December 2006
It seems to me that as I get older, time goes by faster. One thing that can
really make time fly is activity, and this year has been jam packed for all of
us; lots of great events arranged by Wade to keep our calendar ticking over. So
much so, that there wasn’t room for one or two things I had planned for us, but
there’s always next year! In any case, we had a great year, getting stuck into
all forms of motor sport, day runs, week-ends away, social events, and technical
nights. And we’re finishing the year with icing on the cake – but more of that
later.
For me personally, this year saw the birth of Claudia, and… things get a bit
blurry after that. There has been one constant for me, however: there’s always
something else to fiddle with on the Elan. Overseas trips, getting married,
having children, it doesn’t matter; like an annoying itch that I can’t find,
there in the back of my mind is the certain knowledge that the car isn’t quite
“finished”. It’s getting to the point where I’m considering getting an S1/S2
Elan basket case, just to tinker with (assuming permission is obtained). Mind
you, an early Elise or Caterham has oodles of potential for an engine
transplant…maybe I’ll give it some more thought.
As the year peters out, there were still a few things for members to get to.
October was the last round of the Morgan Park Sprints, which is becoming quite a
regular for more and more in our club (except me). I know I’ve said it before,
but next year for sure! November 11/12 was of course the Noosa Hill Climb,
where a bunch of us went up and had a ball. See Chris Bray’s article. Mike and
Maggie couldn’t make it because it clashed with Classic Adelaide – an event in
which they have represented our club for several years now. This year they
drove down in the M100, competed in the Tour, and drove back. Well done, guys,
I’m sure we’ll hear all about it soon.
The next thing on our club agenda is the Christmas party. This year it will be
held at 12:00pm on Sunday the 10th of December at The Banyan Tree,
which has moved to West End. It’s in the front of the Coles shopping centre at
the roundabout on Melbourne St. There will be a reminder email. This year it’s
been a really close contest for some of the trophies, and believe me, it could
be you winning one, so make sure you get there! Having said that, I actually
won’t be there, but John Barram will be the MC, so everyone will have a great
time. There’s plenty of parking right next to the restaurant, so your toys will
be in sight the whole time.
The next Tuesday after the Christmas party will be our final meeting for the
year, and it’s going to be a goody. The Manager of Classic Team Lotus, Chris
Dinnage will be taking a break from his Aussie holiday to come and give us a
talk about what they do and the wonderful machinery they look after. He goes
back to when Ayrton Senna was a Lotus F1 driver – in fact he was Senna’s
mechanic, so it should be a good yarn. The other bit of news is that the
meeting won’t be at Chapman’s. It will be at the newly announced Lotus dealer
for Queensland, Zupps. They are putting a Lotus showroom in next to their
Mitsubishi franchise. The address is 1332 Logan Rd., Mt. Gravatt. If the signs
aren’t up yet, look for the Zupps Mitsubishi dealer, and park on the forecourt,
which will be cleared to allow for Lotus parking. They’ll be putting on
refreshments as well. The general manager is Ben Carreira, with whom I spoke
today when I visited the showroom. I know some of us who have been around for a
while have been to a few new Lotus showrooms over the years, but Zupps has a lot
of money behind it and Ben is very keen, so lets all get to this last meeting
and show them how enthusiastic we are. Besides the fact that this is a once in
a lifetime chance to hear from someone who was around in the old days but is
also involved now in the marque, it’s also an opportunity to meet with the new
local dealers. By the way, Zupps has a branch in Southport, and that will be
the main dealership for Lotus, with Mt. Gravatt as the secondary one. In the
new year, club members will have the opportunity to attend the official opening
of both dealerships, as well as drive days at the Norwell test facility (which
Holden runs now), and a few extra surprises that they have in store for us. The
team at Zupps has offered our club their full support – let’s not waste it.
Finally, let’s talk about the coming year. If you are planning to go to Lotus
2007, please be quick about booking, as accommodation is getting very tight.
