One for mellowyellowa610

[johnb]

I was at the Aviation and Transport Festival at Manchester Airport today, at the Concorde hangar. I was parked next to this interesting Lotus Esprit with a 4.6 litre Buick (I think) V8 engine and supercharger. You might know the car, John. The owner lives in North Wales.

Yes, I had thought it was you parked next to the Esprit.

I am going up tomorrow for a day out. Are you there again tomorrow?

It's quite an Esprit, A mustang supercharged 4.6 engine with a Porsche tiptronic gearbox. I think it is arounds 600bhp. And he has done lots of clever things with the electronics. Probably not a car for the Lotus purist though

[johnb]

Yes, I had thought it was you parked next to the Esprit.

I am going up tomorrow for a day out. Are you there again tomorrow?

It's quite an Esprit, A mustang supercharged 4.6 engine with a Porsche tiptronic gearbox. I think it is arounds 600bhp. And he has done lots of clever things with the electronics. Probably not a car for the Lotus purist though

So you were there also! I'm not there tomorrow because I'm going to Shelsley Walsh to the Classic Nostalgia event with C.A.R.
I agree with your purist comment but it's an impressive piece of engineering. I had a long chat with him and the electronics are certainly very clever. He's had the car for 15 years and said he spent 10 years in the transformation. You're right about the 600 bhp.
We left at the same time and drove back where you go through the two tunnels under the airport runway. He was behind me and you should have heard the barking of his engine bouncing from the walls. Later I was turning right at some traffic lights where he went straight on and the supercharger whine was worth hearing.

It does sound awesome. My ears are bleeding from it and I've just come back from Le Mans! It definitely has a bark when revved (and it's currently limited to 4500rpm due to the fact it has only done 400 miles and is on it's running in period).

When I mentioned you to him today he said he'd followed you last night and he was worried about your rear wheels. I asked why and he said the camber angle was ridiculous. I said they (110's) are all like that

[johnb]

When I mentioned you to him today he said he'd followed you last night and he was worried about your rear wheels. I asked why and he said the camber angle was ridiculous. I said they (110's) are all like that

When I was talking to him he did make a comment about the rear camber whilst the car was static. They are designed to have negative camber. Mine has about 5 degrees which is, I think, more than it should be. Perhaps the springs, which are original, have 'relaxed' in the 46 years they've been on the car! The camber can be reduced by adding spacers that go on top of the springs.
I'm wondering whether the camber increases under power and will, of course, when you hit bumps. It would be interesting to know what he meant by the angle being ridiculous and what he thought was worrying. You don't have his contact details do you that you could pm?