The array of Lotus brightened up the Strathalbyn High Street. Words and Pictures courtesy of Andrew Stevens
An occasional contribution from our South Australian correspondent Andrew Stevens, catching you up on everything Club Lotus in SA this May, 2023.
The SA Lotus Clan enthusiastically inspect the Emira: Courtesy Andrew Stevens
Zagame Joined us for the April Run to Strathalbyn
The monthly SA Lotus gathering was delighted to receive a not so surprise visit from Zagame’s brand manager for Lotus in SA, Richard McLeod, in the recently arrived Emira. It certainly drew plenty of attention and, as Ashton has observed elsewhere, is quite a game changer for Lotus.
In another game changer, I hear that Lotus have recently shipped their first all electric SUVs from the Wuhan plant. Zagame are keen to get one of these into country to show it off as well.
Richard joined us on the run up to Strathalbyn. It was hard to ignore the bright yellow shape in the mirrors as we headed down the Angas River Scenic Drive to Meadows and across the swoops of Paris Creek Road and the run into Strath. As always, the chat was lively and Richard and the Emira was the star of the show.
Mike Bennett’s ex Graham Hill Grand Prix Lotus 12 on the Zagame Pavilion at 2023 AMF: Courtesy Mike Bennett
Lotus Took Pride of Place at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival Zagame Pavilion
After a hiatus of a couple of years, the Adelaide Motorsport Festival returned to the Adelaide Street Circuit in Victoria Park, where almost 38 years ago the likes of Ayrton Senna could be found putting his Black and Gold JPS Lotus at the front of the F1 pack. This was an era when not only was Lotus at the top of their game, but Williams GP Engineering were a competitive force, and McLaren had an Austrian rather than Australian driver.
Zagame had a well-supported corporate pavilion at the circuit. While Senna’s 98T wasn’t there, the first ever Lotus Grand Prix car, driven by Graham Hill at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, had pride of place in the Zagame stand, courtesy of owner Mike Bennett.
From all accounts, the Zagame-hosted activities were a great success and they’re planning an even bigger and better activity next year. On track, more than 200 cars were on show throughout the event, which included GT-style cars, V8 Supercars, 5 Litre Touring Cars and Heritage Touring Cars, McLarens, Ferraris, Sports Prototypes, classic cars and the headline attraction, Formula 1 cars (whew).
There were two world championship winning Brabhams on hand, and current F1 driver Valerie Bottas dropped in to engage with the fans and have a steer of a V8 Supercar. Motorsport Australia reported that the event had been a “roaring success” with motorsport fans being “treated to a spectacular show around the famous Victoria Park precinct”. The event also saw the Australian debut of the Rodin FZED open wheeler, derived from the Lotus Type 125 (the closest thing to F1?)