Queensland’s first ever tarmac rally will be run out of Noosa next July. The
club is planning a weekend run up to Noosa which will take in a few stages to
watch the machinery whiz by. Chris Beecham has reserved 20 rooms, and these
will probably all be taken, so mark it in your diaries and start making plans
for it now, if you’re interested. As well as these two, there will be all the
usual suspects.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our club members for making my
job so easy – it’s amazing how much help it is to me to be surrounded by such a
happy, enthusiastic bunch of people. To those to whom I’ve delegated tasks –
thanks for taking them on with good humour. And to all club members, please
remember to thank the members of the committee – there is so much work that goes
on behind the scenes to keep your club running smoothly.
Don’t forget the new address for the December meeting – see you there.
Merry Christmas!
Patrick
As the mercury climbs, it’s beginning to get a tad too hot for too much open top motoring, so it was great to scoot up the mountain to Springbrook for another ride on the choo-choo and a spot of lunch. This year saw me in the “family” car (Gabby’s Saab 9-3 Aero convertible – kind of family-ish, but she’ll never part with it), instead of the Elan, owing to the extra passenger our family has gained since last year. Thankfully, Claudia was asleep with excitement in the back, although some of the oddly vectored G forces got her a bit miffed by the time we got to the top. She also rode the trains (with a bit of help) and was reasonably well behaved at the restaurant later – I have the touch, I think, to soothe my daughter when upset, but lack certain equipment to calm her down like Mummy can.
Overall, it was another great day, very well attended by club members. Thanks again to Wade and Mile for organising what is turning out to be a regular event. I think extra thanks are due to Wade for his inventiveness this year in organising a great year of activities for us to enjoy. Wade and Mile have been doing this for a while now, and you’ll have to agree that they’ve done a sterling job – thanks, guys.
October is the usual motor sport glut, with Bathurst, and, as I write this, Indy (I know, I’m late for the deadline again). I had grand plans for Bathurst – corporate jet, helicopter, luxury accommodation, corporate box, etc, etc. What ended up happening was only slightly different – I worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, and then went home and watched it on TV. Oh, I forgot – the middle three hours on Sunday were spent at the home show – all those big screen TVs, and not one of them tuned in to the race. We bought a nice dining suite though (we actually went there to look at something else). As for the race itself, well, kind of overshadowed by the fatality in the development series race the day before. I’m afraid that whether it be a tree, or a V8 doing 160kph, there’s not a lot in terms of side impact protection that can prevent something like that. Motor Racing is Dangerous – it says it right there on the ticket.
In an effort to calm those of you concerned about my spiritual welfare, I can tell you that I do have a corporate box ticket for Indy, as well as the all important leave pass from the missus. Thanks, darling! Actually, I have a few connections in the V8 community that allows me to go and hob my nob at these sorts of events, which is quite useful. It also gets me the odd invitation to a track day, which I took up last week at Queensland Raceway, where a few of the V8 utes were testing. You’ll be pleased to know that the little Elan showed a clean pair of heels to the (much heavier and HP restricted) racing utes, which caused the odd raised eyebrow It also made me realise how far I have yet to go to get the most out of my suspension – still a bit hairy on the limit. What I need is a whole day testing with a full workshop, wheel aligner, and several sets of springs and sway bars…maybe next year.
The next event in October is the Morgan Park Sprints, which I promised to go to, but, for various reasons, won’t be. It still sounds like a great weekend and it’s great to see more and more club members going. I promise I’ll make an effort next year! Since it falls before the November meeting, let me remind everyone that November 11 and 12 is the Noosa Hillclimb – too late to enter now, but a great spectacle to go up and see. I encourage you to nip up and have a look. There are always great après corse activities in the local restaurants and cafes, too.
Of course, let’s not forget our annual Christmas party, which was going to be at Craig and Carolyn’s, but due to ongoing building work will now be at a restaurant, probably one of the ones we went to in the last two years. It’s still on the 10th of December at lunch, so keep it free. All tastes will be catered for, and at very reasonable prices.
The next meeting will be Tuesday November 14 at Chapman’s as
usual. See you there.
Patrick
Boy oh boy, what a month for the news; Steve Irwin and Peter Brock making the news for all the wrong reasons, and Michael Schumacher trying to make the news for the right ones. As for our club, we had the All British day at Tennyson, and of course Speed on Tweed – two events that always clash, but still attracting a good roll up of club members to each.
