Well look at that – it’s December already!

What a year it has been too, with a lot happening socially, in the burgeoning Lotus motorsport scene, and, for me anyway, from a technical perspective!

Looking back, the year has gone far too fast, but is also full of great memories – including some wonderful General Meetings. This year has seen us enjoy some particularly good Blokes’ Shed tours, so a million thanks to Rob, Pete, Graham and of course Bruce for allowing us into their garages. These have been a great success and we are hoping to get more Blokes’ Sheds organised in 2015!

We also had some memorable drive days, and want to try to organise more of these, so if you have a burning urge to show us some great roads, please get in touch!

Of course we have enjoyed a LOT of fantastic motorsport, both from a participation perspective, but also for spectators. Back in February a bunch of us went to Bathurst to watch the 12 Hour, and particularly the brace of Lotus entrants – Tony Alford’s Exige V6 and Mark O’Connor’s venerable Exige; then we had the CLA round of the CSCA sprints, with a great turnout to what is widely regarded as one of the best run sprints.

This year Mike made it the best yet, so a big thanks to Mike for continuing to keep the wheels on the carriage! And for those who haven’t read it elsewhere, Mike received due recognition for all his hard work from CAMS at this year’s Awards Ceremony, so many, many congratulations Mike!

Then there have been not two, but three Simply Sports Cars Lotus Only Track Days, two at Wakefield, and the most recent at Winton – if you haven’t been to one, you really should – even visitors from the UK reckon they are better than any day of motorsport organised anywhere else which is high praise indeed!

Technically (and personally speaking!) 2014 has been a year of massive learning – not only did I have to get my head around running (and driving) the Elan, but then Bruce and Warwick decided to sell their Eleven, and it was rude to say no, so I have had to start right at the bottom of a VERY steep learning curve. What it has made me realise is what a fantastic (and, I am reliably informed, unusually helpful) bunch of people own and run these lovely cars of ours – the assistance I have received so far has enabled me to take on this project with confidence, in spite of the obvious challenge of not having built more than a Landrover from scratch before (and that was nearly thirty years ago!). So a very big, very heartfelt thank you to all of you who have helped so far, and the many more who have offered to help and whose assistance I am about to take up!!

Also from a technical perspective, we have taken significant strides forward with our new website and our Facebook presence, both of which are now up and running smoothly. After some initial teething problems (for which, our sincere apologies) we are now planning to use the website more extensively to communicate with you, so if you are still experiencing any issues with accessing the Members Area, please drop a line to Seth or me and we will get you sorted out.

So as we speed headlong for 2015, we have loads to look forward to. There’s the fabulous Nationals being held in the beautiful Barossa Valley in early October by our chapter in South Australia, lots of sprints including the first round in March run by us, all the Gear and 2nd Gear days, HSRCA meets, Simply Sports Cars Lotus Only days, and a whole lot of fun and interesting General Meetings, so please accept this as an invitation to come along and have fun with your car and friends!

In the meantime, your 2015 CLA calendar should be in the post to you shortly, and this comes with very best wishes to you and your family for a fabulous Christmas, I very much look forward to seeing you at one of the many events in 2015,

So keep it safe, upright and on the blackstuff, and Happy New Year!

Pip pip,
Ashton