Happy New Year, and I hope you had a wonderfully relaxing holiday, hopefully including the recent ‘Straya Day weekend.

I’m delighted to report that we have managed to squeeze in our first committee meeting for the year, the minutes for which are currently up on the members’ page. The key outtakes for everyone are are:

• We’re financially solvent
• Our website and Faceplant pages continue to drive increased viewers, followers and likes, which suggests we are doing some of the right stuff
• Plans are hot for a busy year of social and motorsport activities of all sorts
• We’re looking forward to seeing lots of you out there

Getting straight off the blocks, we have a trip to Gerringong on Saturday 18th February for the MotorFest – there are still a few places available so please drop me a line ([email protected]) and we’ll organise to either meet there or have a gentle drive down. It’s free for entrants and their passengers, $5 to enter otherwise – all proceeds go to Childhood Leukaemia and in particular a local sufferer. An added bonus – the monthly farmers market is on the same day to keep all parties happy.

The following day (19th Feb) is our first Tyre Kick and Coffee for the year at Gough Whitlam Park. Please come along and say hello – we have moved the arrival time out to 9am to allow for a Sunday morning lie-in. Getting the car out for a gentle run, enjoy some surprisingly good coffee from the kiosk, and of course great company.

Saturday March 11th will see us running the first of the CSCA Sprints down at Wakefield. I always very much look forward to the day as Mike does such a superb job of running proceedings, and it is truly a Club day, with everyone involved at some point.

If you’ve ever thought of sprinting your car, there is hardly a better way to start than this event – it’s friendly, well run, and there’s a great social evening the night before. Try it.

Also in March (Sunday 26th) we have been invited down to Ebony Happy for scones and cream, and the first practice session for Round the Buckets. You’ll need to drop a note to Anne to let her know if you are planning on coming, so the catering can be organised – more details to follow.

In May we have been invited to join the Jaguar Club’s Mountain Rally. Caroline and I are going to take the opportunity to jointly undertake a tarmac rally in preparation for the Targa High Country in November. Our plan is to use the Elan… full details elsewhere in Chunky’s, but this will be a fantastic event, a great chance to drive some superb roads, and all for less than $500 for two people.

Looking further out, this year is the Diamond Jubilee of the Lotus Type 14 Elite, and Brian Caldersmith has been burning the midnight oil to get the mother and father of all celebrations underway. All Lotuses are invited, we have coincided with the Shannons CMC day at SMP, and we have exclusive use of the Amaroo (South) circuit, including time on track on the Sunday.

For those wanting to make a weekend of it, there is the Morgan CSCA sprint on the Saturday, and there is a huge dinner being organised for participants and their partners, so please start by putting a marker in your diary for that weekend (12-13 August).

More details elsewhere, but it is very much open to ALL Lotuses. Our plan is to make the day very family orientated, with a BBQ for lunch on the Sunday hosted by CLA. Please feel free to invite interstate friends if they would like to come.

I won’t go on about all the events we have got planned, but suffice to say the calendar is filling up, so please link to it and check in regularly (it’s here: https://www.clublotus.com.au/lotus-events-calendar/ ) as it will be the single source of truth for our events planning. And have a look at the minutes to get an idea of the stuff we are up to.

Oh, and one last thing, don’t forget that Lotus 2017 is happening in April based in and around Beechworth – full details and booking details are on their site here: www.lotus2017.com

And finally, our friendly local distributor and dealer of all things Lotus, Simply Sports Cars are building a stronger and stronger brand, continuing to sell lots of cars (particularly the V6 Exige I gather) and are happy for us to be pretty much joined at the hip in terms of organising stuff together. So expect to see lots of events and input from them coming our way.

As always, we are looking for contributions, articles, letters with your thoughts, or anything else you are happy to commit to paper (ok, that’s a bit old-fashioned, but you know what I mean). Please drop any of Tom, Seth, or me a line and we would love to get your name in lights – just remember, if there are no photos, it didn’t happen.

Enough from me! I very much look forward to seeing lots of you out and about over the next few months while the weather continues to be perfect for our cars, and in the meantime, stay safe, keep it upright and on the blackstuff.

Pip pip,
Ashton