Lotus Club Queensland

Queensland Super Sprint State Championship - 18^th. & 19^th October 2008. by: Jason Patullo

As I sat in the pit garage watching Geoff under his car for the second time in two days I decided to start writing the article for next months
magazine as Geoff had told me on Saturday morning that the deadline for our article was on Monday.

What an action packed weekend. It all started during Friday’s practice, which had been split between the two different track configurations
we were going to run on the weekend. It was going quite well until Geoff felt an unwelcome vibration from the rear of the car coming onto
the main strait. After some investigation into the problem we discovered the tripod joint on the right hand side of the car had given up.
Geoff eventually found the part he needed after he rang a bloke he knew who rang a bloke he knew.

Road trip time. We all piled into the car, Geoff, Maree and myself (the only LCQ attendees at the meet) and left Warwick at about 5:30pm Friday
afternoon, destination a suburb next to Logan. After some backtracking due to failure to read the street directory properly by yours truly, we
found the unknown man’s house and the part was left in a plastic bag next to the letter box just as he had promised. Time to head back to
Warwick and fit the part but not before passing by Geoff’s to pick up some grease and some more tools. We arrived back in Warwick at about
10:30pm and had the new joint fitted by 12:15am. What a long day.

Saturday went well considering the effort from the day before and lack of sleep. Geoff put down some solid times times during the day with his
best time a 3:26:94 and I set my quickest time on my last run of the day with a 3:40:18 which was a personal best.

Sunday did not go to plan. We were on the short track so I was looking forward to setting another PB. On the first run of the morning Geoff
snapped his drive shaft on the start line so he was now out for the weekend. We ended up completing 4 runs with my best time a 2:46:67
which was another PB. My last run was a shocker with an exhaust issue raising its ugly head on the warm up lap I was down on power but
stayed out and had a bit of fun. Don’t really know what happened with the exhaust yet, but it was bloody loud on the way home. Thanks to
noise cancelling headphones and my ipod only the cars I passed could hear it.

With Geoff out, and three other cars from our class retired or not showing up I was left to fight it out with two MX5’s. It basically got to the
last man standing went home with the spoils. Not the way you plan to come first in class but to finish first, first you have to finish.

Of course the real reason for my visit back home to the UK was to see my Mum for her 92nd birthday. When I walked in
to the nursing home she greeted me with “Here’s my Baby Boy!” - that in itself made the trip worthwhile for me!
The fact that Mum’s birthday just happened along at around the same time as Lotus 60th Anniversary and the
Goodwood Festival of Speed was a bonus.

Friday Sept 12
Pouring rain. Visited Mum - she was really good!
Caught up with Sue Miller, wife of the late Mick Miller who was renowned for being the proprietor of Classic Lotus Parts
and arguably the worlds best restorer of early Elans. Popped into Stratton Motor Company, Lotus Dealer and England’s l
argest Aston Martin dealer. Just happened to be there for the first public showing of the new Evora. Stunning car in the flesh.
Was able to sit in it and had to grin at the build quality - touched the sun visor which fell off in my lap - some things
never change. Spoke to Clive Chapman and Chris Dinnage from Classic Team Lotus. From there we popped in on Martin Roy
a former employee of Team Lotus in the Formula 1 days and he now restores classic race cars to a very high standard,
his workshop is next to what used to be the Team Lotus wind tunnel test facility .
Bought a couple of genuine JPS pit crew shirts at exorbitant prices, for sale now if you are interested. POA!

Saturday Sept 13
Not raining. Phoned my wife, Anita, on a pre paid mobile. 30 quid for 20 minutes. Outrageous!
Driving about with my mate Dave Monument who had previously worked for Lotus for about 10 years. Convinced him to
pop in to the factory. He said ‘Ok, but only if you do the talking’. Talked our way in on the premise that I had to do an
interview with Guy Munday for the anniversary on the Sunday. Walked around the corner and there was Clive Chapman
again! Dave and Clive had previously worked together on the Lotus Carlton and Corvette projects in the 80’s and early
90’s when Clive was working his way around the various sections of the factory. They had got on well together then and
we got invited in for a chat and Clive said “Give us a hand to clean these cars” as they were part of the display for
tomorrow’s celebration. Polishing up all these old F1 cars – Heaven! Dave Monument also knew the right people at Windsor
Bishop, jewellers in Norwich and sponsors of the anniversary event. He was able to get us tickets, not just public ones,
VIP ones! I was also able to arrange a spare ticket for Sue Miller to be collected from Stratton Motors and it really made
her day.

Sunday Sept 14
Sunny Day. Lotus here we come! Over 20,000 like minded Lotus enthusiasts converge on Hethel!
I felt like a kid on Christmas morning! Of course we were in the VIP tent with full buffet catering, sipping on Pimms
cocktails with mint. Got introduced to Mike Kimberley, Lotus CEO. I was wearing my Aussie Lotus Trophy shirt which
Mike was rather envious of as he felt it to be superior to the Lotus issued shirt he wore! Also very impressed with my
enthusiasm and knowledge of the Lotus Marque. Intro’d to Simon Wood, designer and engineer of many projects including
the Carlton and Sport 350 Espirit. So many interesting cars on display! 1966 type 50 Elan plus 2 ‘Metier’ now owned by
Malcolm Ricketts. The ‘Elanbulance’ (also owned by Malcom) made by Hexagon of Highgate, plus 2 ‘shooting brake’ built
by Paul Matty - the attention to detail is second to none, owned by Roger McCluth who I spoke to and was one of the
most knowledgeable guys on Lotus that I’ve met. Also fastback Elite (see pics) and a 1966 plus 2 (Metier prototype) and
1974 plus 2, so an example of the first and last plus 2’s.

Now, I’ve been on many Lotus factory tours, open days etc. I’ve been to Lotus 40th and 50th anniversary, but this was
the most ‘open’ I’ve ever seen the factory! Previously inaccessible areas were open to the public and all the pre-production
models, crash tested cars, everything was on display including the Evora. There were Evora show bags available for purchase
and I was able to grab a couple and the contents included a poster, T shirt, stickers and a matchbox size scale model.
This is a story in itself, but briefly Lotus and Matchbox collaborated for 8 months to ensure that
the proportions and colour of the model were just right and that the model and full size car be released together!
I also bought loads of 60th Anniversary merchandise, caps, umbrellas, pens, key rings, mouse mats etc and this will be
available for club members to buy once it all lands in Oz. Also got hold of a couple of Press kits which included a memory stick
with the full story of the making of the Evora which is a project very close to Mike Kimberley’s heart. Oh, and the Lotus Design
2009 Calendar which I’ve donated to the club.
** Would have to be the Ultimate Event for a diehard Lotus Enthusiast and well worth the miles travelled to get there!

Later in the day I was interviewed by Guy Munday for ‘Lotus Radio’, the live in house commentary for the event. He asked me
about my involvement, which goes back to 1967, but the main talking point was when I single handedly kept Lotus afloat one
day in 1997 by buying 19 Espirits, managers and press cars, including V8’s and S4S’s. Included in this transaction was the
personal car of Romeo Artioli who owned Lotus at one time - a gorgeous S4S in Pearl Red with magnolia and black leather trim
(this was the 1996 motor show car). The cash injection for the deal helped pay the wages thatweek and through another of
the ‘bottom of the roller coaster’ episodes that Lotus have been through over the years.
Lowlight of the day - Worst ever Indian meal in Norwich for dinner.

Monday Sept 15
Back to Hethel in the trusty borrowed Berlingo Van. This proved to be an invaluable tool during the trip. I have another mate
who is an insurance salvage dealer. He buys all the damaged boxes of wine from the big UK supermarket chains. Most of the
time it’s just one bottle broken, but because there are bits of glass floating around, they write off the box. Open ‘em up, fish
out the good ones, hose ‘em off and repack in a new box, sorted! Anyway, earlier in the week I bought 18 cases of really good
New Zealand Sauvignion Blanc and 3 cases of spirits for 1100 pounds. These went into the Berlingo. Over the next few days I
sold 15 cases of wine and 2 cases of spirits from the “back of the truck” so to speak, for a return of 1000 pounds. The other
wine and spirits, and some polo shirts and caps that I had picked up in Kuala Lumpur on my way over came in handy as ‘gratuities’
for ’services rendered’ if you know what I mean. At the end of the trip I had re-established most of my old network!
Anyway back to Hethel to collect all the bits I had bought in the pre-anniversary sale. Back into the Lotus Service garage and
load up the van. We had to repack the van twice to fit in all the gear. See the pics - just had enough room for my suitcase on
the pax side front seat! Lunched in the staff canteen.

Friday Sept 19
Went in my mates Bentley GT off to Goodwood Revival (a 3 day event). Beautiful day, shorts and Lotus Trophy shirt. Spent over
an hour ogling the cars in the 50’s and 60’s car park! Get inside (exclusive tickets) and feel like a fish out of water - everyone in
period costume. Managed to get a Pit Pass, chatting to Bob Dance and Clive Chapman, getting some strange looks, when after about
half an hour a security guard came up and enquired how I got in. Showed me the sign explaining the dress code - every point on it
I had wrong! Got a pic of that, had a laugh and he let me stay on for another 10 minutes.

Everywhere you looked there was row after row of early race cars, prototypes and specials! They even had a full replica of the 1948
Earl’s Court Motorshow, and inside were all the late model exotica, Lambos, Bugatti’s, Ferrari’s and the like. Anyone who was anyone
was there too, Murray Walker, Jacki Stewart,Stirling Moss, everyone! When the cars were on the track, they were at 10 tenths as well,
no hanging around - a fantastic sight and sound! Driving home was like a 60’s motorcade most of the way home! I had previously been
to the Goodwood festival of speed but this was the first time I had experienced the revival - this event is a must for any car enthusiast,
make this a must do on your going to do list - it will blow your mind.

