks stunning in white with black detailing, it also has over 290bhp thanks to Hangar 111’s Komo-Tec supercharger upgrade Words: Matt Robinson Photos: Dave Wigmore STORM trooper 034 PERFORMANCE TUNER 034PFT11.qxd:Layout 1 7/12/07 14:31 Page 035 KOMO-TEC EXIGE S 280 reader’s car S cotland is doing its level best to get rid of us. As we huddle around the white Lotus Exige S on a bleak, desolate moor just north of Stirling, the driving wind that has been groaning at us all morning finally brings with it icy, biting rain. It’s hardly the kind of day to be outdoors, even less the sort of day to drive a mid-engined rocket of a car on Yokohama’s A048 semislick tyres… rubber optimised for the dry. Still, owner Paul Maclean very proudly hands me the key and – along with Hangar 111 MD Greg Lock and PT’s snapper Wigmore – he climbs into our Audi RS4 Avant photo car and says he’ll head back to Stirling with the others while I go and ‘enjoy myself’ in the Exige. “You want as little weight in it as possible so you can experience it to the full,” he smiles, knowingly. I’ll bet. Well, it’s bloody freezing, and even in standard format the S2 Exige S is one of my very favourite cars on the roads – the orange beauty we had in PT9 almost had me refinancing our house so I could have one on the drive. So I don’t stand there arguing with him – I just get in the thing and fire it up. Before any of our Celtic readers north of the border start thinking I’m the typical sort of Sassenach that thinks it always rains in Scotland, though, let me put this on record; I actually lived in Stirling for three years while at uni, and I love the town, the area, the country as a whole. I also especially love some of the quieter Aand B-roads hiding around here in the foot of the Trossachs, so I know exactly where to point the Lotus’ swooping snout once the Audi has roared off towards the A9. I can’t go into too much detail here about the drive (see Performance Tuner’s verdict at the end of the piece for full impressions), but suffice it to say that I am deeply impressed with this Lotus. The slimy, cold October roads are covered in wet leaves and varying degrees of standing water, from damp patches through gushing sheets to huge puddles which could double as lochs. And do I once feel my buttocks clench in cold fear? Is adrenaline pumping through my body, autonomically preparing me for the worst? It looks like one of the bad guy foot soldiers from Star Wars and is about ten times as hard; this Exige S is one rapid, sorted machine Are the palms of my hands sweaty with abject terror? Not a bit of it. The Lotus is just… astonishing. Really, and truly, astonishing. So, let’s come back to Paul and Greg – PERFORMANCE TUNER 035 034PFT11.qxd:Layout 1 6/12/07 11:58 Page 036 KOMO-TEC EXIGE S 280 reader’s car who, I might add, has travelled up from his Ipswich HQ today just wonders of the Komo-Tec kit, of which he’d heard a lot about. So through the mods; now that’s customer service for you! – and let began the beginning of a great relationship with Greg. them explain to us what has gone into making this a Lotus Exige S turned up to 11. “This is as far as we’d like to push this set-up on the Exige S for “A lot of customers want more power with no good reason but straight away Paul was clear that he wanted something driveable and that would realise the Exige’s potential,” Greg explains. “What the moment, as the spec has been proven through extensive you’ve got to remember is that this is going to be used as an testing,” explains Greg, shivering in the teeth of the autumnal everyday car, and between us we decided that the Komo-Tec kit Caledonian gale. “It’s a safe map, which keeps the car reliable and was right for Paul.” driveable too. It could go further, but then you’d start to alter the car’s characteristics.” That’s a good start – an S2 Exige S is a superb car out of the box, so you have to mod it carefully not to spoil the dynamics. Paul takes up his personal story. He and his wife previously owned an S2 Elise with the K-Series 120bhp motor, which is where their love affair with Lotus began. So, in July, having seen one at an Edinburgh dealership, they took