Ashton’s President’s Prattle for March, 2022

Club Lotus Carss Park Tyre Kick Coffee February 2022

March already, my goodness!

Good news is we had a committee meeting and have confirmed (subject of course to the usual caveats required these days regarding health and weather) that we have a strong programme of activities planned for this year.

Of course we kick off this month with the first (CLA-organised) round of the CSCA sprints at Wakefield on 27th March. Huge thanks to Mel and the Motorsport Committee for getting that organised, and to Tom, Mike, Evan and all those officiating on the day.

Grateful thanks too to Brett Stevens and Graham Weir for stepping up to join the Motorsport Committee, and welcome to you both!

If you fancy driving Bathurst (and everyone should do so once in their lives!) Simply Sports Cars has just announced the Bathurst Track Day in May – get in quickly as places are filling fast.

Further out, we are really hoping that both the Shannons Classic and the Kings School All British Day will be able to go ahead this year having been cancelled for the past two (or is it three? I’ve lost track) Dates to be finalised, but we will have tickets for both, so contact Evan if you would like to come and join us ([email protected])

There is also the hope we can get a gathering of both NSW and Queensland club members together at one or both of the Grafton Hillclimb in July (15th-17th), and the Bathurst Hillclimb Bathurst Speed Weekend 29-30 Oct 2022. If anyone is interested, Tony Galletly and I are trying to co-ordinate as best we can – drop one of us a line and we’ll add you to the email string.

In October we are planning to head to Tasmania for a week of fun on the Apple Isle – more plans and comms shortly, as the committee is gathering next weekend to start the progress. This is the long-delayed Lotus 2021, and we are hoping to finally get there this coming Spring.

In other news, the world has lurched from the COVID crisis to the lunacy of a Russian megalomaniac, but in between there are glimmers of hope for an increase in foreign travel, international rallies, and possibly even a transition back to working from a mix of office and home, so with a following wind we should have a semblance of normality starting to be established by mid-way through the year, even if the start has not got off to an auspicious beginning.

And on that high note, I had better get this across to Tom and Seth for publication, so this comes with very best wishes to you and yours, and I look forward to seeing you at either a Tyre Kick or a motorsport event soon.

In the meantime, keep safe, upright, and mainly on the blackstuff.

Pip pip,
Ashton

Entry is Now Open for CSCA 2022 Round One, Hosted by Club Lotus Australia

CSCA 2022 Round 1 Lotus

We’re set to open the 2022 CSCA series with a speedy and social round of supersprinting at Wakefield Park on Sunday the 27th of March. Entry is now open and we would love to see you there.

Entry Fee : $195 + Dorian Hire : $15.

Minimum Licence Required : : Current Motorsport Australia (MA) Level 2S, Level 2SJ or a MA Licence of a higher status, and a current club membership card of Motorsport Australia affiliated Car Club are compulsory.

Please find the Entry Form for the event at the following link:

CSCA Supersprint R1 / 27 March 2022 Event Entry – Click on ‘Purchase Tickets’ to commence event registration and payment.

All competitors will need an active account, username and registered email to complete event registration and payment.

Please note the following:

  1. If you were a competitor in the 2021 CLA CSCA Round – you will already have an account, username and registered email. If you cannot recall your username, please email us at [email protected].
  2. Existing Club Lotus Australia (CLA) members can use their existing CLA membership username and password via mobile app or website. If you cannot recall your username, please email us at [email protected].
  3. New Account : Competitors who do not fall into the above 2 categories  will need to create an account to finalise event registration and payment. This will require the competitor to provide their email address, and to create a username and password.

Please read Supplementary Regulations, available for download at the link below:

CSCA 2022 Round 1 Supplementary Regulations

We are using our club membership website to facilitate the entry form registrations and payments for the event.

Event entry payment :  this year payments are via credit card payment only at time of registration. There is a 3% transaction service fee during the checkout payment process added. This year CLA has maintained the same as previous years entry fee at $195 + Dorian $15 to help absorb the transaction service fee.If you have any questions or need a hand with anything, you can reach the team on the motorsport committee at [email protected].

We’re very happy to be kicking off the CSCA calendar for 2022. We look forward to receiving your entry and welcoming you on the day.

Entry

Supplementary Regulations:

Pre-Event Scrutineering:

All competitors must complete the two (2) attached Motorsport Australia Self-Scrutineering forms and email to Event Secretary by Friday 25th March. It is the Drivers’ responsibility to ensure their vehicles are self-scrutineered. On the day of the event our Chief Scrutineer will be doing spot checks based on submitted vehicle declarations.

CSCA Links:

Lotus Photos: February 2022’s Carss Park Tyre Kick & Coffee

Club Lotus Carss Park Tyre Kick Coffee February 2022

Sunday the 13th of February found us in the car park above By the Bay Cafe in Carss Park, chatting and enjoying a coffee in the sunshine for the first of our Tyre Kicks of the month.