Monday Sept 22
Over to Portugal to see my brother who lives in Alvor. He is the secretary of the local Classic Car Club. One of their members is Ralph
Broad of Broadspeed Engineering. We visited Ralph who is now 82, and he showed us a lifetime of memorabilia, including all the guff on
the Broadspeed Mini GT Fastback and the Broadspeed Bullet Capri which was the first turbocharged car in the UK. Ralph also told us of
his time developing the XJ12 Jaguar Coupe racecar which had loads of potential but was never realised due to parent company Leyland
not willing to pay the bills! Other achievements of Ralph’s include the Triumph Dolomite Sprint and the BMW CSL, a car that never handled
properly until sorted by Ralph. Then on to Portimao where the crews were unloading the P1 Offshore Powerboats from their transporters.
Although not racing this particular day, a couple of the twin engined monsters were fired up and the sound was incredible!

Homeward bound. Stopover in Kuala Lumpur, found a garage full of interesting cars, discovered that the Singapore GP was on, but
couldn’t arrange tickets, oh well, next time. Got hit up $600 excess baggage KL to Sydney, plus another $140 Sydney to Brisbane.
Shouldn’t have bought so much stuff. Then there’s the stuff that’s still coming from the UK… But it was the trip of a lifetime.

The 4^th round of the Qld Motorkhana Championship and Series was held at Beenleigh on September 21^st. Tony Galletly ran his Caterham 7,
son Michael in his Sud Ti and the Jones clan running their ever improving Locost 7. The car park setting is sometimes a bit tight, but the
organisers selected some quite fast and open tests that suited everyone. The ‘motorkhana specials’ didn’t have it all their own way. Peter
Lepherd in his MX5 managed 3^rd outright and 1^st on handicap, while Tony finished 7^th outright and 2^nd on handicap. Mike Jones in the Locost
7 set some very fast times early in the day, before suspension woes halted his day. The Locost 7 has to be the cheapest form of motorsport
available!!

The Come and Try motorkhana at Willowbank in October was a much more relaxed affair. Michael and Elsepth Galletly took their brace of AlfaSuds.
Michael’s Sud ran a big end bearing, so and engine rebuild is next on the agenda. The Jones also took the Locost 7 for their ‘juniors’ to have a
run. Around ten ‘under 17s’ ran on the day along with several newcomers. One of the onlookers was an owner of an early Elise who has recently
moved from Canberra and was such a nicely setup Lotus, it will be interesting to see how it runs next time. Maybe this is an event the club should
try and fit in when the calendar allows – November 23^rd is the next Come and Try event.

QUEENSLAND SUPER SPRINT SERIES – ROUND 4B - Morgan Park 17^th/28^th September 2008.

The 4^th and final round of the B Series of the 2008 Queensland Super Sprint Series was held over the weekend of the 27^th / 28^th September,
and there was once again a healthy representation of the Lotus marque. And for a change there was also LOTS of off track drama to spice
up the weekend, of which more later. While most people drove their cars up as usual (apart from Giles with his motorhome and Greg Bray who
always trailers his (S1) Europa), Clive Wade also for the first time opted to borrow a trailer to bring his car to the track so he could also carry
the (rather large) club tent (because our Hon Sec who normally brings the tent to the circuit had broken her ankle at Speed on Tweed the previous
week – But that is a separate story !!). Was it to be prophetic that Clive brought the trailer this weekend ?

As usual, most entrants arrived on Friday afternoon to take advantage OF the low cost track time available for re-acquainting ourselves with
the track, which this time was the short 1.2 km circuit. This is a very busy little circuit which requires constant driver input with 8 major corners
in that 1.2 km, and also a high degree of commitment and bravery over the blind rise-and-turn section on the back of the course. TROUBLE started
on the Friday for some, with Giles Cooper delaminating a front tyre, which looked to have finished him for the weekend due to a lack of a spare.
Mick Cullum, our resident Lotus Club wannabe Elise owner (who drives a turbo MX5) also struck seemingly terminal trouble when a suspension bushing
disintegrated. By the end of free practice at 5 pm, John Flynn was also looking mystified as his clutch pedal started to loose all feel and he was
eventually unable to disengage gears. (10 entered, 3 broken). So by Friday evening when most people set off to dine at the local Thai restaurant
in Warwick; 7 people were going well; and 3 were wondering how to resolve their seemingly terminal issues.

The excellent Thai meal obviously cleared the cobwebs from Mick and Giles’ heads because early Sat morning they made their decisions and set off
to Brisbane (180 kms) and QR (150 kms) to search for bushings / tyres respectively, and by lunch time both were back on track with their cars returned
to competitive condition. Mike Goodfellow arrived early Sat am in his 111R which would not rev onto the second cam so he was also mightily upset.
Meanwhile Garry Pitt found a very flat tyre when he awoke, and subsequent investigation at a tyre repair shop showed irreparable internal damage,
which USUALLY would be enough to end the weekend for a spare-less Elise. (10 entered 5 down.) However Geoff coincidentally happened to have
a spare set of suitable wheels & tyres in the back of Maree’s car, so Garry was once again up and running ! John Flynn had also started early (along
with many helping hands) to try to locate his clutch problem, and his was the second Elise to need Clive’s trailer when he was carted from motel to the
circuit for repairs. Greg Bray eventually found a small split in the line to the clutch slave cylinder, and once this was repaired, he was again mobile.
Finally, Mike “found” his second cam during the first track run, so he was also grinning again. (10 entered, 0 down.) By the time Giles and Mick returned
from their respective spare-seeking missions, the others had completed two runs, and the pattern for the weekend was starting to show. Geoff Noble in
“LONDA” was setting a cracking pace right from the start, with everyone else trying to keep him in sight. Jason Patullo was also flying right from the first
run in an effort to keep Geoff honest, while Garry Pitt was trying desperately to keep up with Jason. Meanwhile two other battles were taking place, with
Clive, John Flynn and Giles all swapping fastest times between themselves, and Greg in his Europa setting some excellent times while trying to embarrass
some of the newer cars, and John Barram very quietly (standard exhaust and airbox) managing

to keep in front of Mike without losing contact with the others. Mick Cullum meanwhile seemed to be just having one of those kinds of days – after his
bushing was repaired, he then had intercooler hose and handling problems on and off all day which meant he only completed one run. But at least the
event organization ran like clockwork, which enabled everyone to get 5 full runs on the day.

So it was the usual close battles between all the cars, with youthfulness seeming to win over age, unless you had a Honda engine. Mike Goodfellow had
enjoyed his day with his second cam for the first time, but had to go home in the evening, presumably to look after Maggie with her broken ankle !!
Saturday night saw a group return to the Thai restaurant, which shows how good it must have been the night before !

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, a repeat of Saturday, and an absolutely perfect day for racing. With Sunday morning runs historically proving the
fastest of the weekend, everyone eagerly prepared for some keen competition. Tyre pressures were adjusted, brakes and wheel nuts were checked,
and visors polished in readiness. Meanwhile John Barram was having problems with his immobilizer – It wouldn’t mobilize !! After frantic efforts by many,
with everyonehaving a “suggestion” of how the problem could be overcome, he eventually had to miss the first run. But for the others, it was PB’s all
round in the first two runs, with the 2 or 3 groups often separated by tenths or hundredths, although overall it was still Geoff in the lead, and Jason
flying faster and faster as the “best of the rest”, some 6 seconds faster than his previous PB on this track !! And having missed the previous round
two months ago due to the birth of his new baby, it was obvious that it must have been this that was the secret to his success (excess Testosterone ?).
At least we should be safe until at least the third round next year before Jason can repeat the performance again !!

While John Flynn’s clutch problems appeared to be resolved, John Barram had called it quits in his efforts to mobilize his immobilizer, (10 entered, 2 down)
and his car became the 3^rd Elise to use Clive’s trailer, this time to take it back to Brisbane at the end of the weekend. So now you understand how
prophetic it was that the first time we have really had any really major issues with the cars in some 3 years of competing in this series, we fortunately
had trailers available to recover all the cars throughout the weekend. Mick had also called it quits with his Mazda (“Pssst, I know where there is a cheap
Elise, Mick”), so it was now back to10 entered 3 down !

Clive very kindly shared his car with John on the last two runs, which will probably see John having to spend some SERIOUS money on his car now he has
“tasted” good brakes / tyres / exhausts / airboxes !!!

For the last run, PJ (another known-but-never-met Honda Elise owner from Byron Bay) arrived to meet everyone, and also a new Exige S owner from
Toowoomba came over to say g’day (Andrew, who shares his car with Geoff Somerville), and they are both interested in competition / club membership
in the future. And whilst at QR picking up his new front tyres, Giles also met someone from Brisbane who has just purchased one of the 2004 MoPro series
cars, so hopefully they will also join us and help to swell the numbers for competition and runs next year.

After the prize giving where every competitor received a handsome plaque with their results for the year engraved on it, everyone drifted down to the
Lotus Marquee for some cold refreshment, nibbles, and a chat before going home. Main items of discussion were as follows :-

1) Amazement at the number of problems encountered during the weekend – of the 10 Lotus Club entries, 6 had fairly major problems.

2) It was obvious that the fearlessness of youth was largely an advantage over the guile and experience of old age (except for Geoff !).
A new handicap system is therefore being devised in preparation for next year, and will be the subject of a separate article in due course,
once a fool proof (but essentially fair) system has been worked out that will ensure that the more senior representatives can always win !

3) The ways of increasing competitor numbers at the series next year. Apart from actively trying to get more current Lotus owners to join in,
the idea of finding a way to make a series entry under “A.N. Other” so that late comers to the series could be accommodated was discussed.

Overall, despite the car problems, it was the usual excellent weekend of racing, with great weather, close competition, and great social camaraderie.
Thanks to everyone who competed during the year, and we look forward to seeing everyone (plus some more) at the series next year.

