The good, the bad and the ugly.

[dapinky]

Well, just afew random thoughts about the weekend, in no particular order....

Firstly, this event is always more about the people than the cars (to me), and so 'The Good' includes seeing other members, old and new - especially good to have a chat with Sy and to see Specky put in a brief guest appearance on his way to Hull on Saturday morning - I know many of you will have missed him as he just had a 'comfort break' at the services before the convoy set off.

Also a mention to the 'new' members and 'guests from Scotland' (and USA) who i had the pleasure to meet and chat to - not going to mention everyone by name (because i'd only forget someone and risk upsetting them!), but nice to meet John (Fred to everyone else!), Rob (even though he wasn't keen on me trying to get my stainless bolts back off the turbo in his car which I lent to Paul W in the isle of Man ), Chris (who looked quite worried when Geoff started dissmantling his car in the car park) & Steve (Mr. Cool!)

Then 'The Bad' - already mentioned elsewhere - but the promised "No disruption due to the BTCC event on the same weekend" wasn't quite as expected - Please note, this is in no way a dig at Alan and the team from CL - they were doing all they could, but i feel may have been misled by the property owners with inappropriate assurances.
Yesterday was bad enough - Parking was cr@p - but today was more of a nightmare with traffic queuing from the motorway to the circuit and the trip from Travelodge taking 40 minutes - glad the convoy wasn't this morning!!!

'The Ugly'???? - Perhaps an unpopular thought, but I have to ask "Has Donington had its day?" - as a 'show' there was nothing new which hasn't been there before - albeit that the stands were all of the usual high quality and with lots of enthusiasm from everyoine involved. Many of the 'expected' names were missing - No LEC stand, No TLF stand, Paul Matty, SW Lotus - all missing It was posssible to 'do the show' in under an hour - and I found myself thinking that last time, despite a great ribbing, Dico was ahead of the game with attending the carpark and then going to the pub!!!
The weather meant that far more worthwhile time was spent in the carpark than the exhibition hall. What can be done about it? Thats the $64K question - not my worry, but should it be a concern for all of us, not just Club lotus????

Personally, I enjoyed the social side as much as ever, the drive on Saturday (thanks to Neil for leading it, even though he left us all behind in his Rover), The Pork Pie with a Stilton crust from Melton Mowbray, and the top-down weather.

Thanks to all who attended and helped to support the event(s) in any capacity

[rip]

I wasn't there on Sunday so didn't experience the chaos that we were assured would not happen. I never believed that the show on the same weekend as BTCC would work.

I was disapponted that the overflow car park apeared to now be a plant hire depot
having to scatter ourselves around the small main car park was poor for us & everyone else.

The show itself does feel like a tired old format. If we want to to anything about this, one of us will have to get more involved with Club Lotus. I don't see what else we can do. A parts fair with a few cars on show is the essence of the festival & interesting for anyone who has not been before.

The highlights for me were the M1 convoy, meeting everyone, the afternoon drive & the evening meal.
For me, the festival was irrelevant.
So do we need to tag ourselves onto the festival at all...or should we arrange something ourselves?

[Jeemy]

If we do, it would be great if it was in the centre of the country!

[epipete]

If we do, it would be great if it was in the centre of the country!

According to Wiki: "The town of Haltwhistle in Northumberland (NY706640) sports banners stating that it is the 'Centre of Britain'. By another calculation the centre can also be said to be Dunsop Bridge, Lancashire (previously in the West Riding of Yorkshire), 71 miles (114 km) to the south."

To far & too chilly for me!!!

[maz_r]

Or another way is to know all of the journey starting points for those attending and calculate the "Elan Driving miles" such that the total is the smallest possible. It is actually an interesting mathematical problem, if you like that sort of thing......

However, someone has done the hard work for us here.

Sooo...... anyone volunteering to start a list of starting points

[dapinky]

But all of that could easily change - after the Sweatys have their revolution and leave us, the centre of Britain couldl be much further south!!!!

If we loose the Singing Socialist State of Cymru as well, that probably puts somewhere like East Midlands as the Centre of England - apparently theres a suitable site not far from the airport in that location......


(all tongue in cheek - everyone is welcome to 'Our country' - but please dont confuse Britain as being a country - if you did it in some places tomorrow, you'd probably get tarred and feathered!!!!)