the plunge and bought an Exige with 291bhp is stupidly, stupidly fast – not just in a straight line but around the corners, making it a devastating B-road mid-engine destroyer So it was that in August, he took the car to Hangar 111 and the to be on hand to help Paul, a resident of local Alloa, talk us In very broad terms, what the kit includes is a front-mounted intercooler, a sill-mounted coolant pump, a remapped ECU, [ “Paul was clear he wanted something driveable that realised the car’s potential” ] Exige S, in Aspen White. “It came with the Super Sport pack, which uprated plugs and injectors and a Komo-Tec exhaust with sports adds twin front oil coolers and Bilstein adjustable dampers,” he cat to aid gasflow. This is what nets Paul an additional 73bhp and smiles. “We bought it new in July and loved it straight away… but it 23lb ft of torque over the standard car; so it’s no basic ECU flash wasn’t long before I thought I could do a bit more with it.” to make the supercharger work a bit harder – it’s a full-on That decision was probably fuelled by the thoughts of fellow engineering solution to create an extremely rapid Lotus. “There’s Exige S owners that Paul knows through forums. “There’s a belief an added benefit to the exhaust as well as the better sound and that the car has the scope for 240+bhp, there’s a lot of capability airflow,” says Greg, smiling, “because it weighs 15kg less than the in the car, but you have to keep the Lotus character,” he adds. standard item, improving the power-to-weight even further.” 036 PERFORMANCE TUNER 034PFT11.qxd:Layout 1 7/12/07 14:36 Page 037 KOMO-TEC EXIGE S 280 reader’s car While this is the first Exige S in the UK to Specification get this Komo-Tec stage 2 kit (known as Hangar 111’s 280S conversion), over 20 cars have been successfully equipped out in Germany and they can now hit 60 from rest in under four seconds. Paul’s has already clocked a 4.06, so it tells you just how usable all this extra performance really is – it’s only done 6000 miles, after all! Paul, naturally, is delighted with it (as is his wife; after all, it’s her car too!). He’s obviously thought carefully about what he wanted to do with the Exige S, and he couldn’t have had any better advice than from somebody like Greg, whose company has done a smashing job on this conversion. Over to Paul for his final analysis of his new toy: “The Exige S is already a very quick car, but the chassis could always handle more power: now with the extra 73bhp (and a power-to-weight ratio of over 300bhp-per-tonne) it turns the car into something in a league of its own: a true 911 GT3 beater!” I couldn’t agree with him more. PAUL MACLEAN’S LOTUS EXIGE S 280 KOMO-TEC I ENGINE Toyota 2ZZ-GE VVTLi 16v 1796cc four-cylinder supercharged with Super Sports pack (incorporating twin oil coolers and baffled sump/Morso oil pan) and Komo-Tec Stage 2 conversion, including remapped ECU, front-mounted uprated intercooler with water jacket, sill-mounted coolant pump, specially calibrated fuel injectors, Komo-Tec carbonfibre induction kit, Komo-Tec sports cat with Komo-Tec full exhaust system, uprated spark plugs I TRANSMISSION Standard six-speed Lotus manual gearbox, with torque-sensing LSD I SUSPENSION 1-way adjustable Bilstein dampers with adjustable ride height, front anti-roll bar, double shear track control arm brace I BRAKES Standard Exige S 282 x 62mm vented and crossdrilled discs with Lotus AP Racing two-pot calipers front, 282 x 62mm vented and cross-drilled discs with Brembo single-piston sliding calipers rear I WHEELS & TYRES Hi-Power 16in front/17in rear ultra lightweight forged alloy wheels in black, 6.5in wide front, 7.5in rear, on Yokohama Advan A048 LTS tyres all round, 195/50R16 front, 225/45R17 rear I EXTERIOR S2 Exige S in Aspen White with Super Sport Pack and Hangar 111 280 graphics I INTERIOR Standard Exige S interior I POWER 291bhp at 8640rpm, 182.3lb ft at 8020rpm I WEIGHT 930kg I PERFORMANCE 0-60mph: 4.06s 0-100mph: 9.32s 30-70mph: 3.45s Standing 1/4 mile: 12.05s at 113mph Max speed: 150+mph Hangar 111 did the work putting the Komo-Tec 280 kit onto the Exige S, but the car looks largely standard outside