I attempted to get Clive to write an article about Speed on Tweed, but in a flash of brilliance, he deftly coerced his son Richard into it – thanks Richard, I look forward to reading your lilting prose somewhere else in this issue. I won’t say any more, except that…I beat those pesky Alfas again (hee hee). Apparently the skies cleared enough over Tennyson for everyone to have a reasonably dry time. Wade and Jacqui turned up in two Lotus (Esprit S4S and Excel), and so get a special mention. No mention for the person who parked his Caterham in the outside car park to save the $15.00 entry! Derek says that everyone who went had a great time.
Both Steve Irwin and Peter Brock died doing what they loved – except that Steve would have probably preferred it to be a croc and Peter a race track. I will say at this point that once the heart is punctured, consciousness is usually lost within seconds – I’m no expert in being eaten alive by a crocodile, but it sounds a bit more uncomfortable. I honestly can’t remember Peter Brock having a major “off” ever. Mind you, there is a singular lack of trees on racing circuits, especially on the exit of corners, so quite a few offs on the race track go unnoticed. But no matter how skilled you are, sometimes a combination of factors conspire against you. One foot either way, and he would have walked away – well, limped. For Steve Irwin, it’s more like an inch.
I had previously convinced my wife that the sport that I love is not dangerous, not really. Statistics show that it’s more dangerous to race yachts than race cars. I’m reminded, at this point of the tragic tale of the statistician who drowned in a river with an average depth of 30cm. Anyway, Gabby was slowly coming around to the idea of motor racing safety (belts, harnesses, helmets, and, of course, incredible skill) when the news of Brock’s death reached us. “You said tarmac rallies were safe!” she said. Struggling, all I could come up with was “Well, it’s safer than wrestling crocodiles!”. Anyway, I’ve almost convinced myself to do the Suncoast Rally next year, so I’ve got many months to construct some cogent arguments and let all this unpleasantness fade into a distant memory. That will also give me time to install another 30kg of side impact protection – just to be prudent.
In the end though, a death during an event still amounts to a death, with all the attendant misery for family and friends. About the only one I can remember, and I can remember quite a few, that didn’t seem to be a tragedy was Denny Hulme’s. Here’s a guy that has raced everything and walked away to tell the tale, then dies of a heart attack – while on the redline in top gear down Conrod Straight in a BMW that gently coasts to a halt with barely a scratch. If you’re going to have a heart attack anyway, that’s the way to do it.
Formula One has had its fair share of fatalities, but what I want to touch on are the controversies surrounding one man: Michael Schumacher. Many call him an enigma. I call him a cheat. There is no doubting his driving talent, but I wouldn’t call him a great driver, let alone the greatest ever. Nuvolari, Fangio, Hill, Brabham, Lauda, Prost, Senna, the list goes on. These, to name but a few, were great drivers. I always thought the mercurial Senna to be one of the most aggressive drivers I’ve ever seen, but I had never seen him do anything that I would consider to be unsportsmanlike. Had his career not been so tragically cut short in 1994, I’m sure that Schumacher’s record wouldn’t be nearly so impressive. Hill might still have been beaten to the championship that year, but it would have been fair and square, not clouded by controversy. Schumacher’s overall second placing in the 1997 World Driver’s Championship was revoked after he was found to have deliberately rammed Villeneuve. Had this punishment been handed out in Australia, the Championship would have been Hill’s. But Schumacher’s form goes back further than that. In a Formula 3 Championship deciding race in Macau, he had a very unsubtle collision with Mika Hakkinen which took out his main rival. A talented driver? Yes. But a great one? I don’t think so. I guess I’m trying to say that news of his retirement has not caused me to reach for the Kleenex. Go Fernando.
For the record, and I’ve only followed F1 since 1978, the best driver by far that I’ve ever seen was Senna; so much raw talent, he could wring the neck of an average car and stick it on pole, often seconds ahead of his team mate and humbling much ore fancied machinery.
