Hi all!

I haven't posted here in a while, I learned a LOT from this site.

Anyway my friend Gonzalo who owns the last run of the TT Esprits, he's got a silver one with modified exhaust and custom tuning with the factory suspension-only 7K miles on the vehicle...

Anyway, there's quite a few canyon areas in Southern Cali, one of the more locally famous runs is Angeles Crest Hwy, I think it's hwy 2, he never went there in the "Silva" and I have not been there in about 15 years, we decided to go on a whim yesterday...

...And DANG what fun we had!!!

Following the Lotus was an absolute kick in the ASS!!!
He had it @10psi, relatively mild boost apparently and he was taking it easy for a bit, I was all pumped up cuz I was going to drive my car the way it has been set up to be.
So for 15-20 miles I was following him, hearing the wastegate SPEW out that noise, also listening to the turbo's wind down from a slow de-celleration(sp?) made his car sound like a jet OMG it was VERY neat to hear!!!

The last part of the run, about 5 miles left we started RIPPING thru the corners meant for speeds of 20-30mph and we were going thru them at about 45-70mph, it was BRILLIANT!!!

AND THEN, Gonzo pulled over, we started to discuss how our cars were operating, how they were feeling, etc., when Gonzo asks me.

You wanna drive the Silva?


[Me] [/Me]

Now THAT was an experience drivintg that thing!
Initially I felt the steering was a bit heavier than my SS, but MAN I loved how pushing thru the turns it felt sooo sure-footed, it was amazing. He has Pirelli's on the car, 235-40-17 & 265-35-18's and approx 450 rwhp in a car that weighs about 2800 lbs and MAN OH MAN she was a sweet ride!!! The feeling of the turbo spooling up @around 2100rpm and feeling the accelleration come pouring out all over me and hearing the exhaust was an absolute JOY to experience!.

Then we switched cars again after about another 20 miles, got back in The Black and we started RIPPING thru the turns again, first thing I noticed was that my car was slow AND it felt twitchy with oversteer compared to the Silva, but I'll tell you what, I was right behind him all the way, except when we hit the straights he galloped away, that's allright, my car was holding it's own in the twisties, I'm pretty pleased with the performance of my car.

That's it!

Have a great week folks!!!

i've always loved the lotus esprit. i think its last production year was 02, cuz i think i remember thinking that two of my favorite cars were being killed in the same year.

i've actually always wondered how one drives, so THANK YOU!!! for your post and letting me have a glimpse into driving one. haha

Howdy,

FWIW, I autoxed a buddy's Esprit v8tt once... I think it was a '99? Totally stock afaik.

Nice car I guess. On the autox course not having a diff kinda sucked. Good bit of inside wheelspin even on street tires.

The balance (of that particular car on that particular day) was also a bit weird... Turn in was good, but its one of the only cars I've driven that had steadystate oversteer from just before mid corner on. Of course, combine that with the wheelspin and probably it would have responded well to a larger front bar.

On the street it was fun when you were pushing it. It felt the most like a sportbike of any car I've driven in terms of effortlessly reaching ludicrous speed. No huge chassis movements, its just suddenly going 90 after you accelerate up through the gears a bit.

Interior kinda sucked though... A _ton_ of squeeking from all the leather surfaces rubbing against each other in the dash area. I wasn't very impressed with that at all.

Mark