So, spool back a bit, and you’ll recall I’m missile, heading towards the A9 and a PERFORMANCE TUNER’S VERDICT: KOMO-TEC EXIGE S 280 rendezvous with a scintillating piece of Blistering; that’s the word that comes back to mind as I try and road which is saddled with the prosaic recount those glorious, precious tens of minutes I spent in Paul’s name of the B827… Lotus on the road from Braco to Comrie. To say it’s quick is not now sitting in the driving seat of this Bigger, better intercooler is the star of the Hangar 111 conversion; it negates the need for any cooling air from the car’s roof scoop PERFORMANCE TUNER 037 034PFT11.qxd:Layout 1 6/12/07 12:08 Page 038 KOMO-TEC EXIGE S 280 reader’s car CONTACT only blindingly obvious, it also falls some way short of Hangar 111 Lotus encapsulating the phenomenal shove you get as you monumental power down to the road without drama Performance, take the plunge and fully extend it. Take a look at the or fuss, especially on a day like today. It finds 01473 636961, stats (see sidebar) to give you some idea; with the incredible traction at speeds which border on the www.hangar111.com extra power, this car now does 0-60mph in just over insane, whipping round apices and firing out onto email: info@ 4s, it cracks the ton in under 10 and has mid-range straights with barely a lift of the throttle, the next hangar111.com stonk like you wouldn’t believe – 30-70mph in 3.45 curve rushing up on you like the corkscrew section seconds and 30-100mph in a scorching 7.47 seconds. of a roller-coaster. It’s intoxicating, laugh-out-loud Falkland And it feels this supercar-quick inside; boy, does it But what truly astounds is the fact it can get this performance mania and I love it. Performance, feel like it, and more! There is instantaneous go at any Glenrothes, Fife, revs in any gear, and not just a surge of torque, but traction control stayed firmly on for my brief drive in 01592 773677, violent, urgent acceleration of a magnitude I thought the beast on damp roads – barely flickers, the Lotus www.falkland.co.uk only reserved for full-on race cars. Mind you, power-to- making the most of its roadholding to deliver weight is an amazing 313bhp-per-tonne, thanks to the searing cross-country pace. The back remains little Lotus weighing a scant 930kg with three- dependable and benign, the front is sharp, quarters of a tank of Super sloshing about in it. informative and biddable, the speed you carry is The additional screaming racket of the frightening. I’m no expert driver by any stretch of supercharger and Komo-Tec exhaust mixes with the [ What truly astounds is the fact it can get this monumental power to the road without drama ] the imagination but the Lotus flattered me without doing all the work itself, as we hurtled along at velocities only the most mental Mitsu Evo would have been able to live with... and even then I doubt it would’ve kept up. And all of the Exige’s exquisite characteristics – the beautifully weighted steering, the exemplary 2ZZ-GE 16v lump on cam and the induction roar of all body control, the feeling of the chassis talking to the carbonfibre, and explosive – again – hardly covers you through your coccyx – remain firmly intact; the it. With a cacophony of beautiful, unfettered extra muscle provided by Komo-Tec, courtesy of mechanical noise washing all around you, your Hangar 111, hasn’t overridden the rest of the backside three inches off the tarmac, the Exige package and made it a point-and-squirt monster. hauling hard for the 8000rpm sweet spot, it’s like the Greg Lock, Hangar 111’s MD, and Paul Maclean (below, far right, l-r) have worked closely together on this, the first Komo-Tec 280S Exige S in the UK; the end result is truly phenomenal... The traction light – and I can assure you, the You know what? This is a privately-owned car, but world is on fast-scan forward with accompanying it’s possibly the best tuned motor I have ever Dolby 5.1 DTS acoustics at maximum volume. The row driven, feeling utterly factory while at the same within makes you think your head is inside the time being as far away from the standard Exige S in workings of a jet engine, while scenery and bends terms of performance as I can imagine. In fact, it’s flash past you before you’re even aware you’ve sized one of the very best cars I’ve ever had the pleasure up the radius, inputted your steering lock and of driving, full stop. I can’t find fault with it; it hammered round the curve. It’s instinctive, and receives PT’s full marks. Awesome. MR glorious, piloting this taut, focussed demon. 