Anyway, enough ranting. This month is another biggy. Bathurst, of course on the 7th/8th October, and two weeks later, Indy. In between we have a possible run to O’Reilly’s on the 15th and our regular Tuesday meeting on the 10th. The final weekend in October is the Morgan Park Sprint, which I will be going to, but not if I go to both Bathurst and Indy! Hmm…I’ll need to sort that one out with the boss…
See you at Chapman’s on the 10th.
Patrick
It’s probably no secret by now that Gabby and I had a baby last month (well, Gab did most of the work). While I was busy tapping away at last month’s article (five days late – this one’s only three), Claudia was in the starting blocks, ready to interrupt our sleep in a few hours’ time. Although I thought it unwise to go to Maleny for lunch with Gabby about to burst at the seams, we compromised by going to my favourite Mexican restaurant and having a huge fed of jalapeños, which I thought might get things going. Twelve hours later (to the second!), Gabby went into labour, and 4½ hours after that, young Claudia Maureen Claire was born.
Having had a dozen nieces and nephews and a general practice in Nappy Valley, I’m quite used to handling babies, but I have to admit that it’s a bit different when young Miss demands your attention 24 hours a day. Gabby is taking to her new role with gusto, of course, and I’m doing my best to help (mostly by not getting in the way). Claudia is now 4 weeks old and has somehow managed to learn how to control her father with the merest twitch of her lip. Hopefully my lack of sleep won’t affect my sacred duty as club president – but now I have an excellent excuse for submitting these articles late to the editor!
The last month has seen another round of the Morgan Park sprint series, as well as the annual Historics at Queensland Raceway. Hopefully you can read about one or both of them in this issue. Last meeting we saw another new member (Michael) with another Elise (111R) roll up – welcome to the club! It’s great to see our club grow with new people, cars, and ideas. There is a group of Elise enthusiasts out there called “Aussie Elises”, several members of which are in our club. At the meeting, it was mentioned that Aussie Elises has organised a road trip. This is fine, but let me reiterate what I suggested at the meeting. I think it’s great to have enthusiasm for one particular model of the Lotus marque – a few years ago Steve Amos arranged an informal night out at Park Road to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Elan, and we all had a great time. If you own an Elise (which I have), it’s only natural to have similar interests with other owners. But please, if you know of any Elise owners who aren’t in the club, encourage them to join. “Aussie Elises” could be construed by some unscrupulous personal injury lawyer as an organisation liable for the damage caused by any one of its members, in the event of an accident, and liability might extend to each of you. If you are a member of a CAMS affiliated club, you have the option running any activity under the aegis of CAMS, with all its attendant protections. So please, get any “orphans” out there in Aussie Elises to join their local Lotus Club. I’m sure that all three Australian lotus clubs will welcome them and encourage any Elise focussed activities.
I just had the Elan in to Greg Bray to freshen up a few things and today picked it up and dropped it off to Graham Smith at Fulcrum Suspensions for an evaluation of the handling. This is something that I’ve been threatening to do for years, but with the possibility of another tarmac rally next year and Speed on Tweed coming up, I thought that the time was right for action. I have spent years trying to engineer out an annoying tendency of the Elan to snap into an unrecoverable oversteer on the limit, and a general twitchiness on an undulating surface (quite distressing at 200kph+). After talking to Graham at the suspension evening we had in June, (and studying up on suspension theory), I have decided to see what fulcrum can do. I’ll be writing it up in an article – probably a series of articles – when it’s all done. I’ll let you know, anyway.
Another performance upgrade I’ve been contemplating for the Lotus is getting the weight off – not the car, me. It’s amazing how well my metabolism has welcomed marriage with open…appetite. Not too many people know this, but I actually run a private weight loss clinic, but to look at me in recent months, it’s difficult to believe. It only takes a 7kg reduction to give a 1% performance improvement to a 700kg car, and getting 7 kg off my gut is a damn site easier (and cheaper) than shaving a total of 7 kg from various bits holding the Elan together. Anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Just a short one this month, so I can catch up on my sleep,
(and “Top Gear” is about to start), but I’ll see you all at the next meeting on
12 September at Chapman’s.
Patrick