The Lotus carlton or omega..

[VEEDUBBED 0]

Right peeps,I can't get the dam car outta my head.

The Corrado's a fine car,especially turboed like mine but at the end of the day i still

find myself stuck with a car that's FWD,i CAN'T change the wheels onas it's against the shit Italian rules.

So i've got a very powerfull mota but 280mm brakes and 15" wheelsnothing bigger is allowed!

I've come across two for sale quite near me so i'm thinking of part exchanging in the 'raddo for the omega.

Has anyone got experience of the Lotus carlton?,i remember that the spares situ. was horrendous and the gearboxes give trouble

as did the clutch fork mech.

Enlighten me with some ideas.

Cheers.

[The_Dude 0]

You can get 288s under 15s. But I suspect you have 4 stud yes? Could you not do a 5 stud conversion to keep the 15s and the law happy but get the 288s from a VR golf under there?

 

Lotus Carlton all the way, if you can find one for sale.

[Danny B 0]

Would a Lotus Carlton really be that much faster then a Turbo'd VR :scratch:

[John-M 0]

I very nearly bought a Lotus Carlton a few years back.

 

A guy I know was selling it and I had a test drive - acceleration and brakes were just awesome ( much overused word, but totally apt in this case ).

 

I decided against it, and in one way have always regretted it - but I had realised that it simply had so much more performance than I could justify 'needing'.

 

Oh well ... ... ...

 

Spares and servicing, even in this country, are always going to be a problem - so what it'd be like in Italy I have no idea.

 

Great car though - and rare as the proverbial rocking-horse manure !!

[VEEDUBBED 0]

Hmm,good point,would it be faster? but would it be faster than mine that's runnin a hybrid ball bearing T4,8 injectors,LSD.modded gearbox ratios,

modded cams,ext. wastegate,compleat 3" exhaust,short manifold and 2 Bar turbo press on a 7.7/1 CR.

BUT still the original bloomin brakes...

I don't see 288mm brake discs doing alot to stop my car on full chat.

You people are sooo lucky as you can do almost whatever you like to cars,ain't happening here..

[WigsVR6 0]

Silly question but why wont the law over there allow you to change the size of your wheels?

 

Cheers Alan

[VEEDUBBED 0]

Not allowed mate,the car won't pass the MOT for a start

as it's forbidden to to fit even an 'effin strut brace for gawd's sake.

Forget aftermarket exhausts,4" tail pipes,added on turbos(me..),external mods but definatly

bigger wheels,brakes etc.

You can put on bigger wheels but if you stopped and the rozzer on duty is in a crap mood

you lose your car 'cos it gets impounded and costs 8Euro a day at the pound+a heafty fine AND your

forced to re-take the MOT with the car as it left the factory.

I'm ok with the turbo as my car originally left Germany as a G60 so on the log book it states that

my car originally was force fed but if your ride is NA and turbo it,your risking big time as well as the

fact that the insurance won't pay in the event of an accident.

So peeps,if you love modding cars,bikes and gawd knows what else AVOID Italy :(

[dr_mat 0]

I always had a soft spot for the lotus carlton myself. Never had the pleasure of driving one, but everything you read about it is literally peppered with superlatives. It's a monster, no question. Faster than a turbo VR? That somewhat depends on the turbo VR you're talking about, but most will struggle to get their power down in a FWD chassis no matter how much power they *can* generate. At lower speeds the Carlton will walk it just cos of sheer grip.

 

So the Corrado VR6 is about 1200 kg, and has 200bhp. With a big turbo, maybe 300? The Lotus Carlton is 1655 kg, and comes with 377 bhp out of the box. If this were a game of top trumps the VR6 would lose on every statistic..

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/Roa ... us/204158/

 

How fast

* 0-30mph 2.4 sec

* 0-60mph 5.1 sec

* 0-100mph 11.1 sec

* 30-70mph 3.8 sec

* 0-400m 13.5 s / 111 mph (standing quarter mile)

* 0-1000m 24 sec / 140 mph (standing kilometer)

* 30-50mph in 3rd/4th 3.2 / 5.5

* 40-60mph in 4th/5th 4.1 / 8.5 sec

* 50-70mph in 5th 7.7 sec

* Top speed 164 mph

[Danny B 0]

Hmm,good point,would it be faster? but would it be faster than mine that's runnin a hybrid ball bearing T4,8 injectors,LSD.modded gearbox ratios,

modded cams,ext. wastegate,compleat 3" exhaust,short manifold and 2 Bar turbo press on a 7.7/1 CR.

BUT still the original bloomin brakes...