[Stef]

Get RIP's pint of creating our own instead of tagging onto Donington's show, however, I also like to see the other Lotus cars and potentially widen my SELOC, Pistonheads and Lotus buddy networking. The Chrome Evora was also so well worth attending the show in my books! (not that entry was required to see it)

Donington is also quite a good central and easy accessible location for most. It seems to draw the biggest LEC gathering. The Brands Hatch Lotus Festival is growing in numbers too and a far better full on weekend event IMO.

Club Lotus do need a kicking for messing up the Lotus Only parking.

[Sy V]

Yes, I agree they had folk walking 'round inside the show picking up litter. Surely they'd have been better put to use as traffic marshals, telling all the non-Lotus badged car drivers to "do one" thus leaving more space for the rightful car park occupiers.

[paulsmithmk]

Overall I really enjoyed the day. Great timing on the M1, seeing 40 Elans together and seeing some other cars. I picked up a couple of bits for the car but was ready for the drive by 12:00 and my son who had been away all week with school was dead beat by the first stop on the drive so we bailed. it is great getting all of us together so happy to do our own. Looking forward to Ypres now and hoping I will be around for Brands Hatch. And wondering where I could get a Chrome wrap done?!

[GeoffSmith]

However, someone has done the hard work for us here.

Sooo...... anyone volunteering to start a list of starting points

OK then. In my book the Boss man and retired UK boss man come top of the list. Pinky's a mod and always brings his tool kit. The rest of us are irrelevant.....

Shall we say the 25th May?

[jHamshaw]

The convoy was great then it all went downhill from there for me. Disappointed to find the usual "overflow" car park full of site plant and machinery, the main Exhibition Centre car park almost full and only about 50% Lotus, and no staff/marshalls to help with parking. This time it was all just a shambles. Even the approach roads are a disgrace, with peoples pride and joy being peppered with rocks and covered with dust. This wasn't helped in some parking areas with plant movements covering parked cars with dust all day.

Having been before and with relatively low expectations I went mainly to advertise my car in the car park, but even then found it stuck between two boggo and much larger standard saloons/hatchbacks and pretty much out of sight - this was arriving at around 10am on Saturday.

Once inside, immediately regretted paying £20 for the two of us to get in (mainly for a drink and the lav's after setting off at 6am as there was nothing outside - not even the burger van from previous years and Mr Whippy didn't arrive until the afternoon), finding the same old tat for sale (with a couple of exceptions) and pretty much the same cars on display and even in the same places as 2 years ago. And £2 each for a paper cup of boiling water and a tea bag ("the milk's over there...") topped it off.

Did manage to pick up the Evora book at £20 (1/2 price!) but apart from that, pretty much a wasted day unless one of just a couple of seriously interested people follows up and buys my M100.

Probably won't bother going again...... this event, unless it receives a major overhaul and much better organisation for owners (who travel serious distances in some cases and make the show by way of the car park), has had it's day (in my opinion)...

Compared to the SELOC events which, admittedly, are "bolted on" to Elise trophy rounds (but at least the track entry is included in the price, whether camping for the weekend or not and the track stuff makes for a much fuller day) and are more social gatherings than autojumbles, it just doesn't stack up.

Having owned 2 x Elises (S1 and S2 111S), 1 x Esprit (S4) and now an M100, and with Evora aspirations, I'm not a one model enthusiast, so would suggest that a marque event appealing to the masses and across the clubs/forums is the way forward, but with 21st century organisation.....

Just my 2p's worth and to those who organised the convoy and the other events that I couldn't attend (drive, curry, etc.) on here.

[Dico]

there was nothing outside - not even the burger van from previous years

Jesus! Count me out next year

[Rambo]

I wasn't there on Sunday so didn't experience the chaos that we were assured would not happen. I never believed that the show on the same weekend as BTCC would work.

Nor me And that's precisely why I couldn't be bothered driving the 750 mile round trip. Call me a sceptic, but it was never going to work in a month of Sundays. I think it was much better when it was an all Lotus w/e and they had "Lotus on track" you could watch when you got fed up in the exhibition hall.