And if, at the end of that weekend, anyone thinks that the old L.O.T.U.S. acronym really might be true, let me just say this – It never entered
our heads once !!

Every since I started doing the Qld super sprint series last year, I’ve been learning the sport and working hard to reduce my lap times.
This is a short article about spending money to make your car go quicker and not a spanner in sight.

Up here in sunny Queensland there are a number of us that regularly track our cars and the club is quite active in the hill climb, historic and Sprint series.
Now some of us are quite new to these activities and have a lot to learn.

Right from the first track day the more experienced competitors had spoken of the virtues of getting some professional driver training.
Myself, I’d spent 5 years in Drag Racing where cornering wasn’t high on the priority list to get a quicker time and the win.
So this sounded like good advice.

We are all busy people and trying to find the opportunity (usually midweek) to attend one of these driver training days always seemed to push
the timeframe further and further out. That was until July this year.

Before I talk about the driver training day, let me tell you about the NEED to go quicker, because it is a need, not a whimsical want.

You see at one of our more interesting circuits, Morgan Park at Warrick, we compete in the Qld Super Sprint series.
There is around 10 Elise competitors all fairly close in our lap times, that is except of El President (Geoff Noble) who found that he NEEEDED
to go really quick and installed one of those Honda engine thingies. Everyone else in our class compete for the coveted “Best of the Rest”
trophy, otherwise known as second place.

Now we are all chasing quicker times and installed the fancy shock absorbers, various brands of sticky tyres and other bits and pieces at
varying cost just to keep towards the front of the best of the rest race.

What’s all this to do with driver training you say, the NEED to go faster/quicker of course. Those experienced people had all said “best $
spend for time reduction you can do is driver training”

Then suddenly, John Flynn had and booked himself into a Paul Stokell Motorsport driver training day and we couldn’t have that, so I booked in as well.
After seeing Jason Patullo, in his first year in sprints suddenly jump up the best of the rest ranking after attending one of Paul Stokell’s driver training
days earlier in the year, I thought there could be something in this!

Both John and I had booked Paul himself as our driver trainer for the day along with one of those GPS performance box things (note to self; must get one of those).
The day itself was run very professionally, drivers briefing first up, followed by basic instruction on cornering, braking, balance etc then out on the track.
There were 3 trainers on hand, plenty of track time for everyone.

Now if you are going to sign up for a track day, it would be a crime not to have an instructor.
The instructor/trainer is essential in correcting your errors, showing you the lines, braking points, corner speeds, approaches to the apex.
As we found out there is one apex, but a number of ways to approach it. The format John and I used for the day is roughly as follows.

· Spent some time around the computer reviewing the data and pointing out where time was lost.

I also had Paul lay down some laps and times by himself and I went out again by myself, then back to the computer to review the 2 sets of data.
This helped greatly, the time around the computer doing the analysis, discussions on each corner, time back on the track and practice under
instruction is a great way to change the way you drive a track.

What about the results? Well, the very next weekend was round 3 of the Qld Super Sprints and the best of the rest race was on again, an
opportunity for us to put into practice what we had learnt. Every time we go to the track for each round we are all chasing PB’s and searching
for perhaps a 10^th of a second a lap. First run on a cold track (<10 degrees) in the middle of winter and I’d smashed my previous best, by the
end of the weekend I had improved my lap times by just short of 2 SECONDS a lap, amazing! Retaining the best of the rest trophy (second place
behind Geoff) and getting very close to Geoff’s benchmark pace set before the Honda conversion. John also improved his personal best.

So if you are thinking of reducing those lap times, stop searching the web for the next go fast bit to add to the engine or weight reduction carbon
fibre part, perhaps you should be looking up you local motor sport training organisation!

For those in and around South East Queensland I can highly recommend Paul and his team at Paul Stokell Motorsport for events on our local
circuits, Morgan Park, Queensland Raceway and Lakeside. He also operates a race driver coaching program for the more serious driver, this
is available nationally. Paul is in the process of buying an Exige which you will be able to hire on track days. He can be contacted via email
at paul@stokellmotorsport.com.au

It all helps in feeding the NEED to go quicker, best money I ever spent on my car...

Historic Race Meeting - Morgan Park, Warwick Aug 2008 by John Barram.

As the major Queensland Historic Meeting, this event attracts quite a number of interstatae competitors including on this occasion a good
number from South Australia. In terms of Lotus race cars, Mike Byrne had brought his giant killing S4 Seven from Melbourne and Stephen
Fryer with the beautiful MRC Lotus T23 and Bruce Mansell with a Lotus Elite T14 from NSW.

While we were able to put on clear blue skies for the whole meeting, the temperature did dip to -5 overnight, which tested the fortitude of
those camping at the track.

Unusually, the only Lotus single seater at the event was Peter Boel’s Lotus 41C. Pete had a pretty successful weekend in this spectacular
looking car although he suffered a broken rose joint when someone hit his rear wheel and then developing a major oil leak toward the end
on the weekend, which cut short his racing.

Mike Goodfellow had his Talisman formula Junior (in Lotus colours) but was caught up in a multi car “racing incident” on turn one, of lap one,
of his first race, sustaining damage which certainly put him out of action for the rest of the weekend. We wish you well with the rebuilding Mike.

Enough of the damage, Sports cars were where it was at, if you see the world through a Lotus prism. Stephen Fryer’s MRC Lotus T23 demonstrated
again what a brilliant piece of design was the original Lotus 23. The car was the first group O car home in each race, competing in the middle of
a bunch of Sports 2000 cars, 20 years younger with the advantage of the aerodynamic gains made by then. I think it is just magic and would love
to see more 23’s out there in historic racing.

Mike Byrne was missing the competition he normally has from the P------s but took the opportunity to lead every lap of all of his races (bar the handicap)
as well as lowering his group Sc lap record. Need I say more.

Grahame Vaughan was racing his Lotus Eleven replica and had an impressive addition to his outfit, his own personal mechanic who is now looking
after the car. Grahame was the quickest car in his group each time he raced and the car ran perfectly. Peter Yeomans was racing his famous
aluminium bodied Lotus Eleven Le Mans but the car had a problem in the rear end which limited his performance over the weekend.

Alan Telfer was running his Lotus Seven race car (group Q) and once he was moved in with the comparable performance groups K and L sports cars
he enjoyed some good dices with comparable cars.

In the regularity driving, Doug Lucas drove John Lungren’s Seven and I was on my first outing with a rebuilt engine in the Seven. We were joined
by Charlie Smith from Coffs Harbour in a S4 Seven. Charlie is 80 years of age, has a long and colourful history in Australian motor racing including
a stint in a Lotus 23, has been a pilot for many years and claims to be the oldest ferry pilot in the world. He is recently returned from delivering a
plane from the USA to South Korea. I hope I am still half as active at his age. With three Sevens of similar lap times it was great fun to run together,
carving through the tail enders as we lapped them and we still managed to pick up a few trophies for being regular.

Club Member Gary Saundersen and son Allan were running a Cortina in regularity and collected a few trophies.

Everyone agreed it was an excellent weekend - and almost all managed to beat their previous best times. By Friday night, most entrants had
arrived in Warwick for Round three of the Super Sprints, and a Thai meal was had to kick off the weekend.

Saturday dawned windy, cool and clear; for this round the seven Elises were all in the one group, promising some interesting racing.
Additionally, our group was second-last, meaning we had the advantage of a warmed-up and rubbered track by the time our turn came round.

For the first couple of runs the track was a bit slippery (especially for Clive and Giles!), but as the sun finally warmed up the track, times improved
for everyone. In between runs, we would wander to the Lotus Club marquee, where tea and coffee were always available. Giles and Janet had
moored their Winnebago next to the marquee, so there was quite an area taken up by all the Lotus members and their cars!

Only three runs were fitted in on Saturday, and we all organised to meet for dinner in the reliable Warwick RSL club (several of us are now members…).
My wife and our two kids (oh - and the dog) had driven to Warwick to meet me on Saturday, so we all enjoyed the food and company at the RSL
that evening.

Sunday dawned clear and a bit cool (-4 degrees) so after the obligatory scraping of frost off the windscreen, we were again drawn to the customary
breakfast at Maccas.

The track was really quite fast despite the temperature, and by the second or third run, most people recorded their best times for the weekend.
Of course many were “pressing on” - sometimes a little too hard - just ask John Barram! Mike Goodfellow patiently waited until the last run on
Sunday to record his best time of the weekend. Greg Bray improved consistently each run, and overall gained an impressive four and a half seconds
on his first run time.

For the last two runs, Geoff started from the last position on the grid to see how many cars he could overtake in the three lap event. Each run, he managed
to pass all but the first car, due to the unbeatable combination of great driver and K20A Honda in his Elise. However Garry Pitt managed to come within half a
econd of Geoff’s previous best time (when he still had the Rover engine) - very impresssive - and shows how useful driver training can be. Garry ended up in
second place in our Sports Cars 1500-2000cc class.

On the last run, Giles was seen stopped in a paddock with the engine lid up, looking perplexed. After being towed back to the pits, it turned out he’d run out
of petrol - something that appears easy to do when his Elise S1 fuel gauge goes from “11litres left” to zero in no time at all! Giles managed to refill 39 litres
into his 36 litre tank afterwards - it was so empty!

Following the awards ceremony (Geoff was outright first again…) we left Warwick and it’s hospitality until the next round.

Greg and I turned up on time (unusual!) in our Elan. Hot coffee’s in Milton were a very welcomed start to a crisp Sunday morning before the run.
The day’s line up of cars consisted of 4 Elises, 2 Elans, Esprit, Eclat and Derek kindly treated Anita to the comforts of a hot Mitsubishi Evo saloon.

A fun drive ensued through the Western suburbs, Mt.Crosby Rd, Warrego Hwy, and country roads via Gatton into Toowoomba. By this time we
were hanging onto the back of Patrick’s Elan. We all got a bit split up through Toowoomba, glad Patrick was on auto pilot and managed to find his
way to the old railway station where our lunches were waiting.

