Lotus Elan Central

by **carryondentist** » Tue 20.03.2007, 23:26

About 0930 seems a reasonable time for a Saturday.

Lets hope the weather improves before then.

by **nchase** » Fri 23.03.2007, 09:36

Looks better than before - right in the tick of it so make sure your cars are shiny!

by **Oliver** » Fri 23.03.2007, 09:42

Lipscombe Lotus asked to have my Elan on their stand, so look out for it ! - They must have been desparate.

by **nchase** » Sat 24.03.2007, 18:13

Sure that there will be many better quality and higher res, based on the number of cameras, but here's a taster

http://picasaweb.google.com/njmchase/LOTRDCBrandsHatch

by **DaveT** » Sat 24.03.2007, 18:24

Man hides his embarrassment at being photographed next to a Medina Green Elan.

Later quoted as saying "its not mine mate, I was just passing"

by **paulrwebster** » Sat 24.03.2007, 18:56

Here are a few more piccys

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10835124@N ... 024054502/

Another good day except for missing Enrights piece of gross naughtiness because I was watching Doctor And The Medics. I will let Neil explain.

Paul Webster
Back home.
Slowly thawing out.

by **chris.t** » Sat 24.03.2007, 18:57

Had a great day at Brands - thanks nick for getting me the ticket

Hightlight was going round the track with neil - didn't realise how steep those hills are.

Also, meeting Mr Mike Kimberley who was really interested to talk to me and Neil. Neil proudly showing off his engine bay to the great man will live with me for a long time. He also said that NMY was his favorite colour! :banana:

lowlight, forgetting my Mark Hughes book for Mike to sign. :smt022

even lowerlight, Neil remembered his book and had a nice inscription written by Mike which has made his book 3 times as collectable as anyone elses if not more!!! :bonk:

by **chris.t** » Sat 24.03.2007, 19:02

Nice photos Paul, but somehow i started to feel cold as i looked at them, come on neil spill the beans what have you set fire to now :lol:

by **nchase** » Sat 24.03.2007, 19:04

Glad you found Mike for a chat and had a good day.

Neil decided to hold his own track day, courtesy of the Lotus Heritage run. Next he'll be sneaking out onto real races :-)

by **chris.t** » Sat 24.03.2007, 19:12

hey Neil we're a couple of boneheads - we never got a photo :banghead:

by **Nobby** » Sat 24.03.2007, 19:15

Here's my efforts,

http://picasaweb.google.com/NobbysGalle ... randsHatch

Had a great day, thanks again for the ticket NChase

by **DaveT** » Sat 24.03.2007, 19:17

Mags at her best.

by **DaveT** » Sat 24.03.2007, 19:20

OOPS!

by **Nobby** » Sat 24.03.2007, 19:43

Man hides his embarrassment at being photographed next to a Medina Green Elan.

Later quoted as saying "its not mine mate, I was just passing"

Mags does look nice!

by **Enright** » Sat 24.03.2007, 22:18

Hi, sorry I'm late posting, but I've not long been back home (I forgot to logout and turn off my comp before going "dahn sarf"), and I've been catching up with 40 unread threads since then!

So here goes:
What an absolutely fantastic day! One of the best days of my life.

Nick Chase let me crash out at his place last night, and even fed and watered me, so firstly thanks to him and Mrs.Chase for their marvellous hospitality.

This morning we set off in fairly bright sunlight to Brands. It was even nice enough to drop tops on the way.

The parking space that we had been allocated at Brands was a real plumb spot. It was right next to the stage where Doctor and the Medics were supposed to be performing later.
We saw a few Elans come in, and they spotted us very quickly and joined the formation. I think we had 11 or 12 in a line at one point. Then a red one peeled off to the right instead of the left, so I went over and invited him to join us. But he didn't seem to be too interested as he was in the area where the Historic Lotus Parade would be setting off from. Finding this out proved to be very useful for later! :wink:

The weather soon turned so bitterly cold that everyone put their rooves back up, and generally practiced huddling in shelter from the wind or drinking hot beverages. The poor policewomen from last week were there, and were absolutely freezing. Honestly, it would have brought tears to the eyes of brass monkeys, and the conditions never improved.

