Well, here we are into the first few days of spring; the daffs have flowered in the garden, which at least in the UK means the start of car driving weather.
Huge thanks to the motoring committee and even more so the volunteers who put together the excellent (and very well run and attended) CLA CSCA sprint a couple of weekends ago. I cannot thank you all enough for giving up your time so that everyone else can have such a fun day.
The organising team led by Graham, with huge help from Geoff Linders on the spreadsheets, Brett on the mic (and Colin and Craig in cars!) and the volunteers on flags and other duties – Anthony Schinckel, Jacqui Stevens, Cathy Sheppard, David Healy (scrutineering), Gino and Mel, Mark Waring, Ben Rose, Doc and Barbie, Vicki and Luke Williams, Mark Meletopoulo, Shannon Parnell and Rory Keyes – thank you all so much!
We’ll be back at Sydney Motorsport Park hosting the round once again on Saturday August 21, 2027 – see you there!
While thanking people, I must mention the amazing evening Peter Eppel so ably organised at the Royal Automobile Club last Friday to celebrate the 100 years of the Maroubra Speedway. What a splendid event, and so well suited to the atmosphere of the RACA. Everyone made a tremendous effort to dress up for the occasion (there may even have been a replica Tommy gun in a violin case, but I can neither confirm nor deny that rumour), and the band was superb. Thank you Peter, and thanks too to the staff at the RACA for a fantastic evening of fun company, great music and good food.
The day after the spints, we had the annual Shannons Classic Car display day, which is always a great opportunity to see some cars you had long forgotten even existed – or perhaps just thought had rusted away. I was reflecting that the local climate is particularly kind to poorly built European cars of a particular vintage. To see a Fiat 128 and two Renault Fuegos was astonishing (they were dissolving in front of my eyes when I was at university, and I don’t need to tell you that was not yesterday) and it was lovely to see the two Esprits lined up in the concours in pit lane.
So now, looking ahead of us, there’s the excuse to get out to the All British Day on September 13th at Hawkesbury Showgrounds. The Hawkesbury location provides a much easier access and egress than the Kings School did, so please do come and join us and about 400 others from all walks of British car life, it’s always a fun day. Tickets on the member portal at this link and so far we have 15 cars coming which will make a great showing.
Later on we have the Jag round of the CSCA sprints at SMSP on 27th September, and in between we have the Gough Whitlam Tyre Kick of course (The Carrs Park one is still going ahead for those not coming to the All British Day). And then we’ll be into the run to Christmas, and fine weather motoring, and all the fun that brings.
On which subject, if there is anyone in the membership interested in joining the fun of organising the Lotus Clubs Biennials next year (planning for October given the time we have to organise it) I would be very grateful for your help! There is a small but committed group I have managed to persuade to help, but the more we have, the less stressful the whole exercise is! Please drop me a line – thank you in advance.
And as next year will be the 70th anniversary of the Type 14 Elite, I would ask all those with Elites to start their planning to join at least for the Saturday when we will most likely have something going on! (It’s also the 60th anniversary of the Elan Plus 2.)
Slightly sooner than all that, the AGM and Christmas party is likely to return to the Royal Automobile Club on 6th December. Please note it in your diary, and I look forward to another lively and enjoyable lunch once the AGM formalities are out of the way.
And I think that’s about it for another month. As ever, please let me know if there’s anything we should (or shouldn’t) be doing to make this a better club for you.
In the meantime, please stay safe, upright and (mostly) on the blackstuff.
Pip pip,
Ashton