Lotus Festival - Brands Hatch - 15/16 August 2015

[Vipers]

Hi All,

Just wanted to say thanks to Ian and all the fellow LEC'ers for a brilliant day yesterday, really nice to meet such a friendly and fun bunch of Elan enthusiasts, the name badges were a nice touch which I'm sure had all the other stands wondering what that was all about

I got talking to PNM Engineering regarding new front brakes, anyone used these guys?

Roll on next year.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Ian T]

I suppose I might order a couple when I make my next order with them.

Although... What's the use of an 'Anti Tamper Plug' on our cars? As they aren't inspected for tamper and we like or need to tamper, it becomes another consumable. I reckon I will have a look at my grommet box as well.

It is worth saying the leakage through that thread was significant before I transferred the spare o-ring onto the adjustment screw - now the leakage is minimal.

[Fredjohn]

Hi there

I got talking to PNM Engineering regarding new front brakes, anyone used these guys?

Roll on next year.

Cheers,
Paul.

If you do a search on hi-spec front brakes or rear caliper replacement on this site you will find lots of positive references to both the brake conversions and PNM

[Tuga2112]

I had a great weekend.
thanks Ian for organizing, (we are all now expecting same for next year )
was a pleasure to meet other LEC'ers (apologies i forgot most names,) and discussed with shawn colors, thanks to (i think) trevor i now know exactly what color i got, (and that is wrong. which kind of ruined sunday)
got quite a few tips from most if not all of the members on "how to" on many jobs, and even got to see an elanScan working

only down side to the weekend was the camping experience... (it was way too cold at night and i was surely not prepared for it ) and the trip back on the M25.... what a pain. I used to think the M6 was bad.....

[lotustonybassplayer]

we had a good time this weekend good to meet up with everyone special thanks to Ian T for the organization of the "grass verge" Finally getting to meet the oracle Mr Pink and his hot drink making skills Alan E for the purchase of the mobile LEC world headquarters Tim Mitreklov for letting us dissect his newly acquired pnm brake kit and Shaun M for " acquiring " the turtle for Deb. Also to all the others guys who turned up and help fill up the verge. Tony & DEb

[GeoffSmith]

Most of us who lifted the bonnet were missing this ... Parts Manual Page 42.07A Item 54, Anti-Tamper Plug, throttle by pass screw -A100E6430S

I'm not.

[Stef]

Another super Lotus Festival!

Thankfully not 'dampened' by bad weather

Good to meet familiar faces and new - still useless on names but thankfully not the only person with this problem!

The stand looked best so far and an impressive turn-out!

The SELOC camping was also a blast again and pleased that Graham, Shaun and Pinky joined this year - just such a shame it is their last SELOC Fest at the Lotus Fest

Which brings me onto asking: Who would be interested in camping over next year and does anyone know the score for camping at Brands?

I'm sure a few from SELOC would also like to build a group to enjoy the camping side of the event too.

Camping Crew.jpg

[rip]

The SELOC camping was also a blast again and pleased that Graham, Shaun and Pinky joined this year - just such a shame it is their last SELOC Fest at the Lotus Fest

Which brings me onto asking: Who would be interested in camping over next year and does anyone know the score for camping at Brands?

I was getting a little tired of the same old format: Camp over, get drunk, get soaked...partly because my favourite part of the weekend at Donington/Helmingham was the Elan convoy.
If a trip out to somewhere can be included then I would be much more keen, especially as I've seen a lot of comments on here to members who I've not met because I've missed many of the recent meets.

[dapinky]

It doesn't always happen, Phil - I only repeat what I've been previously told (it's memory, not knowledge!).

Anyway,

I had a grotty drive there on Friday (rain and motorways on a Friday evening are not a great combination - and with roadworks/holdups all the way from Bracknell (M3) round M25 to J4 it wasn't a nice drive....

...but upon arrival it improved - got my tent up in a dry spell, then joined in the BBQ and beer/chatting with friends old and new.

Saturday morning was easy (150 yard drive to our 'stand' (which is henceforth known as 'The Lawn')) - great organisation by Ian (for both days' parking) meant it all looked quite 'corporate' and organised.

We decided to blow the LEC kitty and buy a gazebo after the sunburn on the Saturday, but due to ever generous donations, once all expences were covered, I came home with a (small) excess for Geoff - but he hasn't paid for the banner yet! On that note, special thanks to Peter D and his windscreen wiper donations (which meant people were dropping cash on the table) and Alan E for acquiring the gazebo between leaving Saturday and arriving Sunday - and all on his birthday .

Overall a great weekend - and Ian has offered to do it all again next year

Great to meet LECers (and even those who dont drive elans) over the weekend.

Easy drive home at the end, no traffic and car working faultlessly.

[Peter D]

Thanks for welcoming me on "the LEC lawn".
I hope everybody had a set of wipers offered, nice to know the kitty got filled with donations.

Most of my time I spent on watching races, browsing the shops, catching up with people.
I tried to introduce myself to most LEC attendees, though Im' sure I already forgot the link between face and name.