Around lunchtime I was just chatting to a couple of LEC'ers (while making my way back to the warmth of my car to grab my sandwiches), when I suddenly noticed the Historic Lotus convoy filing their way down past our car park. So in best Michael Caine fashion I said "hang on lads, I've got a great idea", jumped in the car and buzzed off.

The "great idea" was to see if I could (ahem) accidentally get caught up in the middle of the parade. Well, there were at least 2 other Elans already in it, and Pacific Blue was sadly unrepresented, so I felt it was my duty. A very nice Esprit driver allowed me to pull out in front of him (not that he had much choice!), and then I sat in the queue for about 20 minutes, wondering how long it would be before someone rumbled me and ordered me to sod off!!!

A few other familiar faces walked past, and asked "how did you manage to wangle this"? I had to reply that I was "winging it, and I hadn't managed anything yet, so shush"! One of these familiar faces was ChrisT, who asked if he could jump into the passenger seat. I told him he was welcome, and he promptly packed off Mrs.T to go and retrieve the video camera. This was getting better and better, if only we didn't get turned back before reaching the track.

Suddenly all the cars started moving - crunch time. We went past marshals who just told us all to "close up together, make it look good and go for it", and then a quick right turn and we were on the circuit - whahooo! :shock:

There was another Esprit in front of us, and he kept backing right off from the car in front of him and then flooring it. So I kept having to do the same - oh what a shame - NOT. :twisted:

Brands is astonishingly hilly - the gradients are a good 1 in 8, and even though our pace was nothing compared to trackday speeds, you could feel how the circuit would test the suspension. I can't wait to do a proper trackday to find out what my car is really capable of.

The two laps were over way too quickly, and we returned to the car park, feeling completely elated at having got away with it.

Chris is going to put the video on DVD, and then I'll see if I can upload it onto YouTube so that all can share in the occasion. Thanks to him for sharing the experience. I believe that CarryOnDentist even followed my naughty example and tagged onto the back of the convoy too - top marks old son! :lol:

After getting back to the car park, there was only one more thing that I wanted to achieve before leaving, and that was to get my Mark Hughes book autographed by Mike Kimberley.

I looked all over the place for him but had no luck, and my only pic was from the book which was 15 years old.

Elans were drifting off and there were only 4 left. Then I saw this big, silver haired bloke pointing in our direction. He was unmistakeable and I immediately grabbed my book and ran over. It was of course, Mike Kimberley.

He instantly started waxing lyrical about the Elan, and I was only too happy to show him under my bonnet. I told him about LEC, the 100 Elan convoy last week, and our fanatical devotion to a sadly under-rated car.

ChrisT was kicking himself for forgetting his when Mike signed my book, but was placated a bit when he gave each of us one of his business cards. The inscription that he wrote is as follows:

"To Neil
I congratulate you on your choice of car
and model - it's the most fabulous
motor ever, Enjoy it my friend
Mike 24/03/07"

Mike also had a younger chap with him, who mentioned that he posts on LEC so I recognised that he must be Kimbers. He asked about Sy and we chatted for a little while about recent events and things before they had to leave.

After that Chris and I were simply shellshocked. There was no way that the day could now be topped, so it was a good time to knock it on the head and go. What a day.

Here are a few pics:

by **chris.t** » Sat 24.03.2007, 23:16

good enright up m8. iwill send u the vid in mpg format so u can do as you pls

by **John_W** » Sat 24.03.2007, 23:32

Neil,
Well done that man. You and Chris did well. Shame the weather wasn't very great, but it sounds like the day was well worth it anyway.

After putting up with the icy blast of Donington last week, this weekend has been great up here. The weather is really warm and spring-like, with no wind. We could have done with that a week ago.

You certainly had more fun today than me. I spent this morning trying to hose off tons of salt from under the car (having spent all winter in the garage away from the stuff, every gritter in the country dumped its load in front of me on my drive up from Donington).

John

PS: when did ChrisT start writing in telephone-text-gobbledeygook?

by **Monty** » Sun 25.03.2007, 00:02

Sounds like you lot had a great day and wish i could of been there. look forward to the vid.

Neil, supprised u didn`t find a bush to visit whilst out on track :-D

well done on getting out there.

by **chris.t** » Sun 25.03.2007, 00:05

monty i think he likes the buzz so he might be signing up to bedford

by **DaveT** » Sun 25.03.2007, 08:16

there's more......

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Lotus Celebration Brands Hatch - 24 March 2007

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