RS4 & Elise observations from Lotus owners forum

[Andy-D]

Just been reading this on the Lotus owners club forum (SELOC), some interesting comments on an RS4 going round Bedford recently (owner on here?) and its suitability for track days from Lotus owners......

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Bedford - RS4 & Elise observations

At the LOT day at Bedford yesterday (top day) I was excited to see an Audi RS4 as my last purchase decision was between that, attempting the “one car for all jobs” philosophy, and the Elise so some post lunch pax lap swapping had to be done.

The RS4 had a monster stoptech brake conversion with callipers the size of a house brick, but stock 380 bhp giving roughly the same power/weight and acceleration as my S2 111S.

The RS4’s pilot was new to the car and was turning in too early (which we fixed) but the twin turbo V6 hanging out over the font axle caused massive under-steer so every corner at speed was accompanied by aggressive steering inputs and shouting tyres which scrubbed energy.

That plus vague steering feedback and body roll made consistent cornering difficult, but amusingly/amazingly no matter how poorly the car was stuffed into a corner it sorted itself out even with stability/traction off.

Pumps the adrenalin and great for confidence, but not really helpful for developing handling technique, I doubt there is the emotional involvement or satisfaction of a perfect apex like in the Elise.

Some non competitive un-timed observations; two-up I could not keep up with the Audi, but ejecting the pax matched corner to corner performance, except in traffic where the Audi could power past on the straights whilst I needed an extra corner to build passing momentum. On the back straight the RS4 Vmax was 150 compared to 110 in the Elise, and the Audi could break 30% later from a higher speed.

Summary: for me the Elise was the right decision to learn finesse. I don’t really need more power but I do need my brakes to last longer, so its round to SteveW this week for new fluid, hoses and RS42s.

Ahhh, I fell better for sharing.

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The brakes on the RS4 were MASSIVE.

The guy was giving it some stick and was quite impressive from the outside.
He must need a new set of rear tyres with all that smoking.

Justin's Noble M400 was doing 150 mph in the back straight with Justin upshifting 1.5K revs before the limiter
I can get almost 125mph on the back straight with my std S2 111s and that is if I thrash the hell out of the engine and brake very late.

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Must admit didn't have too much trouble catching and passing the Audi but then I am running a bit more power than standard on uprated suspension and sticky tyres so that'll make difference - it was going well though for an A4 Avant (I have a lower powered version and could sympathise with the understeer!)

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Chatting to a bloke with an RS4 at a trackday, he said a set of tyres was £1,000 and his new set would be 'dead before the day is out.'

Not my cup of tea

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I thought the RS4 should be awarded the most entertaining car of the whole day!

Seeing that thing, time and time again, squeeling past the fast righthander onto the pit straight brought a smile to my face each and every time.

Despite the "problems", the fact that a 1600kg barge can get around that circuit at any sort of speed just shows you what a computer, large engine, and the odd £30m development budget can do for you

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Great write up.

Horses for courses but tracking a heavy estate don't sound fun to me.

Estates for carrying dogs (albeit fast)
Elises for Trackdays.

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Quite why anyone woul dawnt to track a big heavy car is beyond me.

You will have far more fun in an Elise / Caterfield and it will cost far less.

Better to use your M5 / RS6/4 to tow your other car to the track

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I've driven a 340R and a 440bhp RS4 on the same stretch of road. They're both hugely entertaining and just as quick as each other. Different tools at the end of the day.

[simple1]

'Better to use your M5 / RS6/4 to tow your other car to the track'

Bit harsh but not too far from the truth, the problem with the RS4, no matter how well sorted, is that it is 1700Kgs plus, but even a standard RS well piloted, should be able to hold its own.............. having said that, most of the hardcore old school owners have deffected to another German mark to derive some more involvement in their driving.

[RS4ever]

Elise can't stay with an RS4 on the track and smooth driving will ensure tyres last at least two seasons.

[philipwalker]

I agree with Simon on this weight is the issue.

After visiting Brands Hatch for a track day last Friday. The Caterhams, Lotus`s etc were lapping around 52/55 secs with comparitive ease. Large road cars M3`s Skylines even a yellow Porsche gt V10 thing were running 1.05`s.

The current crop of Lotus Elises`s with TT engines running 300 hp should be interesting.

Horses for courses, Audi produce a perfect track car a bit pricy though.

[Hutch]

It was me at Bedford.

The RS is not my track car, but is was on track that day. The aim of the day was to learn a bit more about the dynamics of the car in a safe environment and of course to have a bit of fun especially towards the end of the day.

Never said anything about the tyres, they were actually at the end of their lifespan after 23000miles, the replacements are PS2s that were nowhere near £1000.

the guy that did the first write up got left behind after the first few corners, there was no traffic! I gave him a ride in the car but he felt it necessary to talk CONSISTENLY while i was trying to drive.

I did have a fantastic day in the car and the modifications i recently carried out (Movits, Stassis and H&R ARBSs) transformed the car beyond what i had expected, a big thanks to Prawn for all his help.

As for 'one car for all jobs' i can't think of many other cars that fulfill this as well as the RS4. However someone looking for a track focused car IMO would not go down the lardy estate route!

The RS4s disadvantages on track IMO very heavy, weight in wrong place, poor torque split.

If anything a bit more weight in the back might help dynamics and keep the power slides going longer.... i might need a bigger dog or another engine

Cheers

Hutch