038 PERFORMANCE TUNER PT Rating: I I I I I I I I I I PT 034PFT11.qxd:Layout 1 7/12/07 14:40 Page 039 KOMO-TEC EXIGE S 280 reader’s car THE STATS HANGAR 111 We’re not just about horsepower bragging figures here at PT, and Greg Lock and his wife Marianne started this Lotus specialist company back in 2002, neither are Paul or Greg. They brought along reams of data to back having been enthusiastic Lotus owners themselves. The business grew quickly by up the power and performance claims, and they make for mighty word of mouth around the Lotus community, providing enthusiasts with parts and impressive reading. Just days before this shoot, Paul took the Exige S services with a wealth of knowledge to back it all up. The company has also 280 to Falkland Performance’s Glenrothes rolling road and came back designed and supplied aftermarket products to Lotus itself, which distributes the with peak figures of 291bhp at 8640rpm, and 182.3lb ft of torque at Hangar 111 goodies via the global dealer network. Greg says they can work on pretty 8020rpm (fret not, over 140lb ft is available from just under 2400rpm, much any modern Lotus, but specifically the Elise-based cars, which include the meaning it surges from low revs); that’s from standard claims of Exige (obviously) and the 340R. I wouldn’t be surprised if Greg rang us up soon to tell 218bhp and 159lb ft. And it also equates to almost 221bhp at the us he’d got packages available for the 2-Eleven as well. wheels, which is ferocious. There are two upgrade packages available for the Exige S, the 250S and the 280S, of which Paul Maclean has the latter. Hangar 111 will fit these Komo-Tec tuning kits (All 1/4-mile tests carried out with AP-22 Performance Meter, to your car, and included in the price are not only all parts, labour and VAT, but rolling October 2007, prior to final rolling road figures – data compiled with road runs before and after so you can see exactly what gain you’re getting. The 250S earlier rolling road figures/ECU map) package is £3499, the 280S set-up is £4699. The Turbodrive 250S supercharger is also available for non-supercharged Elise 111R and S, and Exige models. Lotus Exige S Lotus Exige S 280 Komo-Tec 218bhp, 159lb ft 278bhp, 181lb ft Roll out 0.31s/0.56g/4.4mph 0.31s/0.57g/4.5mph budget? Check out Hangar 111’s excellent website (see contact details on opposite 60ft 1.97s/0.64g/36.5mph 1.95s/0.33g/34.6mph page), which details all its products available for all types of Elise, Exige and 340R, 330ft 5.41s/0.38g/66.9mph 5.27s/0.41g/72.3mph and keep reading Performance Tuner; we’re planning a visit to the brand new Suffolk 1/8 mile 8.32s/0.30g/87.7mph 7.95s/0.14g/93.2mph HQ very soon, having seen how excellent Paul’s 280S was up close and personal… 1/4 mile 13.06s/0.25g/106.3mph 12.05s/0.22g/113mph 0-60mph 4.61s/0.47g/225ft 4.24s/0.56g/199ft 0-100mph 11.55s/019g/1062ft 9.32s/0.28g/811ft Komo-Tec Exige S 280: Best 0-60mph 4.06s Best 30-70mph 3.45s Haven’t got an Exige? Or you don’t fancy a full 280S kit because you’re on a GET FEATURED IN PT! Got a modified car of your own that you reckon is worthy of a feature? We’d like to hear from you. Whether it’s a track day special built for a couple of grand, a rare icon from years past or an enhanced version of a modern performance great, we’re keen to see what YOU, our readers, are driving. Drop us an email at [email protected] with the spec and a few jpeg photos and your contact details, and we’ll get back to you. If you’re featured in the mag, we’ll give you a Performance Tuner T-shirt, some stickers and a gift too! 30-100mph performance: Seconds g Feet 40mph 0.61 0.73 31 50mph 1.5 0.57 89 60mph 2.32 0.55 156 70mph 3.45 0.41 264 80mph 4.57 0.39 387 90mph 5.71 0.39 530 100mph 7.41 0.28 767 PERFORMANCE TUNER 039