Suddenly Wade and Derek were missing, turning up eventually telling us the tale that they had stopped off to check out an idea for next year’s restaurant.
We weren’t surprised - these boys are always thinking of their stomachs, even a year in advance!

The atmosphere of the station’s large old dining room was very welcomed, topped off by the log fire Patrick proceeded to build and light.
Pleasant meals were consumed including the compulsory pulling of crackers. Did note that only people on our table were silly enough to wear
the paper hats though.

After everyone was pleasantly full, a couple set off in different directions, but most were keen to go the long scenic route home via Esk,
Lake Wivenhoe, Mt.Glorious and Mt.Nebo.

At the beginning of the mountains Geoff and Patrick disappeared into the distance. Greg was challenged trying to stick on the rear of John and
Penny’s Elise. Fun for the drivers, don’t know what the other passengers thought (I had trouble with my neck going around those tight corners
on two wheels, I have to hang on even tighter these days). Greg really does try too hard to match the young bred of Lotus cars! Wade in the
Esprit was behind us up and over the mountains and later admitted he was worried he’d come across us off the road following the strong smell
of tyre smoke in our wake. We clocked up 245 miles that day, Greg said the Elan needed a good thrashing and it got one!

A very good day had by all, thanks to our excellent social co-ordinators Derek and Wade.

Breakfast at Grabz and RACQ Motorfest – Sunday 29^th June 2008 by Daryl Wilson.

Following on from our very successful Sunshine Coast run the previous Sunday to the Beecham’s at Maleny and lunch at a French restaurant at Flaxton,
a group of keen LCQ members met up again on Sunday 29^th for breakfast at Grabz at Carina Heights Qld.

It was just another beautiful sunny day in BrisVegas, so what better way to start the day than to take the top off for an early morning run without
the usual week day traffic hassles.

Grabz have been supporting the club with adverts in the club magazine, so it was good to be able to support them and sample the fare. Grabz is a good
location; close to the CDB and with good centre street parking to show off the various members Lotus’s and other marques. The club cars generated plenty
of interest and favourable comments from passers by and locals on their morning walk or also calling into Grabz for breakfast.

A good turn up of LCQ members, spouses, kids etc rocked up and from all the comments everyone enjoyed the food and the location. Among the group who
attended were; Craig Wilson in his beautiful red Lotus Elan, John Lungren and his wife Dianne in his Lotus Super 7, (good to see I was not the only one with
the side screens on the 7), “el presidenta” Geoff who was slumming it in his mum’s Mercedes, not sure that’s a good example to set Geoff!!

I had the Caterham out for a run while my wife Moira chose the family wheel’s (Honda Euro) as she was heading off later when I went to the RACQ Motorfest.
Mal and Chris Kelson in his Mazda MX5, (Mal has assured us he will have his Super 7 replica on the road soon), Garry Pitt with his wife Kelly and son in his very
nice red Lotus Elise, John Bona another Lotus Elise punter who chose to come on his Scooter/Moped as he only lives locally, yeh a good story John!
Also there was Patrick in the Elan, Gabby must have given him a reprieve from the house reno’s! Wade with his usual sidekick a sleepy Aston in the Esprit
and Derek with mother in law and wife Anita in a Lexus, come on Derek what happened to the Bentley?

With all this foreign hardware around I am starting to wonder if some people have lost the plot or have too many toys!!!!

Following a tasty breakfast a few lingered on while several of us headed off to the RACQ Motorfest at Eagle farm racecourse.
After a round about trip to avoid the numerous road works in Brisbane Craig and I managed to squeeze into one of the Eagle Farm “FULL” car parks.
It helps to have a small car some times and they don’t come much smaller than Craig’s Elan and my Caterham Super 7.

Apparently this was the first year the Motorfest has been held at Eagle Farm Racecourse. They had a great turn out of over 600 cars of all types,
but sadly not a Lotus of any type in sight, we might have to do something about that next year guys!

One of the best cars on display for me was Geoff Woodside’s’ beautifully restored 1938 SS Jaguar 100 3.5 Litre Roadster. No expense appears to have
been spared and Geoff has done a great job restoring the car, well done.

There were certainly a lot of beautiful cars on display covering British, German, Italian, French, Swedish, American, Japanese, Australian and other makes of all kinds.
The event was very well attended and hopefully next year we might see a few Lotus’s to add a bit of class.

Everyone knew it was a fair dinkum Eleven, but the chassis plate had been removed, probably when it was being transported in 1961.

The car’s history could be traced back to when Len Deaton and Frank Gardner acquired it from the famous London “Chequered Flag” in July 1959.
Fortunately, Len owned an exquisite Leica camera and took many colour photos. Although at this time the car was only three years old, the body
looked quite badly battered.

The 11 as George bought - click to see more pictures.

Many shots show Frank racing the car, and he still fondly remembers an outright win at Mallory in the wet against some
very notable opposition. In the background of many photographs is the converted bus Team Lotus Transporter which was owned by Frank in those days,
and the Lotus 12 which he campaigned at the same time.

This is the car now beautifully restored by Mike Bennett in Adelaide. It was fun to re-enact
the setting of the old photographs when the cars were re-united at the Lotus 50^th Anniversary at Eastern Creek, over 40 years later.

Victor Thomas from the Historic Lotus Register had traced the registration number, VP034 to May 19, 1956, but the original owners name was illegible.
It was not until Richard Harris (restorer of original chassis #305) made the chance connection from a small photograph in Graham Capel’s book,
that the gaps in the car’s history were filled.

It turned out that the previously illegible name was “Hicks N. R” – Bob Hicks. Hicks (chassis #184) and David Piper (chassis #169) took their
Elevens to France in 1956 to race and took first and second in class. This was only a month after Lotus’ first success at Le Mans.

During the 1956 season, the Hicks – Piper Team ran successfully on the famous European circuits, but two major incidents and another by a subsequent
owner explained the rather ‘lived in’ look of the panels. The first was during a 22 mile race up the side of Mt Etna. Hicks did not have time to practice
and took a wrong turn into a small pub car park at full race speed. Soon after repairs were complete, another off at Goodwood again substantially
damaged the body.

The car was sold to Jimmy Blumer (a Le Mans driver) at the end of the ’57 season. He was also quite successful apart from a rollover at the Nurburgring
in June ’58, but the car was quickly repaired and went on to more class and outright wins later in the season.

After Frank Gardner ran the car in the 1960 season, the body was repaired and Len Deaton fitted a full screen and soft top and used the car for
everyday transport as well as a continental tour through France, Switzerland and Germany! One of the photos shows the car parked outside a French
Hotel with snow skis poking out the rear of the hood and demonstrates the true versatility of a proper sportscar!

After being transported to the colonies in 1961, Len raced it and it then passed through a number of owners before being sold to Queensland in 1966.
When it was raced by Trevor Bassett, the car had a very bulbous “Sabrina” front and an 1100cc Ford engine.

A new body was made in 1964 by Williams and Pritchard and fitted by an original Lotus panel expert, Stan Brown, in Sydney.

After a few seasons racing, the car was again ‘freshened’ by Don Biggar in time for Lotus’ 50^th anniversary at Eastern Creek and the Grand Prix
support events at Albert Park in 2002.

The car has been resting on it’s laurels for the last few years but it’s recent exposure at the McLeans Bridge Classic Car show, has again awoken
the sleeping giant within this 450kg of weightlessness!

Ahhh, breathe deep. That romantic scent of oil burning on a trailing throttle, a slight puff of extra blue smoke and the small bread van in front accelerates
out of the dipping left hander, climbs the slight incline, crests the hill on a disappearing right hand bend and roars down the next short straight, blue smoke
subtly wisping from the exhaust. Yep, the red Europa is thoroughly enjoying the roads which God conceived on the eighth day, to be used on the
7th………………..Sunday morning, a perfect Sunday morning in Queensland’s perfect winter. EMR like no one in Victoria could ever imagine, no “hottie”, no ear
uffs, no wife smugly sitting in her
heated Excel smiling benevolently at those poor frozen sods in their 7’s, no, this is a Queensland winter morning. Our 7 lovers were out in light jackets, just like
the other open air devotees, caps, bare hands, shorts, well, maybe not shorts, but definitely sunburn cream.

Allowing for any needs to attend early Sunday Service, Lotus Queensland meets up for an EMR early start (8:30 for 9:00) at “McNothings Healthy”, The Gap.
By 9:45 we are away earlier than planned. A good turn out of Lotus’, Volvo, Lexus & Nissan powered MX-5 (soon to be relaced by a Lotus because he
can’t keep up with the president).

Our first interesting sight is Mr Plod ensuring nobody is speeding at Everton Park, amazing how one can be so proactive sitting in the back of one’s Landcruiser
reading the local rag. No one makes a donation, and we motor peacefully through Samford, Dayboro and on to Mt Mee. Now, I say peaceful because some self
righteous, self serving, do gooder thought it would be helpful to give a navigator’s instruction sheet to she who must be obeyed! (ed: I wish, said she) I know my
way to Monteville!,

I don’t need a woman telling me where to go! And when she gets it wrong it’ll be my fault! So I point out the fact the instructions aren’t needed, and she
can rest her pretty head until we arrive for morning tea at The Beechams. Not to miss any opportunity to point out my thorough geographic knowledge of
south-east Queensland’s back roads, I ensured Gloria that the instructions are correct and by the Samford round-a-bout the instructions are finally filed on the floor.
Gloria could take in the scenery, and I, could enjoy the drive uninterrupted by a navigator making me concentrate on other things than the road.

