Catch up on all the news in the Western Australian Club Lotus Australia community, thanks to Eddie Lankhorst’s latest Quokka Talk, for October, 2017.

This month’s newsletter welcomes new members to the fold, looks forward to the BritFest car show, a weekend tour in the Margaret River region and the Christmas Barbecue, and recaps the Early Morning Run to Rockingham Beach and the CAMS Club Challenge Hillclimb.

By Eddie Lankhorst

The past month we’ve had two new Lotus car owners in WA, so I’d like to kick off with a big welcome to Dave with a very clean and neat Chrome Orange S2 Elise and Ian with his good-as-new Titanium S3 Elise 1.6. Both joined us for our EMR this month and are enjoying their car in a manner for which these cars were designed. More fun and games will follow for all.

We have been invited to display a range of Lotus cars at the new BritFest car show at the Claremont Showgrounds on Sunday 29^th October, so if you are interested in displaying your car and gaining free entry, please email me as soon as possible.

Plans are currently underway for a weekend tour to the Margaret River region. If you’re interested keep Fri 24^th to Sun 26^th November free on your calendar. An online poll will be conducted on our Club Lotus WA Facebook page, so this will be your opportunity to express your desire to participate.

Our Christmas BBQ is also in the midst of being planned for Sunday 10^th December. Please mark your calendar now so as not to overlook this very social event.  This will be run in conjunction with an early EMR date.

Lastly, next year’s Club Lotus WA calendar is being planned and I am looking for high resolution photos of your car (with or without you).  Please email me before end of September via [email protected] your photos and only the best will do.

Upcoming events:

• October
  • Mon 9^th BOAB Meet n Eat 6pm Kings Park
  • Sat and Sun 14^th and 15^th State Speed Event Series sprints at Collie (either one of these dates qualify as part of WA Club Championship, not both)
  • Sun 22nd EMR 8am from Guildford (delayed due to SES sprints)
  • Sun 29^th BritFest car display at Claremont Showgrounds
• November
  • Mon 13^th BOAB Meet n Eat at 6pm Kings Park
  • Sun 19^th EMR 8am from Guildford
  • Fri 24^th Go Karting Cockburn (tbc)
• December
  • Sat 2^nd State Speed Event Series at Barbagallo raceway (final round of WA Championship)
  • Sun 10^th EMR and Christmas BBQ at John & Robyn’s new home.
  • Mon 11^th BOAB Meet n Eat at 6pm Kings Park

EMR to Rockingham Beach

By Eddie Lankhorst

The day started fresh and clear at our usual meeting place at Guildford Railway car park with excited banter from everyone while awaiting the late comers.

After a safety briefing, we proceeded towards a second meeting point where we picked up Andy with his beautiful V8 Esprit and Dave in his newly-acquired Chrome Orange S2 Elise S. A quick hello and onward we strived along picturesque roads through the Perth Hills with 10 Lotus cars and one BMW all up. We had a BRG Elan S3 driven by Graeme, four Elise driven by Mike, Gavin, Robyn and Ian, then there was an Exige S2 with John at the wheel and lastly two Exige S3 driven by Vicky and Les.

This was a difficult tour to arrange in two respects with us heading to Rockingham. One issue was that Rockingham is usually busy whenever there is nice warm weather. With one restaurant in mind, I struck a problem. They hung up on me twice when I mentioned we wanted to book a table for 22 people – their loss.

As I was busy navigating and having trouble juggling two mobile phones, Marilyn (Les’s wonderful wife) offered to do a ring around for a suitable café.  Wahla, she found a cafe and right on the foreshore, overlooking the beach and Garden Island. Thank you Marilyn, you saved the day.

The second problem was that the roads leading down to Rockingham tend to be boring and crowded.  I think I hit the best balance of roads that were fun to drive and managed to avoid the endless straight roads and traffic often found in this area.

Another successful Early Morning Run for Perth.  Thanks guys for your continued support.

CAMS Club Challenge – Hillclimb WA

By Eddie Lankhorst

A couple of months ago I noticed in the regular CAMS newsletter that there was going to be CAMS Club Challenge in WA. What a great idea this was.  The date was 27^th August and the event was to be held at Jacks Hill. Yes, a Hillclimb.

So, I put the word out for people interested in forming teams to compete. We needed a team of three to five cars to enter and the response was a little slow to begin with, but eventually we had a team of 4 cars. Then the word seemed to get around that this would be fun and before I knew it I had another team of four.  Awesome.

The day was a team effort. Each car was entered according to their regular Sprint class and each class having a recorded time for the hillclimb. Times were recorded by each team member and points allocated according how close they were to the circuit record for their class. Points were then added together for the team. The best results for the day determined placings.

We had team “Lots of Trouble” with Steve Metlitzky, Richard Cooper, Andrew Graham and Preston Adams.  Then our second team was “Usually Serious” with Vicky Rowe, Kevin Fitzmaurice, John Edmondson and me. A great mix of cars and personalities.

The day was a big hoot and lots of fun, with a few spins and misadventures entertaining the crowds. These were mostly performed by Lotus owners as they got that exuberant driving urge. However, all this exuberance paid off for team “Lots of Trouble” who claimed third place and won Club Lotus WA $800 in prize money, which will be put towards a practice day on Jack Hill sometime next year. Closely beaten by team WRX and WASCC.

Well done to all teams and a big thank you to CAMS for a well run fun day. We definitely need more team events in WA.