The 2017 Lotus Elite Diamond Jubilee will be celebrated over the 12th to the 14th of August. It’s going to be a massive celebration, featuring not only the Elites but the 60th anniversary of the Lotus Seven and 50th birthdays of the Elan Plus 2, Lotus 48 Formula 1 car and Formula Ford Type 51.
Featuring everything from social engagements to sprints, demonstrations and displays, the event will offer something for everyone. Read on for the official word from organiser Brian Caldersmith.
Lotus Cars Australia has announced the Lotus Tour at Targa High Country 2017, which will run as part of the 2017 Targa High Country Rally over the 10th to the 12th of November this year. Spaces in the tour are extremely limited, so if you’re interested get in touch with Richard at Lotus Cars Australia ASAP!
Hi everyone!
April’s been a busy, and generally top month. Well, aside from some slightly suspect weather!
There was Targa Tasmania, where Lotus caused a stir. Yours truly entered his first Historic Winton in the Eleven, which is where the suss weather reference came from, and DRB announced that they were selling a majority share of Lotus to Geely.
I hope that’s good news for Lotus, but even if a fat wad of cash doesn’t eventuate, the brand seems to survive the challenges it faces.
Speaking of the brand, I definitely see a lot more Lotus cars around than I did even five years ago, which is a great sign. It also means that we, as a club, need to constantly assess what we need to do to attract and retain members.
Your committee is meeting later this month, so please do drop any of us a line if you have any thoughts that you’d like to be raised and addressed. Ideas around events or activities are, in particular, always welcome.
Lee and his team at Simply Sports Cars continue to support us in every aspect – including the upcoming Elite Diamond Anniversary celebrations, which will be a spectacular gathering of Lotuses from all over the country. The fact that it coincides with the AHOC sprint on the Saturday and the LOTD at Wakefield on Monday just makes it even better.
Personally, I am focused currently on getting our Peking to Paris Austin Healey 100/4 prepared so that we can start shakedown as soon as possible. If ready in time, she may even have an outing at Targa High Country.
Finally, I would like to reiterate my ask from a few months ago for volunteers willing to pick up the role of Competition Secretary when Mike retires in September. The role lends itself to being segmented into several parts, so if you are willing to work as part of a small group, that could well be realised. Please call Mike if you’d like to discuss the role in more detail.
Meantime, I look forward to seeing you out and about. As ever, keep safe, upright and on the black stuff!
Pip pip,
Ashton.
Images thanks to Angryman Photography
Targa Tasmania 2017 wrapped up late last month, running over the 24th to the 29th of April, and saw two Club Lotus Australia members crack the podium of the Country Club GT Sports Trophy competition.
Jeff Morton won the competition with co-driver Dennis Neagle in a 2017 Lotus Exige Sport 350, jumping ahead of seasoned competitors Jeff and Nerida Beable and their 2000 Nissan Skyline GTR N1. Martin Duursma and Richard Wodhams repeated their 2016 success, claiming third in a 2013 Lotus Exige S V6.
We sat down with Jeff to chat about his journey to that top step Targa Tas performance, uncover a little of his story and get a blow-by-blow run through the Australian epic.
LOST Fraternity shepherd Jack McLaughlin has returned to the home of Lotus on an adventure, and recently enjoyed the Brooklands Spring Classic Breakfast with Club Lotus. He’s kindly shared some photos from the event, which you can enjoy below!
Sunday, May 21st was the first Brooklands Spring Classic Breakfast of 2017. Held in the beautiful Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, United Kingdom, it featured both cars and bikes either greater than 30 years old or examples of a model which went into production before 1987.
Club Lotus put on a display of some 80 cars, and the Rudge Owner’s Club represented the motorcycle marque with 50 bikes.
Scroll on and enjoy the photos by Jack McLaughlin.
Our own John Culvenor has taken over the back page of Tasmania’s ‘The Examiner’ newspaper, after a great run in this year’s Targa Tasmania.
John and co-driver Barrie Fitchett finished 9th overall in their 1997 Lotus Elise competing in the Targa Tasmania Budget TSD Trophy. The pair features prominently in ‘The Examiner’s’ coverage of the second leg of the event, with a full-page photo enticing readers into coverage from the day.
Club Lotus Australia is full of interesting people who are up to interesting things with interesting cars. We think that’s wonderful, so we’re going to share their stories with you here!
If you’d like to share your story on the club website, just send Seth a quick email at web@clublotus.com.au
In this post, we rejoin Geoff Winder as he fabricates a flywheel and finds a clutch for his Lotus Esprit VQ project.
The 2017 Lotus Elite Diamond Jubilee is already set to be the biggest birthday party that the Club has ever held, and it’s now gotten even bigger with the addition of a Lotus-Only Track Day on Monday the 14th of August.
The track day, held by Simply Sports Cars at Wakefield Park, will see the full variety of Lotus descend on the countryside circuit for a day of fun and friendly motorsport. Registration is open now on the Simply Sports Cars website, and you can get there by clicking this link.
Lotus-Only Track Days are designed to be safe, fun, friendly and inclusive. They offer drive, sprint and race sessions to cater to all skill levels and inclinations. As always, experienced drivers will be available to offer assistance and the Simply Sports Cars Lotus team will be on board to answer questions and provide advice relating to your car.
Simply Sports Cars have a great post up explaining the days, and you can find that right here.
The 2017 Lotus Elite Diamond Jubilee will be held over the weekend beforehand, the 12th & 13th of August, 2017, at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The event will feature a CSCA sprint meeting on Saturday as well as the big celebratory dinner on Saturday evening, bringing together luminaries of the era from Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Sunday’s celebrations coincide with the Shannons Sydney Classic and will feature an unparalleled gathering of Lotuses in a specially-designated LOTUS LAND as well as a photo opportunity, parade laps and picnic lunch.
Put the dates in your diary, get involved and we’ll see you in August!
Registration for the August 14th Lotus-Only Track Day is open on the Simply Sports Cars website here.
Gino Valdes has kindly reached out with a brilliant set of photos from the recent Lotus 2017 and Simply Sports Cars’ Winton Raceway Lotus-Only Track Day.
The LOST Fraternity gathered this past Sunday, the 7th of May, for a run to the MG Car Club Hunter Region’s Euro Motorfest 2017.
They met in New Lambton for a run down to the event, which sounds like a brilliant day.
“What a satisfying way to spend a Sunday morning! It was wonderful to be a part of such a distinguished Lotus congregation, and seeing LOST windscreen sashes on our Porsches & Clubmans was icing on the cake.” – Jack McLaughlin
Jack has kindly shared some photos for the website, which you can enjoy below!