Into Dayboro and there’s Chris Beecham at the side of the road waiting patiently to guide us all to Patty in the mountain chalet, see, perfect local knowledge on
my part, smug prat. Chris takes the lead, the president takes after him, I think John Barram (that’s the other JB, the one who remembers to pay his way) also
takes after him and that was the last we saw of those three (apologises to any other Elise driver who p………d off so quick, I am still back in the traffic).

No worries, I’ll pace along with the others, I know “my” way to Monteville. Up the “hill”, nice windy bits, Europa & Excel in front to watch, don’t they just sit so nice
through the bends, loosen the legs on the staights and sweeping bends, onto the picks before the blind corners and let the glorious dappled winter sun shine through
the trees…………hold on, why are we turning right?, Monteville is straight on, over Mt Mee proper, down the steep windy “hill” where motor bikes get all crossed up
because the bends keep bending and get tighter and tighter and then they remember to take notice of the “motor bike beware tightening bends” sign they passed
four bends back. So where are we going? Hey navigator, wake up and do your job!

Hey, this is a good road! Steep, windy, no motor bikes, I like this. Europa’s twisting, diving and blue smoking in front. Excel’s twisting, diving and pipe smoking from
the driver’s window in front. Elise is twisting, diving and singing in my hands………..just love Sunday mornings in winter. So navi, where are we going……….. “Chris and
Patty’s, remember Mr source of all knowledge”. No worries, we’ll follow and that way we won’t get lost. Good road too.

Turn left into the D’Aguilar Highway and onto the Beecham’s. Shortly, hmmmm, these guys don’t know where they are going, ring Chris. Ever tried to have a phone
conversation in a fast moving Elise to another fast moving Elise? .......not easy………so, just follow the Excel & Europa, they probably know where they’re going,
probably kept up with the written instructions. And sure enough, after some more glorious driving roads we arrive at the Beecham holiday hut. Yep, I’m not the
only one who knows SE Qld, fact, I learn some more, not to mention…….let the navigator navigate.

Hey, this is some holiday hut, even with an article in “Vogue Living” (that’s a women’s car magazine for those wondering).

Patty, Chris, you excelled yourselves. Patty put on the most sumptuous morning tea to be ever experienced. Perfectly, freshly, exquisitely brewed coffee for some
25 to 30 people, accompanied by cakes, bikies, chips, etc………and the perfect hostess. Thank you to the Beechams and particularly Patty. And I believe Chris set
the newly discovered course, I’ll try that again.

After morning tea, we all (all except Chris that is, he has to entertain Mr Plod doing a proper Mr Plod job, Chris’ office having been broken into during the early morning),
departed “Beecham Maleny”, motoring along at a slightly slower pace due to our well “morning tea’d” demeanour until we join the Landsborough/Maleny Road where we
have to even further quieten our pace to suit the Sunday lunch-time traffic of the Sunshine Coast hinterland, land of B+B’s, cafes and markets.

Turning into the car park of Le Bressan restaurant, our noble English motor hearts are struck by the plethora of French motors on display, isn’t this an English day? a
Lotus day? Are we to be confronted with rescuing them again? Are we to be challenged in proving the English can leak oil better than any other nation? And then,
when all is almost too much, there, under cover and well protected, is a Morgan! Sacre bleu, we are saved! Pending challenges put aside, we can safely enter the
establishment and dine in comfort, safely in the knowledge we are in the company of a motoring enthusiast, a man who understands oil leaks and the need to contain
the smoke in his wiring loom……………..and a man who can cook!

Lunch, a French gourmet extravaganza, three courses for which the English endure crossing the Channel, escaping mashed potatoes, bangers, roast beef & Yorkshire pudding.
We are treated to three exquisite courses of French dining, accompanied by the most reasonable wine list I have experienced since the 1970’s.

By mid to late afternoon, some very weary, happily sated, Lotus lovers have to say au revoir to a most entertaining host, and drive our trusty oil leaks back to Brisbane.
Thank you to Chris, Patty, Wade and Derek for organizing a most enjoyable day in the Queensland winter sun.

"MORGAN PARK CHRONICLES" - Queensland Super Sprint Series Round 2B 30 May – 01 June 2008 by Jason Patullo

The first round of the Super Sprint B series at Morgan Park was my first taste of the super sprint format and it was brilliant, the second round was even better.

Everyone was looking forward to Friday afternoon practice however there were some doubts in my mind about the weather, because in Brisbane it was miserable
and wet, but on arrival to Warwick, dry track and no rain. Fortunately it stayed like this the entire weekend of racing with the sun even poking its head through
the clouds on occasion. We all put in a couple of runs before comparing our settings so we could get the most out of our lap. A few clicks on the Nitrons and
some adjustment to the tyre pressure during practice made it a little easier on Saturday morning to go full tilt on the first run.

Getting low on fuel during practice meant for one of us taking a trip to the local servo to fill up the jerry can and put a splash in the tank. Now for the sake of the
story we will call this person JB. JB left the track and pulled into the servo where he caught up with Clive Wade who was also filling up for the weekend.
JB and Clive spoke for a few minutes, then JB jumped back in his car and took off for the track. Ummm did you forget something JB? You need to pay for your
fuel before you leave the servo! Lucky for JB, Clive paid for his fuel after he saw the service station attendant ready to ring the police and put out an APB on a yellow Elise.

Again this round another strong contingent of Lotus Club cars had entered the event. A fair mix of S1’s and S2’s LCQ had a total of 11 cars competing in this round,
9 Elises driven by Geoff Noble, Rob Stevens, John Bona, Jason Patullo, Garry Pitt, Giles Cooper, Clive Wade, John Flynn, John Barram, Greg Bray in his Europa and
one lonely Mx5 driven by Mick Cullum (soon to be a Lotus owner). Absent for this round was Deon Attard who had an unfortunate mishap while competing in Targa
Tasmania last month and is up for a rather hefty repair bill to get the 240 Cup back on the track. Good luck with everything Deon, glad to see you and your co-driver
are in better shape than your car, look forward to seeing you back on track at Warwick. Also absent was Mike Goodfellow who was in the UK.

Round 2 Of the Super sprint B series was to be held on the 1200m short track configuration at Morgan Park raceway. It is a very technical track suited to our cars,
because horse power, which most of us lack, is not the essential ingredient for a fast lap. The first sprint on Saturday morning saw everybody post respectable times,
times that set individual benchmarks for the weekend. Some of us were still trying to get the set up right for the track conditions, so there were many of us lying on
our back adjusting suspension settings and adjusting tyre pressures to make up for our own abilities. Geoff Noble in his Honda Elise and Mick Cullum in his Nissan 200sx
powered Mx5 scrapped all weekend and on occasion Mick was within 2 seconds of Geoff but the Lotus won out in the end - all the more reason for you to get that Lotus, Mick.

John Barram (Vice President) was having an excellent weekend and looking to post his fastest time on the last run of the weekend but our President had other ideas blocking
him while on the last lap. After a high level meeting in the oval office the President and Vice President released a statement saying “it was a racing incident, we are still mates.”

John Bona and myself had some great scraps throughout the weekend with John winning out on all occasions except when he ran out of fuel - yes you have read it correctly
John ran out of fuel even after filling up the 20L jerry can the day before, and, oh did I mention he drove off from the servo without paying for it? Despite one DNF John
finished third in class which was an excellent result, well done John.

Garry Pitt posted some very consistent lap times and he even surprised himself posting his best time on what was supposed to be the second last run of the day.
I think that after some slick talking with the officials Garry was able to get the event cut short so his time stood as the second quickest in class for the weekend.
Well done Garry excellent result. Another brilliant first in class and out right winner for the weekend was our President Geoff Noble. The combination of Geoff’s
driving ability and the Honda power plant makes for excellent sprinting and very entertaining viewing.

As the sprint series is held over Saturday and Sunday we all stay Saturday night and catch up at the local RSL for Dinner. It was an excellent turnout for dinner
as many of the wives and kids came up from Brisbane for the weekend to watch their dad’s and husbands basically have a ball in their car. My hat goes off to all
the wives and kids that made the trip especially my wife Melinda who is due to have our second child in 8 weeks and chased our son Oscar around the pits all weekend.
Oscar thoroughly enjoyed waving to all the drivers as they lined up in the marshalling area and whenever given the chance wanted to sit in every car possible.

Back to dinner at the RSL. JB who has become famous for not paying for his fuel on Friday (for the record he did reimburse Clive for the fuel) came to dinner with no
money as he left his wallet in his hotel room. Fortunately for him one of his fellow club members came to his rescue again. You would think that after the issue with
the fuel, both not paying for it and running out of it and dinner on Saturday night JB really did not want to give me anything else to write about in the article but……

After a great night at the RSL we were all up bright and early ready to hit the track. Most of us checked out of the hotel nice and early so we could get a spot of breakfast
and a caffeine hit. Well, JB checked out and yes, forgot to pay.

What a fantastic weekend of sprint racing, every one improved their times over the weekend and had an excellent time doing so. The standout performance or should I
say performances should go to Garry Pitt who posted a brilliant time on Sunday and to JB who kept the weekend interesting off the track. Many thanks to Giles and Janet
for making everyone feel welcome in their luxury home on wheels and also to John and Penny who always sets up an excellent LCQ temporary HQ for everyone to shelter
from the cold, and the get a nice hot beverage.

A perfect winter’s morning greeted an enthusiastic bunch of Lotus owners for what has become an annual pilgrimage to the canefields south of Brisbane.
8.30am for a 9.00am start blew out to more like 9.30am as the various Lotus and their owners rolled in to BP Yatala. We had a strong showing with a
few Sevens (including Caterhams!), a couple of Elans, Wybe’s Elite, a smattering of Elise variants, as well as some other fine examples of the marque.