La Niña took the weekend off, giving us a pleasant morning complete with sunshine to light up all the candy coloured Lotuses we arranged in the car park. We had an excellent turnout, including a nice set of Elans as well as Elises, Evora, an Elite and some interesting Lotus Mustangs, Boxsters, a 911 and a classic Mercedes, with an interesting and far-from-standard MX5 joining later and drawing a crowd.

Club Lotus Carss Park Tyre Kick Coffee February 2022

Thanks to everyone for coming out to say ‘Hi!’ and especially those who encouraged friends to join in. A Lotus is not a pre-requisite! Bring out what ever you have available or feel like driving and enjoy the good company.

We’ll see you at Gough Whitlam Park in Earlwood this coming Sunday the 20th of February.

Lotus Photos: Sandy Bay Tasmania, February 2022

February 2022 Sandy Bay Hobart by Robert Verhey

Images thanks to Robert Verhey

Our friends in Tasmania get together most months at Sandy Bay to kick tyres and chat about life, Lotus and everything. Robert Verhey made it to February 2022’s catch-up, held on Sunday the 6th, and very kindly reached out with a few photos that you can enjoy below.

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Ashton’s President’s Prattle for February, 2022

January 2022 Club Lotus Australia Tyre Kick & Coffee Gough Whitlam Park

Goodness, how time flies!

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you managed to get a decent break over the summer holidays, notwithstanding border uncertainty and everything going on around us.

Fingers crossed for a more engaged and event-full (as opposed to eventful) 2022. We have already kicked off with the January TK&C meets, and in addition to the usual suspects, we had the slightly unusual phenomenon of rain, in January!

Oh well, things can only get better, as the song says.

February will, as is normal, be relatively quiet as we all get back into the swing of things, kids go back to school, those of us working go back to school too, and those of you lucky enough not to be working can kick back and laugh at the rest of us.

So we have the two Tyre Kicks, at Carss Park on 13th Feb (the day before all you romantics need to be on best behaviour), and the following weekend possibly back to Rhodes (if the new owners have got their timing right), otherwise still at Gough Whitlam Park – we’ll let you know that week by email, so keep an eye on the inbox.

February will also see the committee coming back together for the first time since the AGM. If you have anything you would like to raise to us, or you would like to come along, please do get in touch. It will be a hybrid event, with in-person Chez Roskill in St Peters, and a zoom link for those less willing to travel or be in close proximity with others (perfectly understood!) Drop us a line to [email protected] and we will organise accordingly!

There are several events we need to get our skates on to organise, not least the Tour of Tassie, slated for early October. We’d also like (if there is interest) to organise a run out round country NSW, as much to support the local economy as to get a view of the wonderful lush green countryside that La Nina has blessed us with!

Beyond our borders, life continues to be both different and challenging – the threat of Russia marching into the Ukraine is a blot on the landscape to say the very least, increased seismic activity in the Pacific has kept my employer occupied trying to restore the sub-sea cable connection to the Pacific islands, Joe Biden appears to be the president that everyone forgot (which I’m not going to get drawn on!) and that clown Boris continues to be almost as much of a laughing stock as our own political “elite”. Plus ca change.

So I hope you have got your resolutions clearly mapped out for the year?

Series 1 Range Rovers

I had a good clear view of my priorities and had even started building the shed in the garden to house my wood-working, when a (now ex-) friend pointed me to a barn-and paddock-find of not one, but four 2-door series 1 Range Rovers. So of course I had to put a deposit down.

And then work out how the hell to get two partly mobile cars and two cars on blocks off the property in double quick time. The reason they were cheap was because the owner has sold the property, and the new owner wants all his stuff gone before settlement.

Luckily, I have a long suffering friend (a different one to the ex-friend who pointed them out to me – yes, amazing, I have two (now one) friend) with a property near Galston which can house them and he’s even able to help with the metal work required to get one of them going quick-smart.

So if anyone wants a Subaru Forester and/or a Series 2 ex-Army Land Rover, they will both have to go to make room! I hope for your sakes your better halves are as accomodating as Mrs R.

And with that, I will wish you all a wonderful 2022, and I look forward to catching up face to face very soon.

In the meantime, keep safe, upright and (mostly) on the blackstuff.

Pip pip,
Ashton

Lotus Photos: 2021 CLA Tasmania Christmas Run

Club Lotus Australia Tasmania Christmas Run

Images thanks to Robert Verhey

This past Sunday, the 19th of December 2021, our Tasmania-based friends took a Christmas run to Gretna Green to celebrate the year that was. Robert Verhey has kindly passed on a few shots, which you can enjoy below.

The group of Tasmanian Lotus owners joined their Jensen friends for the run to Gretna Green, an hour north of Hobart, on Sunday 19 December. Tasmania turned on its usual variety of weather for the run, which included a hearty pub meal at the newly-refurbished historic Gretna Green Hotel. Tasmanian minor roads provide some fine opportunities for a spirited run, ideally suited to any Lotus.

Images thanks to Robert Verhey