Well, happy hump month all!

There really is only one thing to talk about, and that was the party of the year over the weekend of 23-25th June celebrating Lotus’s 75th and Club Lotus’s 50th Anniversaries. What a blast it was!

Huge thanks to the organising committee, and in particular Mel for basically making it all happen, Brian and Tom for prompting the action in the first place, and Graham for being the master MC for the night.

Thanks too to William Taylor for traipsing over from the UK (with Olivia) to provide us some insights into the integrated approach Geely is taking to the historic connection, Mike and Gene Bennett for bringing the Lotus 12 up from Adelaide and providing us with some fascinating insights into the Derek Jolly archives, and Richard and Angela Gibbs for bringing the Eletre and Emira, and for providing us some insight into the future.

A fabulous weekend, with sunshine (and yes, maybe it was a little chilly sometimes with no roof on the Elan) and awesome company.

Thank you all. And anyone else I have left out accidentally.

So, now we move on to the second half of the year, and for those who need reminding, I am based in the UK for the next three months, so in effect am acting as your roving reporter!

For the NSW contingent the stuff that needs your support locally is as follows:

• July 16th – in a change of scene, Tyre Kick and Coffee is at Evalence in Hornsby – Charlie Frew has kindly agreed to get the coffee machine and BBQ going so please make sure to support him – address is Unit 13/12 Cecil Road, Hornsby, NSW 2077 from 9am
• August 19th – the CLA round of the CSCA sprints, at SMSP – we need lots of help marshalling, and plenty of entries! If you can help with either, please get in touch with Craig and Cathy Sheppard who are kindly running the event for us – contact through motorsport@clublotus.com.au
• 20th August – the Shannon’s Classic – this year celebrating 75 years of Lotus, so please support this great event – tickets from Evan Jones on evanj@optusnet.com.au
• 17th September – All British Day – back after an extended absence, this iconic event is not to be missed, and I suspect will be bigger than ever this year. Tickets from Evan, and please bring your picnic and shiniest car!

So that’s the plan for NSW. Elsewhere, the Tasmanian crew continue to enjoy the Sandy Bay gatherings, the WA crew have their EMR programme back up and running, and the ACT contingent continue to enjoy trips to wineries on a regular basis – thank you to you all for continuing the traditions for enjoying our cars and each others company.

In next month’s PP you can expect to hear about Festival of Speed, and some insight into other events being shoe-horned into the diary (Beaulieu Autojumble, Goodwood Revival, an open day at Type 14 Components, and hopefully a visit to CTL and Lotus sometime in late September).

In the meantime, please keep safe, upright and mostly on the black stuff.

Pip pip,
Ashton