When it comes to after market exhaust systems, I usually have a hard time picking one I like. Most after market systems don’t sound nice, don’t fit that great or need a great deal of modification to fit without vibrating. That is not the case with the BOE 1/4 stick or silent touch they have no drone and moderate volume at idle.
BOE systems are designed specifically for the Lotus Elise/Exige platform by BOE and Coast Fabrication working in concert. Coast Fab is the culmination of the legendary Dan Gurney race team (who coincidentally was a winning Lotus team from the 60’s).
Several folks have commented it is quieter than stage 2 around town(due to lack of drone) Aggressive, but not raspy off-CAM. On-CAM description best taken from bystanders: “Sounds like a Formula 1 car!”, “Crisp and not raspy”, and our favorite: “Bad-Ass!!!!”
A lot of initial testing was done and the final version was chosen after trying many different combinations of silencer diameter, core diameter, length, and packing material consistency to get great power, great sound, and kill the annoying drone present in so many exhausts including the factory and stage II systems.
One of the best features is that the Silent Touch and Quarter-Stick are rebuild able. After a couple of seasons of hard racing, you can undo the end cap and rebuild the exhaust with an inexpensive rebuild kit.
- 304 Stainless construction
- Mandrel bent exit pipe
- 100% TIG welded
- 2.5″ straight-through design reduces back pressure to support high power applications.
BOE exhausts have been tested on cars with 320HP both on and off the race track!
Recently, these mufflers were on the Brumos car that won Daytona 24 hour this year and the winning Sun Trust car in 2005 of the prototype cars. The only modern podium car they’re not on is the Ganassi car, as they have their own exhaust. Just about everyone else uses Coast. They’re THAT GOOD.
You’ll find pics of these mufflers glowing red hot and they’ll stay that way for the whole race. The same muffler will often get used for 3, 4, or 5 races. Most track day enthusiasts don’t come even close to working the exhaust that hard in years worth of use.
Current exhausts on the market all use fiberglass packing and most are NOT rebuild able. Fiberglass will simply burn up and blow-out over time with the ultra short exhaust tracts of the Elise/Exige, a very short time if you track your car! You’re then left with a loud exhaust that actually robs power and isn’t rebuild able!
The “Quarter-Stick” uses 100% stainless-steel packing, which is far more heat resistant and much longer lasting than fiberglass. In the quieter “Silent Touch” version they use a stainless/fiberglass hybrid that provides much higher heat tolerance than pure fiberglass, but maintains a very light weight. Both are rebuild able.
Critical to any racer, especially the Lotus owner. These are the lightest exhausts on the market for the Lotus: Including all the clamps, mounting rod, tip and silencer, The Quarter-Stick weighs in at just over 8lbs! The silent touch only a bit over 11lbs!
Now we get to the best part! These exhausts were extensively tested for great sound as well as power production.
Off-cam it has a deeper, richer sound than stock and about the same volume. No drone. On-cam a bit louder than stock, more aggressive, but deeper, crisper, and with no drone. Very liveable on a day-to-day basis. Customers tell us its about a loud as their old 8″ exhaust, but deeper tone.
Currently both exhaust are a “high exit” which require removing part of the heat shielding and either trimming or removing one of the rear side panels. We recommend the Von Hep license plate bracket that replaces the rear panel.
You can find out more info from BWR at http://www.blackwatchracing.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=1099
