Just done the brakes on the VX220 after their performance at Rockingham.

 

After some advice I've tried EBC 'Yellow Stuff' Carbon Ceramic pads. These are fairly track orientated so I'm hoping that they won't be too hardcore for the road as well. Initial impressions are very good though, strong stopping power and no need to warm them up before use, they do lack a little bit of the progression of the old Mintex set up, but for now I'm putting this down to the fact that they're not fully bedded in yet. I've also fitted new disks, which are the same as the OEM disks, as the old ones were worn and also (I think) slightly warped at the front.

 

The back pads are a real pain to remove, but I managed to remove the disks without taking the calipers off, which saved quite a bit of time. The front brakes are AP Racing equipment, and are very easy to work with.

 

I've also fitted an ABS cut off switch under the front bonnet. It's a very neat installation and works perfectly.

So the Megane's gone too now. That car was absolutely fantastic but the time was right for it to go.

 

I'm now the proud owner of a VX220 though. It's a 2.2NA model, so not quite as fast as the 2.0 turbo, but still plenty good enough. It's running individual throttle bodies so producing a bit more power than the standard 150ish, but not as much as the turbo's 200. It is quite a bit lighter though. I tried a couple of turbo's but preffered the NA's handling and noise, plus I reckon it's better value and (in the future) going to be more of a classic as numbers wise it's probably rarer.

 

Gone on the 1st trackday in it (pictures in the gallery) and found the handling to be superb, the car is quite a step up from the caterham pace wise, although it's not as raw. I've found it is at least as much fun as the Cat. was and without most of the drawbacks. It's still noisy, especially with the throttle body set up, and bumpy over cracked roads, but it's much more stable and waterproof than the old caterham.

 

The VX is so balanced, it's not all tip in and opposite lock like the caterham, it feels sharper, more incisive. Not surprising really as it's another lotus chassis but 50 years later in design. There's little inertia and not as much understeer as I'd expected. You can get the tail playing by trail braking, or by being clumsy with lift-off oversteer mid-corner, but it's not the quickest way to get round the circuit. It's more of a point and click car, tip it in, let the nose point to the apex then nail the gas to power out. If there is any oversteer a bunch of power sorts it out better than a handfull of opposite lock.

 

The only thing that disappointed slightly were the brakes. The VX's ABS system is much maligned, and with good reason. On track it is utterly useless, the pedal going hard and producing little retardation...it's a scary experience the 1st time it happens. The standard pads aren't up to much either. This weekend's main activity is to replace pads all round (I've been offered some EBC yellow pads to try, I'm not sure how they'll work out since nobody seems to have tried them!), replace the front disks, which were slightly warped and change the rear tyres, which were totally nuked by rockingham!