Quaife Limited Slip Differential - Lotus Esprit (1988-2003 )
"I'm losing traction coming off the hairpin because I'm spinning the rear tires; I'm not going forward. It's oversteer all the way through."
Mario Andretti driving Esprit V8
Road & Track Road Tests 2000
| The differential is a key component in the
Esprit's drivetrain. Located within the transaxle, it controls the
distribution of power from the engine to the two rear wheels. The standard
differential on the Esprit (except X180R and Sport 300 models) is an open
differential, which allows one wheel to turn independently of the
other.
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The open differential allows the power from the engine to take the path of least resistance, which at the limit is a single spinning wheel. The most famous demonstration of this in the car chase in the movie Bullit. When Steve McQueen misses a turn, he reverses agressively while posing for the camera, and then peels off in a cloud of tire smoke. You'll notice that he leaves a thick single line of rubber from the open differential on his Mustang. |
While straight line traction is improved, the limited slip is most noticeable in cornering. Given the generous amount of power on tap for the Esprit driver, power oversteer can be a common and sometimes unwelcome experience, even under perfect road conditions. The rest of the time, you're just showing off ! With the limited slip differential; traction in the dry and especially the wet is dramatically improved. In corners, acceleration from apex to track out is also dramatically improved. Oversteer is progessive and less violent and occurs at higher levels of acceleration. |
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