With Garth Selig at Phillip Island

Welcome to April, and I hope the fools missed tricking you for another year?

My apologies for the silence in March – I had expected to get you a missive immediately after the (excellent) Phillip Island Classic but time got away from me. So, here we are in April.

The principle reason for my tardiness is that there were some unexpected and sudden (excellent) changes to my working life which resulted in my being put on gardening leave for three months. This was not the worst thing to happen in mid-January, but it necessitated a few quick decisions, in particular getting on a flight over to the UK to see my folks, as the usual mid-year visit is unlikely this year due to the new role.

And given that visit took place in February, I need hardly explain that there was no motorsport or other motor-related fun to be had in Blighty. So, I went skiing with my brother, sister and brother in law, which was a blast.

I did manage to get the Golf out of hibernation, give it a few good runs (that 2L ABF engine in the Mk3 GTi is a belter) and then had to spend a day cleaning all the farmyard muck and road salt off and out of it before I headed home.

Once back in Sydney, it seemed no time at all before we were heading south to Phillip Island for the 2026 Classic, and in between I managed to buy a new (to me) tow car (2006 Prado), so the trip there and back was a lot more comfortable than might have been the case. And given fuel had by then started to escalate in price, it was an interesting study in fuel economy, not always my strong suit as most of you know. I was reminded of the days when I used to drive my VW Combi around the UK to mountain bike races, drafting lorries to save fuel.

Anyway, the Phillip Island Penrite Classic was a fantastic weekend. We lucked it on the weather, with beautiful sunny days at 20-23 degrees, and considering how wet it was on the drive down, and the size of the puddles in the footwell of the Elite on arriving for bump in, this was not guaranteed at all. The circuit is well-recognised as one of the best in the world, and with good reason. The company, as ever, made the weekend complete.

Friday practice was much needed – its been about seven years I think since I ran a car there, and that was the Elise, so getting the hang of the circuit in a rather less powerful car took a couple of laps. I ran in Regularity (long story, but getting my circuit licence renewed is not proving straightforward) so really needed to work out what a reasonable time was. Turns out 2:10.3 was the right sort of time to nominate – not challenging the faster cars in the high 1.50s, but able to circulate consistently and have fun keeping pace with, in particular, Geoff Boyd in his Porsche 356.

Saturday had one qualifying session, and one competitive session, in which I managed a seventh place in a decent sized field of very mixed cars – have a look here at Natsoft to see what I mean.

On Sunday I seemed to find my consistency, and managed a third in session 1, and then, much to my surprise, I somehow managed to top out the leader board for the last session.

I then stayed down in Melbourne for an extra day to catch up with a few people on the Monday, and headed (slowly) home to conserve fuel, which when I had left Sydney was already at $2.25 a litre (thanks Donald), but by the return trip had hit $2.60. Those were the days, I hear you saying! The Prado managed a fairly astonishing 11.5L per 100km towing the Elite and carrying all the tools etc, none of which were needed of course!

So back to reality, and what is happening in the foreseeable future? Well, this coming weekend we have the second round of the CSCA at Wakefield, I gather running the “back to front” circuit, so I look forward to hearing about that! I fear I won’t be able to get organised to be there as I have been stranded on Norfolk Island for longer than planned due to the after effects of storms further north, but I wish all competitors a fun and hopefully dry weekend.

And it would be remiss of me not to mention the monthly gathering of the Copacabana-set (ably organised by John Culvenor). The next one is on 1st April at the Ocean Bar and Cantina in Copacabana from 6:30pm. All Lotuses welcome of course!

April also brings us Tyre Kicks, and a chance to plan for the rest of the year – on which subject, if anyone has any thoughts, I am all ears as ever!

Of course the elephant in the room is what will happen to fuel costs in the near future if the Middle East chaos isn’t resolved quickly? And what effect will that have on our consumption of fuel. I don’t mind admitting that the 160L fuel tank in the Prado increasing from $290 to $500 to fill up might have an impact on my desire to attend, for example, the Winton Festival of Speed in June. Having said that, as has been pointed out in several articles recently, the “energy shock” is going to impact those for whom fuel is a necessity far more than those like me for whom it is, let’s face it, a bit of a luxury. So no sympathy being sought here, before you hit the keyboard! But my thoughts are with farmers, for whom diesel is a very necessary input, and likely as not, it’ll work its way into the cost of supplies both locally and from overseas.

In other more hopeful news, I gather there is a remote possibility that the Emira could end up with a V8 engine in a future iteration. I have no idea where the rumour has emerged from, or how likely it is to become reality, but it does appeal quite a lot, I don’t mind admitting.

And on that happier note, I will get this off, and I hope to see you at one or more of the events going on.

Take care, and keep it upright and (mostly) on the black stuff!

Pip pip,
Ashton.