Hope you didn't mind my car was not on the LEC lanw on Sunday, as I was offered a polish at the M100hoods stand.
Too bad the parade lap was that late, as I had to catch a ferry.

Looking forward to next year.
Will it be a weekend again like this year or just 1 day of Lotusfestival like last year ?
Probably August 14th is the date I need to block ?

[Kathryn]

A few of my pics of 'the lawn'!

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g

2015-08-16 11.29.44-1.jpg

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And I echo everyone's thanks to Ian and thanks Peter D for the wipers!

[alan e]

Had a great birthday weekend at brands hatch good to meet everyone new and old Ian aka Mr NCP did a wonderful job seeing everyone in, the only letdown was no toast in the café on Sunday apart from that a perfect weekend looking forward to next year.

[Ian T]

Aaaaand we're all back to normal.

Thanks for the nice comments, it really wasn't that hard, honest.

All being well, we might even do the same again next year.

Now I'm back at home and Saturday's sun burn has calmed down a little, I can reflect on the group effort that was 'LEC at the Lotus Festival 2015'. I think nearly everyone has had a mention at some point, bar poor Shaun, who pitched in with some Altzheimers-defeating name badges and gave us at least half a chance of working out who was who.
Peter D left 20 sets of very nice Bosch flat wiper blades for distribution, any donations in return went to the kitty.
Alan, as Dave reflects, went out of his way and procured a new club gazebo, as well as dragging me off for breakfast and a nice chat on Sunday morning (yes - no toast!).
Dave arranged and bought a huge banner to give us some identity on the Lawn also selflessly provided tea and coffee on his petrol stove for most of the weekend, helped most of us with something or another and appeared to have carried half an Elan with him in spares as everything I seemed to need to try out, or buy happened to be in his possession.
Henri showed me how to use my camera - finally I have a first foot in the door and had I not reset all the settings to restore my multi-point focus, I might have kept it in RAW mode!
Trevor brought along his redundant standard front brake components, giving me some options to refurbish before fitting to my car, or keep as spares - just need a set of rear calipers now unless I just bite the bullet and do mine directly.

And now my memory is getting dodgy, but Thanks also to Tim (for getting those shots of the Red Arrows) and Kathryn for better shots of the LEC collective than I managed myself.

I owe the kitty (or Dave, I'm not sure) as I found some extra bits in my car as I left.

Oh, and if anyone wants some brand new S2 door cards, I impulse bought a pair but on closer inspection, mine are plenty good enough for a 25-and-a-bit year old car and I'll stick with them...

LOTUS, or LOFUS? (Lots Of Fun, Usually Serious)

Oh, and finally, thanks to everyone for tolerating my attempts at fitting cars in, even if Saturday's attempt wasn't successful.

[Ian T]

Hope you didn't mind my car was not on the LEC lanw on Sunday, as I was offered a polish at the M100hoods stand.
Too bad the parade lap was that late, as I had to catch a ferry.

Looking forward to next year.
Will it be a weekend again like this year or just 1 day of Lotusfestival like last year ?
Probably August 14th is the date I need to block ?

Not at all Peter - thank you for coming and for your contributions - we all appreciated them.

I thought it was a shame also that the parade lap was late in the day, but this was one way to prolong the attendance of many until the end of the racing. The shame of it was that it wasn't the F1 track and while we did two laps of the Indy circuit, we were often stationary waiting for traffic to clear ahead - the longer track would perhaps have fitted us all on better and reduced the log jams.

Next year - I don't know what the plan is, but when I write to say 'Thanks' to Bibs and Paul, I'll ask the question and post up their responses.

[KenS]

Many thanks to Ian and all for managing the event, great to meet up. We hadn't been to Brands for around 20 years so lots to explore, so many Lotus and getting onto the track! Really enjoyable day. Thanks to all.
(trying to get some of dashcam footage of the parade on YouTube, but taking a while to process -I'll post a link if it completes
Edit - at https://youtu.be/C9E4ym__2U0

[Rambo]

I lived in Newcastle for 6 years, that's pretty much shorts and t-shirt (or less) weather
should i bring my black and white shirt ?

Have you lost weight Geoff

[lotusflasherman]

Another super Lotus Festival!

Thankfully not 'dampened' by bad weather

Good to meet familiar faces and new - still useless on names but thankfully not the only person with this problem!

The stand looked best so far and an impressive turn-out!

The SELOC camping was also a blast again and pleased that Graham, Shaun and Pinky joined this year - just such a shame it is their last SELOC Fest at the Lotus Fest

Which brings me onto asking: Who would be interested in camping over next year and does anyone know the score for camping at Brands?

I'm sure a few from SELOC would also like to build a group to enjoy the camping side of the event too.

Camping Crew.jpg

Wasn't sure whether I was travelling or camping so didn't want to commit to anything but in the end I camped on the free Brands Campsite, which is outside the fence, on Friday & Saturday. I think you went past it as you went to the SELOC site. There were very few others on there, just a couple of motor homes and plenty of room. They are no toilets, only water taps and fire extinguishers at convenient locations. I'll probably do it again next year.