Russ Carter led the way in his Carlton and we were soon barreling down the back roads along his carefully surveyed route. Despite the directions Russ had
provided there were a few ‘navigation’ errors by those at the tail end - prior to leaving we had been told to be observant, but there was little time for that
with many twists and turns among the tall cane fields. Ripping along the narrow roads between the tall cane stalks is an great feeling, with no real need for
peripheral vision, you only need to focus straight down the road. With a mild case of tunnel vision it wouldn't be hard for the red mist to descend.
I couldn't help but think it would be an interesting stage to have in a tarmac rally (Although not for the spectator).

We drove into the Calypso Bay resort, it's a residential/golf resort sitting among the waterways just north of the Gold Coast and a very nice setting.
We visited Harrigan's Drift Inn to top up with coffee and we were basically turned away as "we are too busy”! We wont be returning there anytime soon!
However, the owner of the convenience store adjacent was more than happy to welcome us and soon had the coffee, tea and biscuits laid on! We will return!

After our refreshments we returned to our steeds ready for the next phase. Everybody started to leave, but where was Wybe? When he fired up the Elite a
loud rattle came from the top end so he shut it down and enlisted the diagnostic skills of Greg Bray. Various theories abounded, and it was decided that the
best thing to do was to trailer the car to Greg’s garage. You might remember Wybe's gorgeous Elite was featured on the font cover of last months magazine
after winning the "Shannon Choice" award at the Mcleans Bridge Classic, which just illustrates the highs and not quite so highs of Lotus Ownership.

The delay in proceedings was put to good use as Paul English from Lotus dealer Zupps, had brought an Exige S demonstrator. Patrick and Wade tested out
the launch and traction control in the carpark, purely as a technical exercise, right fellas? Much to the amusement of the resorts' "security" man who was
patrolling around looking for something to do on a Lazy Sunday morning.

With Wybe sorted, the group turned back on to the highway for a quick jaunt north to Russ & Leigh’s house for a barbecue. Their house is atop a hill on a
bit over eight acres with a hillclimb course for a driveway. Naturally, this was put to good use by some (all?) of the participants! Once the engines were turned
off, we adjourned to the deck for lunch and enjoyed the Carter’s hospitality. Russ provided us with a “shed tour” and showed off his toys before Derek & Wade
demolished the Triffle dessert! Our earlier powers of observation were put to the test with a written test provided, but with the highest score being 1 out of 5,
I think it’s safe to say we were having too much fun to take notice of the scenery!

After a great morning’s run and a fabulous lunch, I think we should pronounce this run a total success and hope for more like it! Big thanks to the Carter’s for
making it happen!

*Footnote. Wybe’s Elite is now running as sweetly as ever. It seems that a nut and washer holding the aircleaner on to the manifold came loose and the engine
sucked the washer into the chamber. Greg Bray has completed the repairs and Wybe is now smiling again!

A Mother’s Day Present for an Elite! - MacLean's Bridge May 2008 (by Wybe Geertsma).

Winning the Shannon’s prize for the Best Sports Car with our (not mine, because all family members participated and suffered during the eight year restoration) Lotus
Elite Coventry Climax 1960 was a great feeling. Bear in mind that there were about 250 cars to choose from. It was a step higher than the 2001
“Most Desirable Post-war British Sports Car” prize, for our Lotus Elan DHC Series 3 1967.

The Elite’s chassis (it has no chassis) number is # 1449. It became the successor of # 1082, which was used as a demonstration car by the Lotus Factory.
This car with a Maximar body was destroyed in June 1960 in north Wales. Canadian journalist, Tom Davenport, died on impact when the car hit a bus head on,
while the driver, Ian McLeod, (Lotus Sales Manager) landed in hospital with severe injuries.

The Elite # 1449 has a Bristol body. Very few parts were used from # 1082. Maybe the gearbox but not the engine and definitely not the final drive as this
was reported lost beneath the waters of Llyn Peris. The throttle operated by arms and levers is a reminder of the destroyed car. All Bristol bodied series 2
cars have a throttle cable. Elite # 1449 has also been used as a demonstration car by Lotus. The UK Registration Book shows, after the accident, the change
of chassis number and colour: light green became moonstone grey. The original registration is in the name of Elite Cars, Delamare Road, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire,
and signed by Fred Bushell.

The restoration started in 1998 after the Elan had been finished. With two cars under restoration the Elite might have ended up with an Elan chassis and a
twin cam engine. But hasn’t that been done already by Mike Ostrov, living in the San Francisco Bay area, with one of his many Elite’s!

Mike Ostrov and Greg Paris are producing a regular Club Elite Newsletter. So far they have located 700 Elite’s. Not bad for a production of only # 1050
(between 1958 – 1963), and including Elite’s being sold through the back door.

One of the major problems that occurred after the restoration was fuel pump failure. The original AC mechanical fuel pump was replaced with a modern elec. pump.
The same type that performs so well in the Elan, but in the Elite it would not get enough fuel through to the second SU carby. There followed :-replace pump;
pressurize fuel lines; pump below/on top of fuel tank; nothing would cure the problem. So back to the old mechanical fuel pump – (same as in the Hillman Imp,
which also has a Coventry Climax engine), and a new membrane, plus using parts from my Coventry Climax Fire Pumps, but the unreliability remained.

The last time I drove the Elite with this pump, the car came to a halt on the overpass of the Toowoomba bypass. Gary Saunderson rescued me with his trailer.
Thanks also to our mobiles. Back to the drawing board with another type of electric fuel pump. Tony Caldersmith sent me an email plus photo with how it is mounted
in his Elite. I copied it. Presto, good fuel pressure at all times. Perseverance that paid off.

The Transport Department would not allow me to use the Factory rego: 713 HJH because of an agreement with NSW. Some years ago a NSW Mitsubishi Sigma with
exactly this rego overtook me. Anyway the registration: OWG - 014 is fine. Yes it is Type 14, or 13 as Lotus skipped this number for obvious reasons.

The track at Stanthorpe is about 1 km long and the main straight is a 200m drag strip. It cost $120 to enter and we got 6 x 4 lap races for that, good value,
at the Gatton sprints we paid $160 for 6 x 1 lap sprints.

First race on Saturday he only got one lap in and Allan came in with engine problems (loss of power and a loud noise). The rear extractor pipe came off the head
because the spring had lost its tension. So we shortened it and put the pipe back on, then there was all this avgas fuel dripping down onto the extractors from
the front 45mm Weber (could have been a real problem if the fuel ignited). We striped the Weber and found that the needle and seat was sticking open so we replaced it.
No more trouble with the engine for the rest of the weekend, it went like a rocket.

After the episode at the Gatton sprints with the rear spring leaves moving sideways and trying to punch a hole in the fuel tank I fitted some u bolt brackets onto the rear springs.
This was hopeless as it made the rear springs tighter and the car was over steering on all the corners so we took them off.

We reset the rear koni shockies and disconnected the sway bar and watts link on the back of the car to try it out. (refer photo, left to right is Allan Saunderson (driver),
Errol Stratford (adviser) and Peter Stavanovic (assistant spanner man). It went faster but was a bit untidy on some of the corners. We are going to try it for a while like
this just to see how it goes. We will take the sway bar and watts link bits with us next time we race and bolt them on if we need to.

He won his class pre 1972 Classic 1500cc to 2000cc. There were a couple of Fiats and a Datsun in his class. That’s it for now…

HRCC No Frills Meeting on weekend of 3^rd and 4^th May 2008 (by Maggie Goodfellow, Photos by Colleen Conway).

The Historic Racing Car Club of Queensland holds two major race meetings a year, both now at the Morgan Park Raceway, Warwick. Lotus Club Queensland is well
represented at most HRCC meetings and this was certainly the case at the weekend “No Frills” meeting of Saturday and Sunday 3/4 May (which luckily coincided with
the long weekend so most of us still had a free day on the Monday!) “No Frills” really means 1) no awards, 2) no paying spectators; 3) No major advertising, however,
the competition is just as intense as the major “National” meet held in August.

Missing participants who normally swell the LCQ ranks at these events were Peter and Anne Yeomans who for family reasons were not able to attend with their beautiful 11
and David Reid who despite car problems (therefore no Formula Junior car), came to cheer on the LCQ troops with Annie on the Sunday.

This is not just a race meeting, this is a real social event, and the LCQ organisation has now reached a certain degree of sophistication. Dining and menus are arranged in
advanced by partners of said racers, resulting in a) no one having to do more than one meal per weekend and b) because everyone thinks that we might not quite have
enough to eat, inevitably heaps of food!

The 6m x 3m LCQ corporate Tent“ or “Lotus Hilton” as it has been named in the past is the focus point for socialising and, as a number of members now have similar car s
hade structures, the Lotus camp has turned into a veritable city of peaked structures all roped together to withstand the worst cyclone. Together with car trailers used
as sleeping quarters by Boels and Conways, and camping stalwarts Barrams, Vaughans, younger Conways and Goodfellows, the prospect of an early to bed evening after
racing is not very likely. The addition of the Conway’s wood fired brazier to warm the chill of the Warwick air and all is set for a fantastic weekend (not to mention the car racing).

Practice and racing on the Saturday set the tone for the weekend for Formula Junior (who were competing with Formula Vee’s in the same race) with Peter Boel and
Kim Shearn fighting it out for 3^rd or 4^th or 5^th– both really competitive. Grahame Vaughan was consistently in 3^rd or 4^th place for the day in the Group K,L category and
both Doug Lucas (3^rd) John Barram (4^th) and Sean Conway (6^th) showed potential championship chances in the Regularity Group 1.

With the second half of the day’s action, Allan Conway achieved a 2^nd place in Run 1 of the Regularity Group 1 and Peter Vandemeer a first place in Run 2, with Doug Lucas
and Sean Conway also in the high placements. Unfortunately John Barram had to retire with engine problems after the first run. On the Sunday, Sean Conway blitzed the field
with a first in Run 3 and Doug Lucas did the same in Run 4 – so by the end of the weekend, Doug Lucas (in John Lungren’s beautiful 7) went away with a 2^nd place overall.

