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First drive on track
As with anything sporty that I'm likely to give some stick every now and then, I like to take it to a track and find out how it actually handles and what it does when you do something stupid. So I trundled off to Anglesey Circuit to find out.
It's nicely balanced and doesn't bite your head off like an S1 if you lift off. However it's either over tyred at the back and under-tyred at the front, or a bit of both. It lacks the turn in (unsurprisingly) of the S1 and doesn't have the poke to brake the back end free in any meaningful way. Basically I couldn't goon it. I tried and tried... What it does mean though is that it's easily adjustable at the limit. It reminds me of a Superlight with R400 wheels/tyres on it; far too much rear end grip and not enough power for the grip on offer. Which makes it fast and forgiving. I suppose thats what Lotus were going for with the S2, but it has taken that edge off it for those of us that like a more exciting car to drive. Which is why I much prefer a SL with 185s all round and A539 tyres. No where near as fast but the car feels so alive and adjustable. Much more fun. Also the ABS did some odd things at times and I'd prefer non-servo'd non-ABS brakes, for feel and piece of mind.
It's also a little bit rolly. Saying that, to combat the roll would screw it on road, which it's brilliant on. What it does best is that on road it feels like a track car, but with decent ride. I'm not convinced it is a great track car however. It's competant, however in some respects I reckon the Mr2 was more fun on track and the Elise is a better road car, a department in which the Mr2 was a little lacking.
It's an odd car and I gelled with it more today. It's certainly not a car I've fallen for as I expected I would. It's so close to being awesome in many areas and is just let down by just as many others. The S1 had the track/road compromise nailed. It was the perfect car. This one is biased towards, and is better on, the road at the expense of some excitement on the track. Maybe again, it's that I've moved on from compromised track machinery now that I play with Radicals? But the Westie still feels good... I don't know.