I don't see 288mm brake discs doing alot to stop my car on full chat.

You people are sooo lucky as you can do almost whatever you like to cars,ain't happening here..

 

.....sorry I only really asked the question about the Turbo'd VR as I thought you had one.......just dawned on me you dont have a VR :brickwall:

 

I'm half Italian and go back every year to see the relatives and I never new Italy had such strick car laws......amazing !!

 

when I think about it I never see modded cars out there I suppose :scratch:

[bristolbaron 10]

cant you get a set of those 16" speedlines and pretend they're oem? or 16" golf wheels?

[John-M 0]

I seem to recall that the L Carlton had a top speed of 186 mph.

 

I'll see if I can find the magazine where I read that - it's up in the loft somewhere !

[mrbeige 0]

Andy, the 288s have like 40% more braking area than 280s, so WILL make a substantial difference over the 280s

 

[/2p]

[dr_mat 0]

I seem to recall that the L Carlton had a top speed of 186 mph.

 

Yes, the above magazine quoted a figure (164) obtained on the Millbrook straight - the car was still accelerating when they bottled it.. A later attempt netted nearer 183 or so, which involved coming round the access road onto the start of the runway at Bruntingthorpe at ~95mph ..

[LJ 0]

Wilwood 4pots are available for the G60 4 stud and use a 280mm disc I think, should fit inside 15's ... worth a look?

[dirtytorque 0]

Wilwood 4pots are available for the G60 4 stud and use a 280mm disc I think, should fit inside 15's ... worth a look?

 

..they fit behind 15" borbet C's.Not BBS RZ 15" though..

[herisites 0]

I always had a soft spot for the lotus carlton myself. Never had the pleasure of driving one, but everything you read about it is literally peppered with superlatives. It's a monster, no question. Faster than a turbo VR? That somewhat depends on the turbo VR you're talking about, but most will struggle to get their power down in a FWD chassis no matter how much power they *can* generate. At lower speeds the Carlton will walk it just cos of sheer grip.

 

So the Corrado VR6 is about 1200 kg, and has 200bhp. With a big turbo, maybe 300? The Lotus Carlton is 1655 kg, and comes with 377 bhp out of the box. If this were a game of top trumps the VR6 would lose on every statistic..

 

http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/Roa ... us/204158/

 

Granted it would be a lot better at putting the power down and would be quicker top end but a mid range race (i.e. motorway!) would be in the corrados favor in this case I reckon. You can't just say this car has 377bhp compared to this one with 300bhp therefore the 377bhp car will win hands down as you have to take in to account the actual WHEEL hp and weight.

 

My corrado for example is 280bhp at the flywheel, but only loses 40bhp through the transmission giving it 240whp. So if the corrado was a 300bhp turboed one then it could have say 260whp. So 260 / 1.3 (1300kgs) gives 200whp/tonne. The Lotus on the other hand is RWD and will have bigger wheels etc which mean more transmission loss (take an E46 M3 for example, 338bhp at the fly but they only have about 250 at the wheels due to transmission losses) so lets say it has about 300whp. That means 300 / 1.65 (1655kgs) gives the Lotus 181whp/tonne. So the corrado would have the edge! :clap:

[dgtvr6 0]

I seem to recall that the L Carlton had a top speed of 186 mph.

 

I'll see if I can find the magazine where I read that - it's up in the loft somewhere !

 

 

pretty sure you are right on that.... At least that is how I recall it as well....

[Kevin Bacon 5]

So peeps,if you love modding cars,bikes and gawd knows what else AVOID Italy :(

 

It's not all bad. Great food, great wine, great scenery and architecture and some stunning looking women :D

 

I thinks 15s is a small sacrifice for that :D

 

Are you actually Italian or did you move to Italy from the UK, US etc? Your english is brilliant if the former :salute:

 

As for the Lotus Carlton, if I could afford one I'd get one in a shot. To hell with the running costs. A man of your skill could easily fix and maintain one!

[John-M 0]

I was travelling home from 'oop north' a couple of weeks ago and as I joined the A14 ( where the A14 and the A428 join ) there was this Omega Lotus Carlton on foreign plates just cruising by. Looked in pretty damn good condition, and in grey !

 

Due to the amount of traffic I couldnt get up to him - but the brief look I got was good enough. They are still a damn fine car, purposeful looking and nicely 'stealth'.

 

Surprised at the colour though, I thought they were all that delightfull dark green - but maybe that was just the British ones.

[pebisit 0]

Better idea, being as your in Italy, buy an Alpine B10 twin turbo E34, known for whacking F355's and capabale of 186mph, if I remember right