Graham Vaughan improved his placing to 2^nd in the first run on the Sunday, but had to retire hurt on the last run, but due to his consistency over the weekend ended up with
a 3^rd place in his category.

Brian Kuzman seemed to be having a ball over the weekend, hurtling around the track with the other minis and the odd Cortina.

The highlight of the weekend for the LCQ Formula Junior contingent was seeing Mike Goodfellow coming in first in the handicap race with Peter Boel furiously trying to overtake
him on the line, and visitor Kim Shearn coming in third! Unfortunately, as soon as they had crossed the line there was an extremely nasty pile up of cars and Alan Telfer was lucky
to escape involvement and serious damage. It was not funny to see beautiful early 60’s cars damaged but luckily no one was hurt and all drivers walked away from the scene.
Peter Boel ended the weekend with 3^rd in the Formula Junior racing.

The No Frills meeting does not attract the high level of participants from interstate, but it is a great weekend, run with the usual professionalism of the HRCC.
Morgan Park is a fantastic venue, with the full track 2klm being used for this event. The Warwick Sporting Car Club is continually improving the facilities
(the best hot showers) – so come along to the main HRCC meeting on August 8^th, 9^th and 10^th and enjoy the racing.

Just another lazy Sunday morning for most people, sleep in, late breakfast, slow and easy start to the “laziest” day of the week.

Not so for the hardcore Lotus owner. Sunday morning 6am is the best time to head for the hills! The time to be out, beating the slow drivers and
those fine Upstanding holders of the peace (and revenue collectors).

A fleet of cars charged out of Maccas at the Gap heading for the twisty stuff. Too many to count, around 14-15 I think, all Elises with the exception
of Chris’s Elan S2, which was gingerly driven up as it has already been committed to sale and awaiting pick up by the new owner. Now you need
to be hardcore to get up for a 6am start, especially if you’ve driven up from the Gold Coast getting yourself our of bed at 4:somethingish just to drive
a car, Madness to some, really living to others!

Now these early morning blasts up the hill for the regulars keep the DT’s at bay between track days and sprint events, but this run saw a number of
newcomers joining in swelling the numbers.
Even the elusive state hopping “LOONEY” was finally revealed. Welcome to all the newbies, you all got away with not wearing your undies on the
outside for your first run (A mythical tradition).

As usual the run takes up through Mt Nebo, through Mt glorious and over the “back” of the hill, before turning around and retracing our steps
(read; tyre marks) back to Mt Glorious for a well earned breakfast. Where much car talk usually ensues! For those not at our end of the table you
missed a number of entertaining stories from newbie Evan and his various run ins with the afore mentioned law. I particularly enjoyed the
incident (the hash brown story) which led to one of his court appearances, something about doing 160 in a 60 zone, driving with his knees,
drinking a Coke with the other arm outstretch out the window “cooling down my Hash Brown” has us all in stitches.

fter a fine hot breakfast, the run down the mountain isn’t usually as free flowing as it is up, as the odd slow vehicle appears, and this was again the
case along with a number of bikers waving for us to slow down. Suspecting the cops we dutifully slowed, but reason turned out to be a motor cyclist
who had failed to negotiate one of the corners and ended up in the scrub, we all hope he/she was OK. Which goes to show that it is much harder to
cool your Hash Brown down while riding a bike.

Wake up - 7.00am – definitely keeping the roof on (looks like it’s going to pour all day).
“Hurry up kids – no need for breakfast, we’re going to Mal’s place”. As per usual emergency rations are packed and we’re off. We arrived at
Mal’s secluded bush retreat or so it seemed after the barbeque had been fired up for some time and upon viewing the spread the emergency rations were discarded.

Breakfast was great with sausages, hash browns, bacon, eggs (Mal’s own spin on keeping fried eggs in check) and all the accompanying juice, tea, coffee etc.
We had to have a tour of the shed before leaving which consists of an excellent two-level layout, Mal gaining access to the underneath of his near complete ‘Seven’
via a lift-out panel from the lower level. Time to leave. And with that most clouds disappeared to reveal a perfect day calling for roofs off where possible.

We had about 10 cars for our trip up the mountain including Europa S2, Seven, Carlton, New Europa S (welcome Chris), Esprit S4S, Volvo (Jacqui driving in her
usual average 22 litres per 100 klms style) and Holden ever present with Chris Beecham (the Seven was a little risky with the possible inclement weather) and
once again Derek keeping us guessing in his V8 Commodore Ute. Derek won’t make that mistake again.

Russ Carter had mapped out an excellent route from Mal’s to the Botanical Gardens at Tamborine, with many perfect Lotus roads along the way.
Russ obviously put in a lot of time in selecting then driving the route and making directions, which always makes for a successful day.
He also kept us guessing for our final destination, as we seemed to navigate every road in Mt. Tamborine at least once.

It was a ‘bring your own’ picnic lunch. As per usual Derek brought his own for everyone with chicken pasta salad which could have accompanied the fish and loaves.
Mind you, caramel slice with ‘dolup’ cream was not bad either but only for those confident their arteries were clean to begin with.

A great place for a family picnic with many walking tracks, bridges over ponds and streams.

My first Lotus was a Kyosho 1/18 Caterham Super 7 model that my eldest son Matthew bought for me more years ago than I care to remember – refer picture below.

Being aware of my life long passion to own a Super 7; Matthew did his best to encourage me to take the leap and buy one.

My quest to buy a Super 7 has been a long; some would say protracted or procrastinated exercise.

My first involvement with Lotus Club Queensland was about 3 years ago when I rocked up to the monthly meeting at Chapman and
Chapman Garage (alas no longer our meeting place) and was immediately made welcome and had a great time wandering around the
club members Lotus of various types and the exotic machines Andrew Chapman and his crew were working on.

As a new member that night I was called on to introduce myself and asked what type of Lotus I owned. To which I answered I was a ”WANNABE”
I wanta get a Super 7, this brought murmurs of agreement from the 7 owners and enthusiasts present and a few not so enthusiastic comments from the other Lotus devotees.

Over the next couple of years there were a myriad of people offering advice on what I should and should not buy. The advice kept coming and one by one I considered Lotus Europa’s,
Excel’s, Esprit, Elan M100, Elan and Elan Plus 2 and in each case felt they did not fit the bill for me. Finally I got serious and test drove a Caterham Super 7 for a couple of hours and
was immediately hooked. Problem I am around 6 foot (in the old speak) and could not fit in the car, my knees were jammed up under the dash. I know there is not much room in a 7,
but this was ridiculous!

About this time I was lent a book called “The Magnificent 7” which details every Lotus and Caterham 7 build from 1957 until 2006.
I discover that around 1983 Caterham started building a car with a longer foot well and the car I had tested probably had the short foot well set up.

Having finally convinced myself the 7 was the car for me; I hit the internet and trawled all the car sale sites until I found a car in Sydney.
A couple of flights to Sydney to test drive the car and make sure I could fit in the car and the deal was done!

I am pleased to report after many years of delaying, making excuses and procrastinating, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a 1998 Caterham Super 7.

The car has a Rover K-Series 1600 motor with the Supersport conversion, 5 speed Ford Sierra gearbox and De Dion rear end, reportedly produces 140bhp
and 0 - 100kph in 5.9secs.

I am now having a lot of fun tinkering and tidying up the car and of course getting out for club runs and just driving it when the mood take me.

Time will tell whether the 7 is the car for me, but I am having fun, finally living my dream and really that’s what it is all about.

Queensland Super Sprint ‘B’ Series Round 1 - Morgan Park 7th - 9^th March 2008. (by John Flynn).

For the 2008 season the Queensland Lotus Club moved to the Queensland Super Sprint ‘B’ series to avoid clashes with many of the historic events.
With 140 cars registered for the series the big question was how many runs we would get for the weekend. The sprint format has changed this year
to allow 8 cars on the track for each run in an attempt to accommodate the additional entries. Previously we ran in groups of 6 on the track which
allowed drivers to start off in a staggered start, the new format required cars to go in pairs to avoid being caught on the grid by the first car.
This created a lot more excitement for the first few corners as drivers sorted out their position on the track.

We had a strong contingent of 11 lotus club cars enter the event, Mike Goodfellow’s Tallisman, Greg Bray’s Europa, eight Elise’s of Clive Wade, John Barram,
Giles Cooper back after missing last season, Rob Stevens, Garry Pitt, LCQ President Geoff Noble, John Flynn and two new competitors for this season Jason Patullo
and Deon Attard in beautifully presented Exige 240 Cup.

The official entry form noted that the track would not be open for practice on Friday afternoon as Choice Magazine had the track booked for the week to road test tyres.
After a few phone calls we convinced ourselves that the Choice testers would finish early on the Friday afternoon and we could sneak on to the track for a few
practice laps. Unfortunately we couldn’t, as a result we had two very disappointed drivers with brand new tyres who went off searching for a deserted industrial
estate to heat cycle their tyres.

Giles Cooper made a great arrival at the track on Friday afternoon with his Elise on a trailer behind his new Winnebago complete with fridge, microwave,
air conditioning, TV and stereo, no more roughing it in hotel rooms for Giles. The tradition of the team LCQ dining at the Warwick RSL on Friday nights may
be at an end after we all enjoyed a few beers and a BBQ in the comfort of the Giles’ mobile race headquarters. Might be a bit cold in winter!

Saturday was a beautiful morning and eight Elises were out in the first group out. Everyone enjoyed the drag race to the first corner.

Rob Stevens had new rear tyres on his Elise and was not one of the drivers who went for a spin around the industrial estate, on his second lap he had a big slide that he
almost corrected but unfortunately ended up sliding backwards across the grass and into a tyre wall. Rob was the third Elise driver in as many meetings to require duct
tap to hold his body work together. He was a little slower through that corner for the remainder of the weekend. Rob managed to record the whole spin on his onboard
video camera, proving he did almost manage to save the slide.

