Happy autumn all,

What with everything else going on (geopolitically and weather-wise) I have rather lost track of time – and given that we didn’t get a summer in NSW this year, the fact that we have bumped into autumn already came as a bit of a surprise to me.

Not to mention that Lotus has announced that they will build an electric SUV, the Lotus Eletre – who’d a thunk it? I do wonder what Colin would have thought of it – part of me thinks he’d be pleased that Lotus is remaining relevant to a broader audience and in an emergent technology, part of me thinks it’s a bit too much “me too”. But at least it’s not as ugly as some! And given I haven’t even seen it in the flesh, never mind driven it, I can’t really comment!

Anyway, March was a busy and excellent month, with, of course, the CLA CSCA sprint kicking off the sprinting season for this year.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the organising committee, headed by the indomitable duo of Mel and Gino, who put in a huge amount of time on the day last Sunday. And what a day – thank you to all the Committee – you did us proud! And particular thanks too to Evan who Clerk of Course’d for us, Tom who was our Chief Steward, and Mike who managed the scrutineering on the day; and to all the participants who gladly gave up some of their day to ensure the smooth running of the day.

Contrary to the forecast (and, frankly, my last three visits to Goulburn) it didn’t rain, at all! In fact the sun came out once or twice. And the track was clean from all the rain, so we had an absolute ball!

So much so that by 3pm, a lot of cars had had enough (their pilots possibly not, but given this was the first time out for a while, a lot of cars identified a need for a little more fettling)

I look forward to seeing lots of you at the Sprite Club round at the South Circuit on 23rd April. Entry is open now via Motorsport Australia’s Motor Event Entry System. Meanwhile, Seth’s excellent photos and a report on the day will be in the club website shortly.

And in other news…

Well, we have got the upcoming Tour of Tassie underway for 1st – 7th October – look out for the email, it should appear in your inbox shortly – or you can go straight to our booking site here.

Interest is good, so we will continue to progress the planning, and, importantly, a more accurate costing for the event to enable you to budget more accurately.

We have also got the planning underway for the 50th anniversary celebrations of CLA’s establishment, which will be taking place next year. Please save the date of Friday 23rd-Sunday 25th June 2023 in your diaries.

Grateful thanks to Brian Caldersmith for both provoking the conversation and also starting to pull together a photographic history of CLA. If you have any period photos, particularly from the ’70s and ’80s, with (ideally!) a description of when and where (and who), please can you share with Brian via Seth at web@clublotus.com.au.

Upcoming this month (apart from more rain I expect!) we have our two Tyre Kick and Coffee events – at Carrs Park, and at the Gough Whitlam Oval respectively, which I pray might actually not get rained out this month, as they have been seemingly forever!

And of course we have the next round of the CSCA sprints (as above) on the 23rd of April. See you there I hope.

In the meantime, keep safe, upright and on the blackstuff (mostly),

Pip pip

Ashton