Hi everyone,

I’ve just returned from the the first round of the 2019 CSCA Championships, proudly and very, very capably organised by Club Lotus Australia. I have to say that every year we raise the bar on the efficiency of the organisation of these sprints, and the consequent fun enjoyed by everyone. This year was a remarkable triumph for our outstanding Motorsport Committee – Mike Basquil, Dave Mackie, Mel and Gino Valdes, Craig and Cathy Shepard and Jen Hogan – thank you all, it was a belter! Even if I was in the “rather slow” category for the day.

As in previous years, all the runners from CLA participated in the organisation and marshalling. For that, my very grateful thanks. I would particularly like to recognise Brett Stevens, Peter Klumper and Brian Sutton, who, despite not running in the event, made the trip down to Wakefield to marshal. Thank you gents, that was commitment way beyond helpful. And thank you to the 35 members who ran (out of a total of 95 runners and riders on the day.) It was an outstanding turnout and lovely to see so many of you there. What a great day.

So, that is our sprint in the bag for another year and we are off and running for the season (even if I will miss most of the fun for May, June and July while I am away!)

Last month’s Sydney Tyre Kick and Coffee, while well attended, was possibly not the best choice of location, so we are going to try an alternate approach and move the location around until we find somewhere (or possibly a selection of options dotted around) that we can use on a regular basis. So, this month, we are taking the recommendation of two members (who shall remain nameless until it proves a success!) and going to the Kokoda Cafe, Rhodes Park, Killoola St, Concord West NSW 2138 kicking off at 9am on Sunday 17th March. See you there I hope.

I’m also thinking that we should get shed visits up and running again. I’m happy to open my shed up to lead by example (now that I’ve got rid of the temporary residents – the termites). If there are any others who would be willing to have a shed visit, and organise pizzas and soft drinks (subbed by the Club) for the members that turn up, please get in touch with me or any of the committee, and we’ll pull it together as an occasional event. In the meantime please put Tuesday 9th April in the diary for a shed visit to my garage before we get too close to D Day (departure day!) The Healey won’t be there (she’ll be on the high seas heading for China), but the Elan, Eleven and possibly the Elite will be in attendance (provided it isn’t raining too hard).

As I might have mentioned once or twice (no harm in reminding you though, in case you wonder why it all goes quiet in a few months time), I am off with my co-driver Giles Cooper to participate in the Peking to Paris rally in June and July this year. As mentioned above, the car goes in a container in three weeks’ time (27th March) and I get on a plane two months later, on 27th May. I don’t get back until the end of July, so I have asked Tom to synthesise from the various text messages I send him from the sat phone some semblance of order, and publish it as my PP. My apologies in advance if it is nonsense – that won’t be Tom’s fault. So please don’t be surprised when there’s a temporary hiatus in communications!

For those who haven’t seen it, we have a blog (latest post here), which includes a link to the two charities we are supporting: Beyond Blue, particularly in memory of Maurice and Mark, and the Cancer Council of Queensland as Giles is a throat-cancer survivor. If you would like to support us in our causes, please follow the links at the bottom of the page on the blog – your donations will be most gratefully received by these two amazing charities. Gidget also has her own Faceplant page here, in case you are on FB.

Normal service will resume when I return in time for the Shannons CMC Day and Kings School All British Day in August and September respectively.

I think I’ve probably bored you all to death now with what is called in forum circles non-Lotus related (NLR) stuff, so I’ll get this off to Tom and Seth, and look forward to seeing lots of you at my shed visit in April (I hope!).

Meanwhile, keep it safe, upright and on the blackstuff,

Pip pip,
Ashton