Jason Patullo had been looking forward to his first sprint race at Morgan Park for months, unfortunately the weekend clashed with his grandmothers 80^th birthday,
he was determined to do both. Jason drove up early on the Friday for the practice session that was cancelled. He was out in group one on Saturday morning, he
then waited hoping to have his second run before he had to leave and drive back to Brisbane for the birthday party. Jason missed his second run but was back in
Warwick for dinner at the RSL, you can’t question his commitment. On his first run on Sunday Jason was a little too keen to go faster and produced a spectacular
spin exiting turn two in view of all the spectators.

Clive Wade had invested in a set of Nitron suspension for his Elise to replace the 10 year old originals and was impressed with the handling improvements.
His comment was that he felt the car was much more controllable at the limits. Traditionally Clive would spin a couple of times each meeting but not this weekend,
he did manage to take a few seconds of his previous best time.

Garry Pitt was another who has made a few improvements to his Elise since last session and managed to reduce his best time by 5 seconds. The secret to Garry’s
improvement is that his car is now running all Geoff Noble’s old go fast engine bits he no longer needed since upgrading to the Honda engine. He also had slipped on
Nitron suspension and wider sticky tyres and new wheels.

John Barram who usually runs his Seven in the sprint series, has entered his S1 Elise for this year. His times improved by almost 10 seconds over the weekend
as he sorted the car out.

Deon Attard lives in Mackay in North Queensland and keeps his Exige in Brisbane and is planning to fly down for each round of the series. Apparently the roads
around Mackay are not much fun in the Exige. Deon managed his fastest run on his first session on the track. He spent the rest of the weekend coming to grips
with the track and the power of the supercharged Exige, he even managed a spin on the warm up lap. Deon was unable to find a hotel room in Warrick and was
luck enough to use Giles spare bed.

Greg Bray and John Flynn started their first run at the back of a group with six Alfas, by the finish they had managed to catch and pass 3 of the Alfas lots of fun
but slows your overall time. On the first run on Sunday morning Greg and John were again catching an Alfa that managed to lose its sump plug and covered a quarter
of the track in oil. Greg hit the oil as he turned in to one of the faster corners on the track, his Europa was air born as he slid sideways over the concrete kerb and on
to the grass. Fortunately there was no serious damage.

Giles Cooper’s times steadily improved over the weekend, almost back to his fastest. Giles’ Elise is another car that has undergone extensive engine modifications
over the last 12 months so we can expect further improvements over the season. The big question is can he close the gap on Geoff?

LCQ’s new President Geoff Noble was as fast and clinical in his driving as ever. For the last run of the weekend Geoff started at the back of the grid with his video
camera on and managed to catch and pass 4 cars. On the video it was impressive how quickly the Honda-powered Elise could catch the Rover-powered cars.
Geoff managed some of his fastest individual lap times of the weekend during this session; he obviously enjoys having others to chase down!

The weigh bridge was open on the Sunday morning and every one stripped anything loose in an attempt to have the lightest car. The S1 Elises had a definite weight
advantage over the newer S2 cars but the Europa was still lighter as was the Tallisman. All of the non lotus competitors watching the weigh in were amazed how light
our cars were. Refer to the results for the actual weights.

Congratulation to Geoff Noble for first in class and first overall for the meeting, Clive Wade was second and Garry Pitt was third behind Geoff in the 1500 ~ 2000cc
sports cars. Deon Attard was third in sports cars over 3000cc and Greg Bray was first in the pre 1977 classic sports cars 1500~2000cc.

It was another great weekend of sprint racing, with great company and food. The new format worked well, however we only managed six runs over the weekend
due to numerous stoppages to clean oil off the track. Thanks must go to the Warrick Sporting Car Club for running the event, bring on round 2 in May.

LCQ Members Celebrate Formula Junior Anniversary - (NZ Jan/Feb 2008 & Aust Feb/Mar 2008).

(Written by Peter Boel, Photos by Colleen Conway).

A number of Lotus Club Queensland members participated in the recent Formula Junior Tasman Series commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the formula.
Formula Junior features heavily in the early success of Lotus racing with the first Lotus rear engined open wheeler, the Lotus 18 in the hands of Alan Stacey,
making the type’s debut in a Formula Junior race at the 1959 Boxing Day Brands Hatch meeting. Later success in the Formula came in the form of
the Lotus 20, 22, and 27 with Lotus FJs dominating internationally and easily winning the British championships in 1960/61/62/63.

The 2008 Tasman Series included races in New Zealand at Pukekohe and Taupo followed in Australia by a meeting at Calder Raceway and the Phillip Island Historic meeting.
The FJ competitors from both sides of the Tasman were joined by seven from the UK and two from the US. LCQ members Alan Conway (Gemini Mk3A), David Reid (Cooper T59),
and Peter Boel (Lola MK 5A) made the trip for the New Zealand leg of the Series and Alan Telfer (Lotus 20B) joined them for the Australian races.

In all over 55 Formula Juniors competed in the series including 6 Lotus 18s, 2 Lotus 20s 2 Lotus 20/22s and 2 Lotus 22s. The race fields were divided into three groups
(front engined, drum braked rear engined, and disc braked rear engined) representing the changing technology in the formula from 1958 to its demise at the end of 1963.

Sadly a Lotus did not win the Series although Jonathan Williamson (Lotus 22) won several races and was always competitive at the front, and Roger Ealand (Lotus 18)
punched well above his weight in the older car taking several class wins and regularly pushing the pointy end of the field. The glory however went to Lola with Scot,
Clive Wilson winning his class in every race and the Series overall in his front engined Lola Mk2.

Of the LCQ participants David Reid was the standout performer with a race win at Calder Raceway and good performances at the pointy end of the races.
Yours truly dropped a valve in the first practice session at Pukekohe and spent most of the New Zealand leg playing engine builder (unsuccessfully!!)
After quickly putting a new engine together on return to Brisbane I kept out of trouble with only a few minor panics at the Australian events.
Alan Conway ran reliably in the middle of his Group until the end of both Taupo and PI events when engine gremlins put paid to his fun. Alan Telfer only
ran his lovely ex-Geoghegan Lotus in the PI meeting but looked to be enjoying himself judging by the grin on his face.

For me the standout memories of the Series is the sight of 40 odd open wheelers leaving the grid, the fierce but clean competition throughout the field,
the exceptional camaraderie of the group at all the meetings and the incredible hospitality of the Kiwis when we were in NZ. One of the silver linings to a broken
car in NZ was the ability to for once watch a FJ race. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen more competitive and enjoyable races. The competitiveness of the racing is
exemplified by the fact that in the twelve races there were five different outright and ten class winners. And in both New Zealand and Australia the Formula Junior
races were a ‘must see’ event for the crowd – they loved it.

The Tasman Series is just the inaugural part of a global series commemorating the 50 year anniversary of Formula Junior. The Series continues in Europe and
the US and finally next January to South Africa. A number of our group is already planning the trip to SA to be part of the Series climax.

Lotus and Caterham 7 - 50 year Celebration.

In December 2007 John Barram organised the Queensland "7" owners to meet at John
Lungren's to celebrate the 50 years anniversary since the first Lotus 7 was built.
John managed to get a good turn up and wrote an article for the Feb 2008 club magazine.
The article was also printed in the Caterham Life UK newsletter – click here to view article.

Well done John

Driver	Car	Manual Timing	Digital Timing	Fastest Lap
Geoff Noble	Elise S2 Honda	2.41.68	2.41.023	39.176
Jason Patullo	Elise S2	2.48.83	2.48.189	41.081
Mick Callum	Mazda MX5 T	2.50.77	2.49.83	41.16
Garry Pitt	Elise S2	2.51.92	2.51.105	41.702
Giles Cooper	Elise S1	2.54.08	2.53.057	42.078
Clive Wade	Elise S1	2.55.72	2.54.616	42.377
John Flynn	Elise S1	2.58.02	2.58.232	43.437
Greg Bray	Elise S1	2.58.55	2.58.357	43.425
John Barram	Elise S1	3.00.87	3.00.158	43.589
Mike Goodfellow	Elise S3	3.17.62	3.17.302	48.214

Driver	Car	Time
Geoff Noble	Elise S2	2.42.33
Mick Cullum	Mx5	2.46.13
Garry Pitt	Elise S2	2.52.91
John Bona	Elise S2	2.53.64
Giles Cooper	Elise S1	2.54.11
Jason Patullo	Elise S2	2.54.71
Clive Wade	Elise S1	2.55.21
Rob Stevens	Elise S2	2.58.79
Greg Bray	Europa	3.00.46
John Flynn	Elise S1	3.01.13
John Barram	Elise S1	3.03.16

Driver	Car	Best time	Weight kg
Geoff Noble	Elise S2	3.30.49	779
Clive Wade	Elise S1	3.44.90	756
Garry Pitt	Elise S2	3.46.01	802
Giles Cooper	Elise S1	3.47.61	746
Rob Stevens	Elise S2	3.50.64	787
John Flynn	Elise S1	3.52.21	741
Greg Bray	Europa	3.52.59	660
Jason Patullo	Elise S2	3.53.56	778
Deon Attard	Exige 240 Cup	3.54.07	980
John Barram	Elise S1	3.59.96	748
Mike Goodfellow	Tallisman	4.21.25	425

Geoff Noble	Elise S2 Honda	3.26.15
Garry Pitt	Elise S2	3.40.58
Clive Wade	Elise S1	3.42.87
John Flynn	Elise S1	3.45.61
Giles Cooper	Elise S1	3.46.36
Rob Stevens	Elise S2	3.47.94
John Barram	Elise S1	3.50.82
Greg Bray	Europa	3.52.37
Mike Goodfellow	Talisman FJ	4.14.90

Lotus:08 Magazine Articles.

Historic Race Meeting - Morgan Park, Warwick Aug 2008 by John Barram.