And regarding the "tired old format" I felt that the show pre Malvern was already tiring a bit. You're right, maybe Dico was ahead of the game last year

[Rambo]

there was nothing outside - not even the burger van from previous years

Jesus! Count me out next year

Let's start a list

Who is not going to Donington in 2014

1. Dico

[chris.t]

I couldn't make it this year, I had to go to a 60th birthday party which wasn't exactly a bundle of laughs either. I'm sorry to hear that the show was a bit chaotic this year; seems it was a catalogue of errors. However, as Mr Pink said, to me it's more about meeting up with old and new friends, putting a face to a name and seeing the biggest gathering of M100's in the world which is an awesome sight.

[inkitin]

For what it's worth, which is probably not much, here's my take on the Club Lotus Show at Donington Park this year. This from the perspective of an ordinary member attending just for the Saturday.

Regional mini convoy to Donington Services - Great

Meeting up at Donington Services - Great

Mass Convoy in to Donington Park - Good but sadly only around 40 cars this year. I'm sure there were close to 100 the first year I attended (Just a few years ago).

State of access into Donington Park - Absolutely horrendous. I washed my Elan this morning and there were at least a couple of stone chips that weren't there on Friday evening. I can't say for sure but I strongly suspect the blame lies with the "Rally cross test track" we had to negotiate our way through on the way in and out.

Organisation of parking - Simply abysmal. Surely some preference could be given to Lotus badged cars, such that we are all grouped together. In previous years various promises have been made about parking and those promises have generally proved to be as empty as the hall appeared to be this year.

Exhibition/Fair - I couldn't believe my eyes when we arrived, there was no queue to get in! Previous years I've been relieved to have pre-bought my ticket. I might as well not have bothered this year, other than for the cost saving. There was also much less inside (and outside) the hall both of trade stalls and cars exhibited. Never seen such wide open spaces in the hall previously and there weren't any crowds to negotiate. Where was the Buzz? I eventually became really bored looking at the massive number of Esprits being exhibited. It felt as if as many as possible had been mustered, simply to fill up the space.

Exhibition Hall - Let's be honest, this really isn't a very pleasant place to be. It's old, it's knackered and it's had it's day. No wonder they were planning to demolish it prior to holding the British Grand Prix (British Grand Prix!! ). It's a great pity they didn't get that far!

Car Park Entertainment - Excellent. Great to look around and chat.

Afternoon run - Absolutely brilliant.

I don't believe for a minute the problem is Club Lotus. The problem is Donington Park!

Finally for all of us hoping that we're back to normal next year, i.e. without construction plant taking over a large part of the car parks. Errrr think again! See here

[Rambo]

... Lets hope that Alan Morgon/Club Lotus have reserved some "exclusively Lotus" parking

On 31 Jan, Gareth posted a reply from Alan at Club Lotus

"We have not lost any of our regular amount of hard-standing parking space around the Exhibition Hall and had already planned with them how and where to park our visitors. Good signage will be in place and they're confident all traffic will flow smoothly from the motorway and there will be no major traffic jams at any time during the weekend.

We know from experience that parking is never a problem at Doni providing you have a plan and sufficient marshals before you start! I'm confident we have both so please don't stay away because of a hypothetical situation that will not exist.
Alan"

[nicowalker1]

... Lets hope that Alan Morgon/Club Lotus have reserved some "exclusively Lotus" parking

On 31 Jan, Gareth posted a reply from Alan at Club Lotus

"We have not lost any of our regular amount of hard-standing parking space around the Exhibition Hall and had already planned with them how and where to park our visitors. Good signage will be in place and they're confident all traffic will flow smoothly from the motorway and there will be no major traffic jams at any time during the weekend.

We know from experience that parking is never a problem at Doni providing you have a plan and sufficient marshals before you start! I'm confident we have both so please don't stay away because of a hypothetical situation that will not exist.
Alan"

I didnt spot a single sign regarding who should park where...

[Stef]

'Finally for all of us hoping that we're back to normal next year, i.e. without construction plant taking over a large part of the car parks. Errrr think again! See here '

Wonderful...

Probably trying to get money back from the stupid attempt to get the F1

Donington have lost the plot.

Even puzzled me why they had cut away all the trees lining the front??!

I'm still happy to go along as 'we' make it. Deffo would make sense to team it with a Lotus racing event.

So who do we need to bombard with suggestions at Donington??

[Sy V]

Alan Morgan and his CL staff. They're our only interface with the authorities at Donington.
What was Smiffy's link about 25th May about? Is it Castle Combe by any chance. Now there's a really good day out!