Welcome to February – already!

I know I’m a little late in saying this as it’s February, but for all those I’ve not seen yet I hope you all have a great 2019.

We have kicked off the year with a combined first Tyre Kick and Coffee and Committee meeting on January 20th. As a result of rolling them together, we had an even better turnout than usual and it was particularly good to see a few new faces and get to meet new members. Thank you all for coming along!

We also discovered that the cafe in Gough Whitlam Park is now closed, pretty much permanently as far as we can tell. So, the February Tyre Kick & Coffee will be at The Incinerator Cafe, 2 Small St. Willoughby, 2068. If the venue works well, we’ll keep going there until someone comes up with an alternative.

Minutes of the committee meeting will be published just as soon as I can get them written up, but the good news is that the membership continues to grow, the finances are in good shape, and we have lots of fun planned for this year.

The first big event of the beginning of this year has been the Bathurst 12 hour, and more to the point the very first Lotus Only Track Day, during which the only cars on the Mount Panorama circuit for the whole day were Lotus. There were over 100 at the last count, which makes this LOTD possibly the largest ever gathering of Lotus in one place in Australia!

Many thanks and congratulations to Mark O’Connor and the team at Lotus Australia and Simply Sports Cars for pulling this amazing event together. I’m sorry I was unable to be there, but my Eleven made a guest appearance in my place.

Before we know it, the first round of the CSCA championships will be upon us, brilliantly organised by our very own Motorsport Committee, and taking place on Saturday 2nd March at Wakefield Park. Entry details are available here.

For those coming down the night before, we will be gathering at the Hibernian Hotel for dinner at 7.30pm on Friday 1st March. The address is 145 Auburn St, Goulburn. Phone number is 02 4821 3688. Please could you drop me a line or comment on the thread on Aussie Elises if you intend joining, as I have provisionally booked for 20, but if its going to be more than that, I need to let them know.

I look forward to seeing lots of you there for what is always a TOP event! And if you have never sprinted, but always thought it would be fun to try, this is THE most friendly and inclusive event you can imagine, so please feel free to get in touch with any of the committee (details at the front of Chunkies Chatter).

Following that, we’ll head north in April for Lotus 2019, hosted by our lovely friends in Lotus Club Queensland, and with the special guest Elisa Artioli, after whom the Lotus Elise was named. If anyone wants to form up a convoy to head up there, do get in touch and we’ll get a plan together. Otherwise, I very much look forward to seeing lots of you there – I gather from the organisers that the NSW showing is, as always, tremendous, so thank you all for making the effort to support this event. It’ll be a lot of fun, I am certain.

I need to flag now that, owing to the fact that I will be away from 27th May until 27th July competing in the Peking to Paris challenge, there may be a bit of a hiatus in communications over that period. Worry not, normal service will resume on my return in late July, and hopefully I’ll have a few interesting stories to bore you all to death with. However, while I am away, there will be plenty going on still, and I just ask that you check the website and particularly the calendar even more often while I’m gone.

Right, better get this to Tom before he strings me up!

Keep it safe, upright and on the blackstuff.

Pip pip,
Ashton